Maybe this will help you break your social media addiction: The reason you're addicted is the same reason why your dog will roll over, a mouse will run through a maze, or your cat will spend two minutes pretending they actually like you.
According to a new study from New York University, the main reason we use social media is the same as the reason why we can train animals to do tricks for food.
We're addicted to the rewards. On social media, the reward is getting a lot of likes. For animals, the reward is getting something to eat.
Here's some proof. The researchers monitored how frequently people posted on social media. When people posted something that got a lot of likes, they started posting more often. After they put up a post that bombed? They posted less.
In other words, getting those likes feels so good we want more of it . . . so we post more often to keep chasing that dragon.
(NYU)