<Anchor>
If you use
social media excessively, your brain may change, making you more impulsive or more sensitive. In particular, reactions such as likes and angry reactions on social media have a greater impact on adolescents' brain development.

Cho Dong-chan is a medical reporter.

<Reporter>
A man and woman in their 20s who use
social media 3 times a day for more than 30 hours.

[Woman in her 30s using SNS: It's easily accessible, and I don't think there's anything better than this (SNS).]

I know I see too much social media, but it's not easy to cut down.

[Male in his 30s using social media: I was thinking about reducing it, but it wasn't easy.]

The most worrisome thing about using social media is reactions such as 'like' or 'angry'.

[A man in his 30s using social media: I think a post that expresses my identity was a bit well received.]

[Woman in her 30s using social media: If the reaction is low, was my post today not good?]

It is the amygdala of the brain that is directly involved in the reactions of others.

Shippudens can also be intensely active during the season, but subsides as we age and establish our self-identity.

However, when a team of researchers in the United States compared adolescents who used social media more than 20 times a day with those who did not, their amygdala activity rose dramatically throughout the three years.

It means being much more sensitive.

We can't conclude if this is a disease or a temporary change, but if it continues into adulthood, it can worsen into impulsive dysregulation.

In other adult studies, the brains of adults who used social media so much that their daily lives were disrupted had weakened areas of impulsive control.

It's become similar to gambling addiction.

[Sunyoung Moon/Professor, Department of Mental Health Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital: It makes the brain feel more stimulated about irregular stimuli and want to do more of these things.]

Education is needed from the age of youth so that they can use social media in a balanced way.

(Video Interview: Han Il-il, Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik, CG: Choi Jae-young)