網(wǎng)絡(luò)深井，險(xiǎn)象環(huán)生

By+Nicholas+Kardaras

“Im going to kill you while you are both asleep，” the wild-eyed 13-year-old girl said as she flailed1 and kicked her father before biting his arm. This was the second time in less than a week that Heidi had flown into a violent rage because her parents had taken away her Chromebook and her access to social media. It would also be the second time that she would have to be taken to the psychiatric2 emergency room.

When her parents， John and Melanie， first called me for help， they described Heidi as a sweet， happy， loving girl whose teachers had always declared their favorite student. With a tendency to gravitate toward overachievers，3 she loved playing soccer， hiking and taking mountain bike rides with her dad—the man she bit.

John and Melanie， supportive suburban New Jersey parents with college degrees and their own tech business， were blindsided4 by Heidis social media addiction. “It all started when she came home in seventh grade with a Chromebook that the school had given her，” they told me. Ostensibly given for school purposes， the Chromebook came loaded with Google Classroom5—which also， unfortunately， included Google Chat and various Google Chat communities.

Once this educational Trojan horse6 entered their home， John and Melanie found that Heidi was more and more preoccupied with its social media chat rooms， spending hours on them every night. Because the chat rooms were part of the Chromebook platform， they were not able to disable them. Then Heidi started becoming preoccupied with raunchy YouTube videos and also began playing an addictive progression game similar to Minecraft.7

Over the course of a year John and Melanie saw their daughter transform from a sweet， innocent girl who loved spending time with her parents into a sexualized， foulmouthed and violent terror. And sadly， she became a girl in need of psychiatric treatment.

Early adolescence is a time of dramatic change for most kids， and arguably， Heidi may have been headed for trouble with or without her Chromebook. It is also true that many kids use social media responsibly and without issue8. But a growing body of evidence shows that social media and immersion in the digital world can be contributing factors in the development of an array of psychological problems—from addiction to depression—and young people may be especially vulnerable.

Social connection is not only the most essential part of being human， it is also a key ingredient in happiness and health. Thanks to social media， we are the most connected society that has ever lived： each second people in the U.S. send more than 7，500 tweets， 1，394 Instagram photographs， and two million e-mails； they also view more than 119，000 YouTube videos.endprint

Predictably， the younger you are， the more you text. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center poll， cell-phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 send or receive an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day， whereas all adults （18 and older） exchange a daily average of 41.5 messages.

For a species hardwired9 for social connection， that should be a wonderful thing. And yet the rise of social media and technology has coincided with an apparent decline in mental health. In 2014 psychologist Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University analyzed data from nearly seven million teenagers and adults across the U.S. and found that more people reported symptoms of depression in recent years than they did in the 1980s. Teens， in particular， are now 74 percent more likely to have trouble sleeping and twice as likely to see a professional for mental health issues. According to a 2016 fact sheet from the World Health Organization， depression is now the leading cause of disability globally， affecting 350 million people worldwide.

There are certainly many intervening factors that may be driving this global trend， but we do have preliminary research linking depression with social media usage. In a 2014 study， social psychologists found another reason why people can feel down after Facebook sessions： they feel that the time spent is not meaningful.

As social creatures， we find purpose and meaning and bolster10 our emotional states largely through the social and cultural context created by contact with others. Not getting the right kind of human contact at key developmental periods in childhood can lead to profound emotional and psychological problems.

Social media has an impact on other basic psychological needs—including our need for novelty， called neophilia.11 Human brain is biologically primed for novelty， which， in turn， has helped us to survive cataclysmic environmental change.12 Unfortunately， this hardwired thirst can be overwhelming in the information age， in which every hyperlink， tweet， text， e-mail and Instagram photograph can be an opportunity to experience something new. As with an alcoholic in a liquor store or a chocolate lover at Willy Wonkas， the multitude of opportunities for novelty can be exhaustingly hyperstimulating.13

And what about the human need to experience reward？ We know that humans like activities that release the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain—a lot.14 Evolution has given us incentives via a “dopamine tickle” to pursue certain lifesustaining activities，15 because dopamine made us feel good. But we have discovered that digital stimulation feels pretty good， too， and similarly lights up our dopamine-reward pathways.endprint

So then where does modern digital technology， which plays off these intersecting human needs for connection，16 reward and novelty， leave us？ Short answer： addicted or， at the very least， potentially vulnerable to screen addiction. Many adults and kids have developed compulsive texting and social media habits precisely because such predilections quench our thirst for novelty while tickling our dopamine-reward pathways.17 And like addicts， they can go into withdrawal18 without it.

