By+Nicholas+Kardaras

“Im going to kill you while you are both asleep，” the wild-eyed 13-year-old girl said as she flailed1 and kicked her father before biting his arm. This was the second time in less than a week that Heidi had flown into a violent rage because her parents had taken away her Chromebook and her access to social media. It would also be the second time that she would have to be taken to the psychiatric2 emergency room.

When her parents， John and Melanie， first called me for help， they described Heidi as a sweet， happy， loving girl whose teachers had always declared their favorite student. With a tendency to gravitate toward overachievers，3 she loved playing soccer， hiking and taking mountain bike rides with her dad—the man she bit.

John and Melanie， supportive suburban New Jersey parents with college degrees and their own tech business， were blindsided4 by Heidis social media addiction. “It all started when she came home in seventh grade with a Chromebook that the school had given her，” they told me. Ostensibly given for school purposes， the Chromebook came loaded with Google Classroom5—which also， unfortunately， included Google Chat and various Google Chat communities.

Once this educational Trojan horse6 entered their home， John and Melanie found that Heidi was more and more preoccupied with its social media chat rooms， spending hours on them every night. Because the chat rooms were part of the Chromebook platform， they were not able to disable them. Then Heidi started becoming preoccupied with raunchy YouTube videos and also began playing an addictive progression game similar to Minecraft.7

Over the course of a year John and Melanie saw their daughter transform from a sweet， innocent girl who loved spending time with her parents into a sexualized， foulmouthed and violent terror. And sadly， she became a girl in need of psychiatric treatment.

Early adolescence is a time of dramatic change for most kids， and arguably， Heidi may have been headed for trouble with or without her Chromebook. It is also true that many kids use social media responsibly and without issue8. But a growing body of evidence shows that social media and immersion in the digital world can be contributing factors in the development of an array of psychological problems—from addiction to depression—and young people may be especially vulnerable.

Social connection is not only the most essential part of being human， it is also a key ingredient in happiness and health. Thanks to social media， we are the most connected society that has ever lived： each second people in the U.S. send more than 7，500 tweets， 1，394 Instagram photographs， and two million e-mails； they also view more than 119，000 YouTube videos.endprint

Predictably， the younger you are， the more you text. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center poll， cell-phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 send or receive an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day， whereas all adults （18 and older） exchange a daily average of 41.5 messages.

For a species hardwired9 for social connection， that should be a wonderful thing. And yet the rise of social media and technology has coincided with an apparent decline in mental health. In 2014 psychologist Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University analyzed data from nearly seven million teenagers and adults across the U.S. and found that more people reported symptoms of depression in recent years than they did in the 1980s. Teens， in particular， are now 74 percent more likely to have trouble sleeping and twice as likely to see a professional for mental health issues. According to a 2016 fact sheet from the World Health Organization， depression is now the leading cause of disability globally， affecting 350 million people worldwide.

There are certainly many intervening factors that may be driving this global trend， but we do have preliminary research linking depression with social media usage. In a 2014 study， social psychologists found another reason why people can feel down after Facebook sessions： they feel that the time spent is not meaningful.

As social creatures， we find purpose and meaning and bolster10 our emotional states largely through the social and cultural context created by contact with others. Not getting the right kind of human contact at key developmental periods in childhood can lead to profound emotional and psychological problems.

Social media has an impact on other basic psychological needs—including our need for novelty， called neophilia.11 Human brain is biologically primed for novelty， which， in turn， has helped us to survive cataclysmic environmental change.12 Unfortunately， this hardwired thirst can be overwhelming in the information age， in which every hyperlink， tweet， text， e-mail and Instagram photograph can be an opportunity to experience something new. As with an alcoholic in a liquor store or a chocolate lover at Willy Wonkas， the multitude of opportunities for novelty can be exhaustingly hyperstimulating.13

And what about the human need to experience reward？ We know that humans like activities that release the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain—a lot.14 Evolution has given us incentives via a “dopamine tickle” to pursue certain lifesustaining activities，15 because dopamine made us feel good. But we have discovered that digital stimulation feels pretty good， too， and similarly lights up our dopamine-reward pathways.endprint

So then where does modern digital technology， which plays off these intersecting human needs for connection，16 reward and novelty， leave us？ Short answer： addicted or， at the very least， potentially vulnerable to screen addiction. Many adults and kids have developed compulsive texting and social media habits precisely because such predilections quench our thirst for novelty while tickling our dopamine-reward pathways.17 And like addicts， they can go into withdrawal18 without it.

