Cell phones are one of man's greatest innovations, allowing us to connect and communicate with each other and with the world around us like never before. Providing us with convenience and entertainment in times of boredom, loneliness and insomnia, their pervasiveness is unsurprising with a staggering 4.68 billion users worldwide, and the number continues to grow. For many, they have become as important as the people in their lives and an essential element in getting through the day. It is estimated that the average person uses their cell phone for approximately five to nine hours a day. Cell phone addiction is a major problem in today's technology-centric society and has a strong and firm hold on the lives of many because its symptoms are comparable to those of drug addicts. As the influence of cell phones and social media continues to expand rapidly, psychologists and doctors around the world are conducting various studies to observe how and why these captivating gadgets affect not only our physical health, but also our mental well-being, emotional and social. Well. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that creates the feeling of pleasure and reward in our brain. It has a significant effect on reinforcement and is what drives us to seek out pleasurable activities. It is most activated in the brains of teenagers, causing them to be naturally attracted to things that awaken their dopamine levels. The human brain craves dopamine and is designed to seek out the new and unknown. This may explain why so many of us feel a compulsive need to constantly check our phones in the hope that something will give us the thrill of pleasure. Cell phones provide us with a constant stream of new information that generates bursts of dopamine in our minds making it difficult to put our cell phones down. Persistent notifications of likes, messages, breaking news, vibrations and rings from our cell phones stimulate dopamine. They also give us the satisfying feeling of social approval. The pleasure we feel after using our phones encourages us to use them again and again. Hyperexcitatory dopamine levels are directly related to the development of addiction. It creates what doctors call a “compulsive cycle,” which occurs when certain activities are repeated to obtain dopamine. The use of variable reward schedules of reinforcement also affects how our brains work. A common thread across various social media apps is the approximately two to three second delay when you refresh your news feed. This delay in seeing the number of new notifications and posts increases the wait making us addicted and forced to check it once again. The unpredictability of this feature is what makes it more addictive and causes a habit to develop. Knowing exactly what we will encounter when we go online pushes us to reconnect. New content increases our dopamine levels and makes us want more. The feeling of being left out of something important or of not knowing what's happening online pushes us to check our phones too. Our brain responds to this “draw to cool” mechanism as if it were a danger as it activates our fight or flight response triggering anxiety symptoms. The incessant notification alerts cause our brains to be in a constant state of stress and fear of damaging the frontal cortex of our brain, just like drugs like cocaine and nicotine do. Please note: this is just an example. Get a document now.