Being addicted to social networks only makes us lonelier.

from the point of view of psychology, why do people enjoy the behavior of "drying"? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

It's an instinct.

Whether you "bask" in the content of people or things, is the life experience or mood sentiment, they all have one thing in common, that is all related to you. In essence, all these "sunburn" behaviors are all about conveying information about ourselves to others. Psychologists call this behavior self disclosure.

People seem to be naturally keen to show their information to others, according to statistics, in what we say every day, there are 30%~40% about ourselves; On the internet, the ratio can grow to more than 80%. Self-disclosure is an evolutionary instinct that gives us some survival advantages, such as narrowing relationships with others, getting feedback, and allowing us to improve our performance.

We can also get a thrill from the information we have about ourselves. Researchers at Harvard University found that when people express their thoughts or describe their personalities, they activate two areas of the brain that are related to the reward mechanism, and get a similar thrill to eating food and sexual activity. In order to have the opportunity to obtain this kind of pleasure, the test person is willing to give up even more money reward.

It can be seen that the various "sunburn" on social networks is not sickness, but the continuation of our own instinct in the virtual world. Social networking makes self-expression easier. In the past, if we wanted to tell someone something about ourselves, we could only do a little bit of communication with someone specific. On social networks, the same information can be spread in multiple threads. We know that in a couple of hours or even a few minutes, we can "bask" in everything and be seen by hundreds of people. This attribute of social network makes the threshold of self disclosure lower and more efficient, and also enlarge its psychological pleasure. Maybe this is the driving force behind all sorts of things that people enjoy doing on the Internet.

Is it good or bad?

So is it a good or bad thing to "bask" in your own life on a social network? One idea is that the heavy users of social networks have little friends in real life, and that being addicted to social networks only makes us lonelier. But research shows that social networks can actually reduce loneliness. In a recent study, for example, researchers at the University of Berlin divided college students into two groups, one requiring them to improve Facebook's status updates and the other to remain unchanged. A week later, those who raised the frequency of state updates showed a significant decline in loneliness and no change in the other group; more interestingly, the decline in loneliness was not related to whether a person responded, as long as the state was updated and the sense of loneliness decreased.

In addition to relieving loneliness, self-expression on social networks can strengthen and broaden our relationships.

Psychologists have long discovered that self disclosure is the lubricant of interpersonal relationships. When we disclose information about ourselves and share our thoughts with others, our relationship is closer. In response, the other side will also disclose some information related to themselves, so reciprocating, the formation of a virtuous circle, so that the relationship continues to deepen. Many studies have shown that self-expression on social networks can also produce similar effects, promote our relationships, increase our social capital, and ultimately promote happiness.

There seems to be a "strong and strong" phenomenon in which people who are extroverted, cheerful and have more social connections are often more active on social networks. Their social advantage is that they can migrate to the virtual world and gain more from it. But sometimes we can see that some people who are more introverted and less social in real life show different side on the Internet. This may be because of the fact that communication in the virtual world is less restrictive and more stressful than face-to-face communication in real life, giving them the opportunity to show "real Me".

So, overall, the "sun" on social networks is not a bad thing, it can enrich our social life and improve our happiness.

Of course, everything can not go to extremes, "sun" too much will also bring some problems. No one will be interested in every detail of our lives, if addicted to the pleasure of self-expression, the whole of their lives to "bask" in the Internet, will only make the viewer feel tired, but also may give the impression of narcissism. In addition, in a conspicuous way to "bask", will gain superiority as the main purpose, also easy to incur disgust. If we can avoid these misunderstandings, to share what is really interesting, to pay attention to equal and high-quality communication, to form a virtuous circle of self-expression, then all kinds of "sun" will provide a useful supplement to our social life.