Or at least that is what Paul Zak intimated during a TED talk on the notion of trust amongst humans and the hormone oxytocin, two items that seem relatively separate from the role of social media in our lives, but let’s backtrack to get a firmer grasp on this idea.
To sum up this part of a wonderfully enlightening lecture: Zak studies oxytocin, a hormone he declares is “the moral molecule,” and how increased levels of it in the bloodstream are directly related to increased levels of trust, empathy, and happiness.
Scientific experiments Zak conducted led to his conclusion that the more oxytocin present in one human body (which is generated only for short amounts of time) leads that human to act with more generosity, understanding, compassion, and trust towards other humans. Certain instigators increase the level of oxytocin in the body, but connection with other humans was the big one, including the use of social media.
Some of Zak’s studies experimented with the ways in which we connect with other people, and how those connections impact the levels of oxytocin in humans. One such experiment investigated the role of social media, and Zak found that “social media produced a solid double-digit increase in oxytocin.”
Is this why I’ve been nicer to everyone since signing up on Twitter (News - Alert)?
One man experienced a 150 percent increase in oxytocin while browsing his girlfriend’s Facebook page. That was a larger jump than Zak had ever seen in previous experiments, but the reasoning followed suit. According to Zak, changes in oxytocin levels predicted subjects’ feelings of empathy. “So it's empathy that makes us connect to other people. It's empathy that makes us help other people. It's empathy that makes us moral.” And connecting with others better enables us to feel empathy because of the chemical changes in our brains when those connections occur.
Examples of this notion can be very basic: A person who is properly nurtured as a child is more likely to be a more morally-centered adult. This is not news to us. Criminals are found to have abusive and neglectful pasts, more often than not.
But the entrance of social media into this equation is a multi-faceted one. This writer has been musing over the idea that social media is actually doing less to connect us with others in good ways as it transfers all communication onto the Internet, through computers, smartphones, applications, email, as opposed to face-to-face contact.
People think it is weird now to call someone on the phone. Text is the norm, and “just send me an email” has replaced “just give me a call.” In this day and age of incredible digital speed, we are “connected” to so many people at the same time through so many different technology-based mediums that we have forgotten how to actually connect with anyone in-person or “real life” as I like to call it.
But, if Zak’s discoveries are anything to go by, perhaps our bodies are chemically adjusting to this cultural change as well. Maybe we are now producing oxytocin, the hormone that enables us to understand what trust, good will, and unselfishness are, as a result of these connections made over social networks instead of…a tea party, for example. (Although, I am fairly certain that my body’s production of oxytocin skyrockets during tea parties.)
The question now remains: How do we take this great news about what social media does for us as social creatures and put it to good use? Let’s take advantage of our happier selves and spread the love.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
