Facebook addiction might soon be an official mental disorder.
A group of Yale post-doctoral researchers have determined that Facebook acts as an increasingly common and addicting form of stress management, according to an article in the New Haven Register.
According to the researchers, Facebook activates the body’s reward circuits and neural pathways in the same way drugs do for addicts. Using online social networking also causes certain chemicals — like dopamine — to spike in the brain, like when people interact face-to-face, or when they do drugs. And like people addicted to drugs, people suffering from Facebook addiction will need more and more to achieve the same effect.
Let’s hope there’s a breakthrough soon, because we’re about seven weeks from finals.