“Social media is the new tribal fire, but human biology hasn’t changed in 50,000 years, unlike human technology.” ―Billi Gordon Ph.D., in Psychology Today

Neurochemically, the squirts of slavering juice triggered by approbations in social media, act like dinner bells in the part of our nervous system that works like Pavlov’s pup’s, and are as addictive as juicy bones scattered round the tribal fire.

“The Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) of the brain monitors social needs by releasing dopamine when we achieve social success and inspiring neurochemical deficits when we don’t. Tragically, social media is not the VTA’s friend.”

―Billi Gordon Ph.D.

When our nervous system is deprived of slavering juice by negative feedback, we experience withdrawal symptoms.

“The physiological cues that the VTA uses to determine social status from negative social media experiences are the same as those occurring in our ancestors’ brains when the tribe banished them.”

―Billi Gordon Ph.D.

Collecting slavering juice is the bread-and-butter of social media predators, who sell it to neurochemical laboratories.

“As was to be expected, the discovery of the nervous apparatus of the salivary glands immediately impelled physiologists to seek a similar apparatus in other glands lying deeper in the digestive canal.”

―Ivan Pavlov

Round the remnants of the tribal fire, the headman’s pup says to the missionary’s pup, I like you, my friend, for your excellent taste.

[SKIP MORAL IN … SECONDS]