“等你們倆都睡了我要?dú)⒘四銈?，”說(shuō)這話(huà)的時(shí)候，這個(gè)13歲的女孩憤怒地瞪著眼睛，對(duì)她爸爸拳打腳踢，之后還咬了他的胳膊。在不到一個(gè)星期的時(shí)間里，這已經(jīng)是海蒂第二次因?yàn)楦改笡](méi)收了她的谷歌筆記本電腦并且不讓她使用社交軟件而暴怒了。她也不得不將被第二次送進(jìn)精神疾病急診室。

當(dāng)海蒂的父母約翰和梅勒妮第一次來(lái)尋求我?guī)椭臅r(shí)候，他們說(shuō)海蒂是一個(gè)可愛(ài)、快樂(lè)、充滿(mǎn)愛(ài)心的小女孩，而且也總是老師們最喜歡的學(xué)生。以前的海蒂一直朝著優(yōu)等生的目標(biāo)努力，她熱愛(ài)踢足球、徒步旅行以及和爸爸一起在山中騎行——而現(xiàn)在，海蒂卻會(huì)咬她的爸爸。

約翰和梅勒妮住在新澤西的郊區(qū)，夫婦二人都有大學(xué)文憑，并經(jīng)營(yíng)著自己的科技公司。他們一直都非常支持海蒂，但海蒂沉溺于社交媒體這件事卻讓他們感到措手不及。他們告訴我，“這一切都是從海蒂七年級(jí)時(shí)帶回了學(xué)校發(fā)的谷歌筆記本電腦開(kāi)始的。”借著教學(xué)的名義，電腦里安裝了谷歌課堂——但很不幸的是，里面還有谷歌聊天工具和各種谷歌聊天社區(qū)。

自從這個(gè)名義上為了教學(xué)活動(dòng)的“特洛伊木馬”來(lái)到他們家，約翰和梅勒妮就發(fā)現(xiàn)海蒂越來(lái)越沉溺于社交媒體上的聊天室中，并且每晚她都要花上好幾個(gè)小時(shí)來(lái)聊天。因?yàn)檫@些聊天室是谷歌筆記本運(yùn)行平臺(tái)的一部分，所以約翰和梅勒妮無(wú)法禁用它們。后來(lái)，海蒂開(kāi)始迷戀觀看YouTube視頻網(wǎng)站上的低俗視頻，還開(kāi)始玩一種能夠使人上癮的類(lèi)似于《我的世界》的升級(jí)類(lèi)游戲。

在一年的時(shí)間里，約翰和梅勒妮眼看著自己的女兒從一個(gè)喜歡陪伴父母、天真可愛(ài)的小女孩變成了一個(gè)崇尚色情、滿(mǎn)嘴臟話(huà)、有暴力傾向的“恐怖分子”。而令人傷心的是，她變成了一個(gè)需要精神治療的女孩。

對(duì)于大多數(shù)孩子來(lái)說(shuō)，青春期早期是充滿(mǎn)劇變的一段時(shí)間，可以說(shuō)，不管海蒂用不用谷歌筆記本電腦，她都可能會(huì)在這段時(shí)期面臨一些煩惱。當(dāng)然，也有許多孩子在使用社交媒體時(shí)是理智的，并且不會(huì)出現(xiàn)什么問(wèn)題。但是越來(lái)越多的證據(jù)表明，使用社交媒體以及沉溺于虛擬世界會(huì)誘發(fā)一系列的心理問(wèn)題——包括成癮和抑郁，并且年輕人可能會(huì)尤其容易受到影響。

