Social media can trigger dopamine-driven validation.

Oxytocin release via digital interaction lacks the rich multisensory cues of face-to-face contact.

Likes and notifications can create reward cycles that differ from genuine social support or bonding.

Social media has altered how many people connect, communicate, and maintain relationships. Yet questions remain around what happens to biological systems, evolved for real face-to-face relationships, when they are activated through screens. Important for this discussion is oxytocin, a neuropeptide associated with social bonding, trust, and attachment1. While oxytocin is directly involved with social connection, it is also activated by the dopamine systems involved in social validation (and/or reward)2. The dissociation between social connection (involving oxytocin1,3) and social validation (involving dopamine2) may underlie a problem with assuming that digital networks are truly social. Social media can engage some of the biological pathways related to social validation and social reward that are also connected with the experience of real-world relationships1,4. Such social validation triggers dopamine, which, in turn, can facilitate oxytocin release. However, the nature and consequences of these indirect oxytocin activations, through social validation, differ from its release resulting from direct social connections, and any resulting confusion can have negative impacts on well-being1,3,4.

Environmental pressures have favoured development of a degree of social interaction for some species, and the brains of many ‘social’ species contain specialised systems to process social cues, evaluate social rewards, and, through these processes, maintain relationships4. The amygdala, prefrontal cortex, mentalising network, and reward systems of mammals all contribute to the formation and maintenance of social connections1. Oxytocin and its receptor genes are involved in the experience of social affiliation, trust, empathy, information sharing, and social network size and quality1,3. Individuals........

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