“等你們倆都睡了我要殺了你們，”說這話的時候，這個13歲的女孩憤怒地瞪著眼睛，對她爸爸拳打腳踢，之后還咬了他的胳膊。在不到一個星期的時間里，這已經(jīng)是海蒂第二次因為父母沒收了她的谷歌筆記本電腦并且不讓她使用社交軟件而暴怒了。她也不得不將被第二次送進精神疾病急診室。

當海蒂的父母約翰和梅勒妮第一次來尋求我?guī)椭臅r候，他們說海蒂是一個可愛、快樂、充滿愛心的小女孩，而且也總是老師們最喜歡的學生。以前的海蒂一直朝著優(yōu)等生的目標努力，她熱愛踢足球、徒步旅行以及和爸爸一起在山中騎行——而現(xiàn)在，海蒂卻會咬她的爸爸。

約翰和梅勒妮住在新澤西的郊區(qū)，夫婦二人都有大學文憑，并經(jīng)營著自己的科技公司。他們一直都非常支持海蒂，但海蒂沉溺于社交媒體這件事卻讓他們感到措手不及。他們告訴我，“這一切都是從海蒂七年級時帶回了學校發(fā)的谷歌筆記本電腦開始的。”借著教學的名義，電腦里安裝了谷歌課堂——但很不幸的是，里面還有谷歌聊天工具和各種谷歌聊天社區(qū)。

自從這個名義上為了教學活動的“特洛伊木馬”來到他們家，約翰和梅勒妮就發(fā)現(xiàn)海蒂越來越沉溺于社交媒體上的聊天室中，并且每晚她都要花上好幾個小時來聊天。因為這些聊天室是谷歌筆記本運行平臺的一部分，所以約翰和梅勒妮無法禁用它們。后來，海蒂開始迷戀觀看YouTube視頻網(wǎng)站上的低俗視頻，還開始玩一種能夠使人上癮的類似于《我的世界》的升級類游戲。

在一年的時間里，約翰和梅勒妮眼看著自己的女兒從一個喜歡陪伴父母、天真可愛的小女孩變成了一個崇尚色情、滿嘴臟話、有暴力傾向的“恐怖分子”。而令人傷心的是，她變成了一個需要精神治療的女孩。

對于大多數(shù)孩子來說，青春期早期是充滿劇變的一段時間，可以說，不管海蒂用不用谷歌筆記本電腦，她都可能會在這段時期面臨一些煩惱。當然，也有許多孩子在使用社交媒體時是理智的，并且不會出現(xiàn)什么問題。但是越來越多的證據(jù)表明，使用社交媒體以及沉溺于虛擬世界會誘發(fā)一系列的心理問題——包括成癮和抑郁，并且年輕人可能會尤其容易受到影響。

社交不僅僅是人類生活中最不可或缺的部分，它還是影響人幸福和健康的關(guān)鍵因素。社交媒體使得我們生活在人類歷史上聯(lián)系程度最高的社會當中：在美國，人們每秒鐘會發(fā)出7，500多條推特，1，394張Instagram照片，以及兩百萬封電子郵件；而且每秒鐘會觀看超過11.9萬個YouTube視頻。

可以預(yù)見的是，社交媒體用戶越是年輕，發(fā)送的短信數(shù)就會越多。皮尤研究中心在2011年所做的一項調(diào)查顯示，18到24歲之間的手機用戶平均每天會發(fā)送或接收109.5條信息，而成年人（18歲及以上）用戶平均每天發(fā)送或接收的信息數(shù)是41.5條。

對于一個為社交而生的物種來說，這理應(yīng)是件好事。但是伴隨著社交媒體和科技的發(fā)展，人們的心理健康狀況也在明顯下降。2014年，圣地亞哥州立大學的心理學家讓·M. 特溫格通過對美國各地近七百萬青少年和成年人的相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)進行分析后發(fā)現(xiàn)，近年來有抑郁癥狀的人數(shù)要比上世紀80年代多。特別是青少年人群，他們現(xiàn)在患有睡眠問題的幾率要比以前高74%，而青少年去咨詢心理健康問題專家的幾率是之前的兩倍。2016年世界衛(wèi)生組織發(fā)布的一份資料簡報顯示，抑郁癥已經(jīng)是目前全球范圍內(nèi)導(dǎo)致身心障礙的主要因素，并影響著全世界3.5億人的生活。

當然還有很多干擾因素推動著這個全球性的趨勢，但的確有初步研究將抑郁癥和社交媒體的使用聯(lián)系起來。在2014年的一項研究中，社會心理學家發(fā)現(xiàn)人們在使用臉書后會感到精神低落的另外一個原因：他們覺得之前花在臉書上的時間是沒有意義的。