社交不僅僅是人類(lèi)生活中最不可或缺的部分，它還是影響人幸福和健康的關(guān)鍵因素。社交媒體使得我們生活在人類(lèi)歷史上聯(lián)系程度最高的社會(huì)當(dāng)中：在美國(guó)，人們每秒鐘會(huì)發(fā)出7，500多條推特，1，394張Instagram照片，以及兩百萬(wàn)封電子郵件；而且每秒鐘會(huì)觀看超過(guò)11.9萬(wàn)個(gè)YouTube視頻。

可以預(yù)見(jiàn)的是，社交媒體用戶(hù)越是年輕，發(fā)送的短信數(shù)就會(huì)越多。皮尤研究中心在2011年所做的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示，18到24歲之間的手機(jī)用戶(hù)平均每天會(huì)發(fā)送或接收109.5條信息，而成年人（18歲及以上）用戶(hù)平均每天發(fā)送或接收的信息數(shù)是41.5條。

對(duì)于一個(gè)為社交而生的物種來(lái)說(shuō)，這理應(yīng)是件好事。但是伴隨著社交媒體和科技的發(fā)展，人們的心理健康狀況也在明顯下降。2014年，圣地亞哥州立大學(xué)的心理學(xué)家讓·M. 特溫格通過(guò)對(duì)美國(guó)各地近七百萬(wàn)青少年和成年人的相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行分析后發(fā)現(xiàn)，近年來(lái)有抑郁癥狀的人數(shù)要比上世紀(jì)80年代多。特別是青少年人群，他們現(xiàn)在患有睡眠問(wèn)題的幾率要比以前高74%，而青少年去咨詢(xún)心理健康問(wèn)題專(zhuān)家的幾率是之前的兩倍。2016年世界衛(wèi)生組織發(fā)布的一份資料簡(jiǎn)報(bào)顯示，抑郁癥已經(jīng)是目前全球范圍內(nèi)導(dǎo)致身心障礙的主要因素，并影響著全世界3.5億人的生活。

當(dāng)然還有很多干擾因素推動(dòng)著這個(gè)全球性的趨勢(shì)，但的確有初步研究將抑郁癥和社交媒體的使用聯(lián)系起來(lái)。在2014年的一項(xiàng)研究中，社會(huì)心理學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)人們?cè)谑褂媚槙?shū)后會(huì)感到精神低落的另外一個(gè)原因：他們覺(jué)得之前花在臉書(shū)上的時(shí)間是沒(méi)有意義的。

作為社會(huì)性的動(dòng)物，我們?cè)诤艽蟪潭壬鲜峭ㄟ^(guò)人際交往所創(chuàng)造的社會(huì)與文化環(huán)境來(lái)找到自身存在的目的和意義并改善我們的情感狀態(tài)的。在童年時(shí)期的關(guān)鍵發(fā)展階段中，缺乏恰當(dāng)?shù)娜穗H交往會(huì)導(dǎo)致嚴(yán)重的情感與心理問(wèn)題。

社交媒體對(duì)其他基本的心理需求也會(huì)產(chǎn)生影響——包括我們對(duì)于新奇事物的需求。從生物學(xué)的角度來(lái)說(shuō)，大腦使我們生來(lái)就渴望新奇的事物，而這一特征也幫助人類(lèi)在災(zāi)難性的環(huán)境變化中存活了下來(lái)。不幸的是，這種天生的渴望在信息時(shí)代可能會(huì)變得難以控制，因?yàn)樵诋?dāng)下，每一個(gè)超鏈接，每一條推特、信息，每一封郵件，每一張Instagram照片都會(huì)成為我們體驗(yàn)新鮮事物的機(jī)會(huì)。這種狀態(tài)就好像一個(gè)酒鬼生活在一家酒館，或者一個(gè)巧克力愛(ài)好者生活在威利·旺卡的巧克力工廠(chǎng)一樣。大量體驗(yàn)新奇事物的機(jī)會(huì)在讓我們感到極度刺激的同時(shí)也讓我們十分疲憊。

