The reward system in problematic social media use and its relationship with anxiety and depression symptoms

Problematic social media use (PSMU) has become a key topic in the study of digital behavior. While parallels with behavioral addiction highlight features such as salience, tolerance, and impaired control, they risk flattening a phenomenon shaped as much by coping motives, sociocultural pressures, and platform design as by neural sensitivity. This thesis examines PSMU through psychological models, neurobiological evidence, and its links with anxiety and depression, focusing on the role of the dopaminergic reward system. Neuroimaging studies show that likes and other forms of online feedback activate mesolimbic and prefrontal circuits, reinforcing use and promoting cue-driven habits, while diminished prefrontal regulation weakens control and emotion regulation. Methodological limits - small samples, artificial tasks - restrict strong claims, but the overall pattern points to an imbalance between reward reactivity and self-control. The relationship with emotional disorders is reciprocal: social media often functions as a compensatory strategy for low mood or social threat, yet can intensify symptoms through comparison, reassurance-seeking, and disrupted sleep. The thesis concludes that PSMU is neither a simple addiction nor a harmless habit, but a multidetermined process emerging at the intersection of brain, mind, culture, and design.