July 28, 2026

"When I was meant to be with friends, I hid in the bathroom to absorb it, ingesting the spikes of serotonin and hits of dopamine, then instantly feeling regret and disgust."

Writes Ella Hodson, in "I’ve been addicted to social media for 17 years. Here’s how I quit/‘Chained to a screen’ since she was ten, Ella Hodson feared her phone was making her sick. So she took action and got her life back in just a few months" (London Times).

Posted by Ann Althouse at 9:37 AM
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7 comments:

baghdadbob said...

Is this article "click bait?" Oh, the irony!

7/28/26, 9:42 AM
Enigma said...

The problem is that social interaction does not meet the criteria of "addicition" per se. It's natural, normal, and nice. Women are generally hardwired for empathy and socializing. The social channel -- face to face vs. a device -- is the only question. Back in the day, teen girls either hogged the landline phone or got a dedicated phone so they could "be with" their friends and mumbling for hours on end. Every day.

If highly extraverted and lacking opportunities for face to face interaction, Ella stands to go right back to social media pretty soon.

Maybe she should join a quilting club, sewing club, painting club, music club, book club, cooking club or hang out with kids in schools? I mean, just go back to how women behaved before the iPhone.

7/28/26, 12:11 PM
tim maguire said...

Years ago we bribed our daughter to stay off screens for a month. Every part of her life got better and when she went back online, she exercised more judgement about how to use it.

7/28/26, 12:20 PM
Lazarus said...

The spikes and dips in dopamine (or whatever it is) maybe be more frequent, stronger, or harder to control in online interactions than in real life. You may be happy to see a friend and converse. That pleasant high smooths out over the course of your interaction. It's different from being liked or disliked or attacked by masses of strangers, over and over again throughout the day. It's easier to become habituated to the highs and depressed by the lows.

7/28/26, 12:52 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...

I have five sons all over the world. I interact with them and their wives a few times a week. What's the problem? Haidt's data is not good. We have assumed this must be bad, just as dime novels, movies, Mad Magazine, and Dungeons and Dragons were going to destroy our youth. I'm so tired of this.

7/28/26, 1:13 PM
bagoh20 said...

I don't do much social media except this blog and X, but I am addicted to the internet. I can go down rabbit holes of exploration into all kinds of esoteric subjects and blow a whole day at it, but I justify it because I do come out smarter at the end, even if the knowledge has little use, but then again most knowledge we collect has little use beyond the pleasure we get finding it, which is something and a really pleasant high.

7/28/26, 1:39 PM
john mosby said...

Yeah, bagoh20, I think all these 'the internet is Satan incarnate' articles are just an attempt to counteract the internet's usefulness as a detour around gatekeepers. CC, JSM

7/28/26, 7:15 PM

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