“But we all know how hard it can be to get off the internet once we’re plugged in: In fact, a study in 2014 found that 6 percent of the global population suffered from full-blown internet addiction. This is because the internet has evolved to become very good at triggering dopamine release in our heads — and dopamine is a very pleasing chemical to have released in your head. For example, liking Instagram photos triggers dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens, a key node in the reward system. That study actually found that, if you’re a teenager, liking Instagram releases more and more rewarding dopamine as you go from being 14 to being 18. Which explains a lot.” (Source)

1. The quote this article is pulled from is discussing the longterm effects of using the internet and how it effects our brains.
2. This quote is suggesting that because, as children, teens and young adults, we all are interacting with each other on the internet (on apps such as Instagram) and liking each other’s posts, this (liking posts and receiving likes) causes a dopamine rush which can becomes addictive over time.
3. In connection to the things I’ve witnessed firsthand as a young adult with many friends my own age, this seems to be an accurate representation of how my generation interacts with social media. I’ve known many people who simply cannot put their phones down or who are always checking their social media notifications. I’ve noticed that most children who have smart phones tend to not have social media accounts and only use social media/the internet to watch videos or play games.
4. Because the information in this quote doesn’t come as a surprise to me, I feel like that alone helps me understand and remember just how reliant people my age are on their smartphones/social media and the internet. I tend to not think about how often I’m on social media or how satisfied or unsatisfied I am with something I’ve posted depending on how many “likes” it gets. However, after reading this article, I’m now more aware of the fact that I do pay more attention to things like “likes” than I think.

“Multitasking participants had more difficulty filtering out irrelevant information than those focusing on one task at a time. Multitaskers also took longer to switch tasks, juggle problems and wasted time searching for new information when information they had was better and more reliable. In fact, students from Columbia and Harvard universities retained facts better when they knew they couldn’t get them from a computer, according to a study published in Science magazine in 2011. If they knew they could get the facts later online, they just remembered how and where to get it.” (Source)

1. The article this quote is from is discussing the longterm, lasting effects of using technology every day and how that impacts our health.
2. The quote I chose is implying that because of how regularly we multitask nowadays, it’s difficult for most people to not only focus on one thing at a time, but to also retain important information without having to looking it up online.
3. I’ve experienced this lack of being able to retain information first hand, many times. Over the summer, I started learning how to speak and read Korean. As most people know, learning how to speak and read another language requires focus and the ability to memorize new words and sentence structures that are learned every day. However, I found myself thinking of the words I had learned, but not remembering what they meant. I’d often use Google or have to refer back to notes I had saved in my phone. I feel like this lack of being able to retain the meanings behind the words is due to not having to retain much information anymore because I always have a way (my smartphone and the internet) to find what I need, when I need it.
4. In the context of how this increases my understanding of myself and those around me, I think this information just reminds me that instead of automatically reaching for my phone, I should try my best to really remember what certain words or quotes mean. Unless I really don’t know or have yet to learn whatever it is I’m curious about, I think it would be more helpful if I took the time to try to remember what it is that I’m unsure of. I think that people who are experiencing similar issues with retaining information would benefit from doing the same thing.