Resources

Describes how smartphones disrupt real-life interactions—such as when parents keep checking their phones while playing with their child. Studies show that even short, repeated interruptions can affect the bonding process and language development in young children.

Our brains—especially those of growing children—can become accustomed to constant, rapid stimuli, like popcorn popping continuously in the microwave. Smartphones provide constant notifications, likes, or new content, which means children and teenagers have shorter attention spans and only expect quick rewards. This is how the brain gets used to avoiding "slow thinking."

Brain rot describes the state in which the brain is overstimulated by constant digital stimuli and endless scrolling, causing concentration, creativity, and deep thinking to decline sharply.

In theory, an algorithm is a precise, step-by-step set of instructions for solving a problem or performing a task. The same inputs always lead to the same result. Because every person has their own perspective on a topic, journalists, for example, have the task of making these different perspectives visible and highlighting various points of view. Digital algorithms do not do this; they only reinforce the perspective that someone prefers. Social media uses algorithms to prioritize content based on user behavior. The companies do not disclose how their algorithms work. 

Feeds used to end at the bottom of the page. Today, you scroll endlessly. "There is always something new that gives you a dopamine hit that you react to, and there is an infinite amount of it," said Arturo Béjar, a whistleblower who worked in online child safety at Meta until 2021. "The promise of these platforms is that there is always something interesting and rewarding, and it never ends." Internal documents that surfaced during a US trial in the spring of 2026 showed that other Meta employees were concerned about signs of increasing "reward tolerance" among users. In an email conversation from 2020, someone wrote about Instagram: "Oh my god, guys, Instagram is like a drug." A colleague replied: "Haha, I mean, all social media. We are basically the dealers."

The fear of missing out. Notifications and likes are other components of the social media apparatus that get people, especially children, hooked. Mark Griffith, professor emeritus of behavioral addiction at Nottingham Trent University, stated that winning a competition for likes is "a rewarding thing that gives you a little moment of happiness."