作為社會性的動物，我們在很大程度上是通過人際交往所創(chuàng)造的社會與文化環(huán)境來找到自身存在的目的和意義并改善我們的情感狀態(tài)的。在童年時期的關(guān)鍵發(fā)展階段中，缺乏恰當?shù)娜穗H交往會導(dǎo)致嚴重的情感與心理問題。

社交媒體對其他基本的心理需求也會產(chǎn)生影響——包括我們對于新奇事物的需求。從生物學的角度來說，大腦使我們生來就渴望新奇的事物，而這一特征也幫助人類在災(zāi)難性的環(huán)境變化中存活了下來。不幸的是，這種天生的渴望在信息時代可能會變得難以控制，因為在當下，每一個超鏈接，每一條推特、信息，每一封郵件，每一張Instagram照片都會成為我們體驗新鮮事物的機會。這種狀態(tài)就好像一個酒鬼生活在一家酒館，或者一個巧克力愛好者生活在威利·旺卡的巧克力工廠一樣。大量體驗新奇事物的機會在讓我們感到極度刺激的同時也讓我們十分疲憊。

那么人類想要體驗獎勵的需求又發(fā)揮著怎樣的作用呢？我們知道人類喜歡——或者說是非常喜歡——能夠讓大腦分泌神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)多巴胺的活動。人類進化鼓勵我們通過刺激多巴胺來進行延續(xù)物種的活動，因為多巴胺讓我們感到快樂。但是我們也發(fā)現(xiàn)，數(shù)字刺激同樣可以讓我們感到非常愉悅，并且它與刺激多巴胺獎勵通道的原理是相似的。endprint

所以，現(xiàn)代數(shù)字技術(shù)暴露了人類對社交、獎勵和新奇事物這些相互滲透的需求的弱點，它將會把我們帶到何方呢？簡單來說，它會使我們上癮，或者至少可能會讓我們變得容易沉迷于電子設(shè)備。很多成年人和孩子已經(jīng)養(yǎng)成了強迫性發(fā)短信和刷社交媒體的習慣，因為這樣的行為能夠滿足我們對于新奇事物的渴望，并且可以刺激我們的多巴胺獎勵通道。而且像癮君子一樣，這些人如果遠離了電子設(shè)備，就會像進入戒毒期一樣（難受）。

1. flail： 猛擊，猛打。

2. psychiatric： 精神病的，精神病治療的。

3. gravitate toward： 受吸引，移向；overachiever： / 超等優(yōu)秀生。

4. blindside： 出其不意地打擊。

5. ostensibly： 表面上地；Google Classroom：谷歌教室，一種可以幫助老師快速布置任務(wù)和接受反饋的程序。

6. Trojan horse：“特洛伊木馬”，來自希臘典故。希臘聯(lián)軍久攻特洛伊未果，因而假裝撤退，只留下一具巨大的中空木馬，特洛伊的守軍將木馬作為戰(zhàn)利品運回城里。到了夜晚，木馬腹中暗藏的希臘士兵打開城門，最終特洛伊淪陷。后人用“特洛伊木馬”這一典故比喻潛藏內(nèi)部的顛覆分子，也被引申用來比喻“害人的禮物”。

7. raunchy： 淫穢的，下流的；Minecraft：《我的世界》，一款高自由度沙盒游戲，玩家可以在單人或多人模式中通過摧毀或創(chuàng)造方塊以創(chuàng)造各種各樣的建筑物。

8. without issue： 原指無子女，這里指沒有后續(xù)問題。

9. hardwired： 天生的，（能力、方法、活動類型等）基本固定的。

10. bolster： 增強，改善。

11. novelty： 新奇事物；neophilia： // 對新奇事物的喜愛，喜新癖。

12. be primed for： 為……預(yù)先準備好的；cataclysmic： // 災(zāi)難性的。

13. Willy Wonka： 威利·旺卡，是電影《查理和巧克力工廠》的主人公，此處Willy Wonkas指他的巧克力工廠；hyperstimulating： 過度刺激的。

14. neurotransmitter： 神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)，在神經(jīng)細胞間或向肌肉傳遞信息的化學物質(zhì)；dopamine： // 多巴胺，一種傳遞興奮及開心信息的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)，和人的情欲、感覺有關(guān)。

15. incentive： 動機，刺激；tickle： n. 使人發(fā)癢、感到愉悅的東西，下段中則作動詞解。

16. play off： 使……暴露弱點；intersecting： 相互交叉的。

17. compulsive： 難以控制的，禁不住的；predilection：// 喜好，嗜好；quench： 解（渴）。

18. withdrawal： 戒毒（或脫癮）期。endprint