那么人類(lèi)想要體驗(yàn)獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)的需求又發(fā)揮著怎樣的作用呢？我們知道人類(lèi)喜歡——或者說(shuō)是非常喜歡——能夠讓大腦分泌神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)多巴胺的活動(dòng)。人類(lèi)進(jìn)化鼓勵(lì)我們通過(guò)刺激多巴胺來(lái)進(jìn)行延續(xù)物種的活動(dòng)，因?yàn)槎喟桶纷屛覀兏械娇鞓?lè)。但是我們也發(fā)現(xiàn)，數(shù)字刺激同樣可以讓我們感到非常愉悅，并且它與刺激多巴胺獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)通道的原理是相似的。endprint

所以，現(xiàn)代數(shù)字技術(shù)暴露了人類(lèi)對(duì)社交、獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)和新奇事物這些相互滲透的需求的弱點(diǎn)，它將會(huì)把我們帶到何方呢？簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)，它會(huì)使我們上癮，或者至少可能會(huì)讓我們變得容易沉迷于電子設(shè)備。很多成年人和孩子已經(jīng)養(yǎng)成了強(qiáng)迫性發(fā)短信和刷社交媒體的習(xí)慣，因?yàn)檫@樣的行為能夠滿(mǎn)足我們對(duì)于新奇事物的渴望，并且可以刺激我們的多巴胺獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)通道。而且像癮君子一樣，這些人如果遠(yuǎn)離了電子設(shè)備，就會(huì)像進(jìn)入戒毒期一樣（難受）。

1. flail： 猛擊，猛打。

2. psychiatric： 精神病的，精神病治療的。

3. gravitate toward： 受吸引，移向；overachiever： / 超等優(yōu)秀生。

4. blindside： 出其不意地打擊。

5. ostensibly： 表面上地；Google Classroom：谷歌教室，一種可以幫助老師快速布置任務(wù)和接受反饋的程序。

6. Trojan horse：“特洛伊木馬”，來(lái)自希臘典故。希臘聯(lián)軍久攻特洛伊未果，因而假裝撤退，只留下一具巨大的中空木馬，特洛伊的守軍將木馬作為戰(zhàn)利品運(yùn)回城里。到了夜晚，木馬腹中暗藏的希臘士兵打開(kāi)城門(mén)，最終特洛伊淪陷。后人用“特洛伊木馬”這一典故比喻潛藏內(nèi)部的顛覆分子，也被引申用來(lái)比喻“害人的禮物”。

7. raunchy： 淫穢的，下流的；Minecraft：《我的世界》，一款高自由度沙盒游戲，玩家可以在單人或多人模式中通過(guò)摧毀或創(chuàng)造方塊以創(chuàng)造各種各樣的建筑物。

8. without issue： 原指無(wú)子女，這里指沒(méi)有后續(xù)問(wèn)題。

9. hardwired： 天生的，（能力、方法、活動(dòng)類(lèi)型等）基本固定的。

10. bolster： 增強(qiáng)，改善。

11. novelty： 新奇事物；neophilia： // 對(duì)新奇事物的喜愛(ài)，喜新癖。

12. be primed for： 為……預(yù)先準(zhǔn)備好的；cataclysmic： // 災(zāi)難性的。

13. Willy Wonka： 威利·旺卡，是電影《查理和巧克力工廠(chǎng)》的主人公，此處Willy Wonkas指他的巧克力工廠(chǎng)；hyperstimulating： 過(guò)度刺激的。

14. neurotransmitter： 神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)，在神經(jīng)細(xì)胞間或向肌肉傳遞信息的化學(xué)物質(zhì)；dopamine： // 多巴胺，一種傳遞興奮及開(kāi)心信息的神經(jīng)遞質(zhì)，和人的情欲、感覺(jué)有關(guān)。

15. incentive： 動(dòng)機(jī)，刺激；tickle： n. 使人發(fā)癢、感到愉悅的東西，下段中則作動(dòng)詞解。

16. play off： 使……暴露弱點(diǎn)；intersecting： 相互交叉的。

17. compulsive： 難以控制的，禁不住的；predilection：// 喜好，嗜好；quench： 解（渴）。

18. withdrawal： 戒毒（或脫癮）期。endprint