People who never post aren't shy or too cool for it. Most of them were TRAINED into silence.

Every like, every notification, every post that flopped has been quietly shaping how much you share, WHAT you share, and whether you share AT ALL. And the research shows that just scrolling and watching comes with its own cost. In this video I break down what's actually going on in your brain, and give you simple ways to take some control back.

By the end you'll know which type of poster you are according to science, what trained you into it, and why the best thing you can do on these apps might be to post anyway.

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REFERENCES

The Four Posting Types:

A questionnaire of 835 young people in Spain, Chile and Colombia that sorted them into four posting types based on how often and what they post. (Rodríguez-Illera et al. (2021), Pixel-Bit)

Link: https://doi.org/10.12795/pixelbit.74205

How Likes Change What We Post:

An online experiment where 248 users got more or fewer likes than expected on a simulated post. More likes made people want to post sooner; fewer made them change what they'd post next. (Stsiampkouskaya et al. (2021), Computers in Human Behavior)

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106940

Viewing selfies vs. group photos:

A survey of 275 people linking frequent selfie viewing to lower self-esteem and group photo viewing to higher self-esteem. Posting had no effect. (Wang, Yang & Haigh (2017), Telematics and Informatics)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.07.004

Additional background references:

1. The foundational work on reinforcement and extinction. (Skinner (1938), The Behavior of Organisms)

2. Shows dopamine responds to the gap between what we expect and what we get. (Schultz, Dayan & Montague (1997), Science)

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5306.1593

3. The original theory of how we judge ourselves by comparing to others. (Festinger (1954), Human Relations)

https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202

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I'm Dr. Sahar Yousef, a cognitive neuroscientist and MBA Faculty at UC Berkeley, where I run the Becoming Superhuman Lab. My goal is to make neuroscience accessible and actionable for anyone looking for better ways of living and working. Everything on this channel is built on the realities of how your brain and body actually work.

FIND ME ONLINE:

Website: https://www.saharyousef.com/

Instagram: / drsaharyousef

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/saharyousef

Becoming Superhuman Lab: https://www.becomingsuperhuman.science/