The role of habits in problematic use of social media

In psychology, a habit is an automatically initiated behavioral response, that develops through the regular repetition of a behavior in a specific context that’s perceived as rewarding. This behavioral response is at first goal-directed but over time becomes context-dependent and automatic. The initial stage of habit formation involves three key components: -cue: an external or internal trigger that initiates the routine. It becomes associated with the behavior through classical conditioning -routine: a series of actions that are performed together and become a unit (chunk) -reward: in the early stages, the pleasurable effect of the behavior is essential for its repetition and consolidation through operant conditioning. Over time, the reward loses its value and the response becomes automatic. This transition represents a shift at the neural level, specifically from the prefrontal cortex to the striatum and from the more ventral to the more dorsal striatal subregions. The role of the executive control systems is reduced and we observe an increase in behavioral rigidity and incentive salience and a decrease in pleasure sensitivity. While this transition is essential in our everyday life, allowing us to perform well-learned behaviors with less cognitive effort, cognitive rigidity can also facilitate the transformation of habits in compulsive ones and have a role in the development of an addiction. An example of this process is found in substance use disorder. While habit formation is not the only process to explain addiction, it nevertheless plays a central role in the development of compulsion. Indeed, drug taking is a goal-directed action, motivated by the rewarding effects of the substance, but over time the rewarding value decreases and the person develops automatic and intense cravings, triggered by the associated cues. The loss of pleasure sensitivity leads also to a progressive increase in the substance dosage to obtain the same effect (tolerance). Another example of the role of habits in addiction can be observed in pathological gambling, a behavioral addiction that shares several commonalities with substance use disorders. Both offer a positive reinforcement in the early stages, which is replaced later on by compulsion, and both share some common characteristics related to habits: an increased salience of stimuli linked to the problematic behavior, reward anticipation that is dysfunctional irrespective of the type of reward and a hypo-responsive reward circuitry. A further type of behavioral addiction that may share the same characteristics and has gained more salience over the past few years is problematic use of social media, an excessive and compulsive use of social networks that leads to significant impairment in daily functioning. In my thesis, I will explore the role of habits in problematic use of social media but also in non-pathological usage, highlighting how automatism and compulsion play a part in the feelings of being “caught in a loop” and retrospective regret that social media users often report.