Influencers, Social Media & Dopamine: The Good, The Bad, and How To Make It Work For You

In recent weeks, a teaser for the TV show titled Beast Games was released, and amassed 50 million views in the first 24 hours. The show is made by the popular American influencer MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), and launched on Amazon Prime on December 19th 2024, with succeeding weekly episodes with the grand finale airing on February 13th 2025.

It is events like these that constantly remind us of the popularity and far-reaching influence of today’s content creators. It is hard to wrap one’s head around the fact that 26 year-old Jimmy Donaldson, who is regarded as one of the most successful influencers of his time, has more than 340 million followers on his main Youtube channel and an estimated net worth of $1 billion. However, that begs the question: How did the industry of so-called ‘influencers’ come to be?

About the Industry of Influencers

There is a common misconception with influencers and content creators. Most people believe that they are interchangeable terms, but that isn’t actually the case, though they indeed are similar.

Content creators are a more general term for people who who produce content for consumption. However, influencers are a more specific type of content creator, who’s main goal is to influence their audience’s opinions, choices or behaviors. An example of a content creator could be a person who posts insightful blogs on cooking and sharing recipes, and an example of an influencer would be someone who promotes certain cooking products to shape consumer choices. Put another way, influencers are content creators, but content creators may not always be influencers.

How to Become A Successful Content Creator 101

With any trade, there are certain tips and tricks to become successful, and the world of influencers are no exception.

A cornerstone to influencer success has to be authenticity. Real and relatable content can be quite engaging for audiences from different backgrounds. This can be achieved though various methods, such as sharing one’s own personal stories and experience. It is important as a creator to establish a bond of trust with one’s followers, so that one will continue to have a loyal base of fans.

In addition, high-quality production is also a contributing factor. Smooth and creative transitions combined with some creative cuts can create a great visual experience that feels both well-composed and professional at the same time. It is also often times crucial that the audio is of a good quality, with clear and direct dialogue (if needed) and reduced background noise that could be distracting.

However, it should be noted that these aspects should revolve around creative storytelling. Perhaps a behind-the-scenes cut? Adding some humor and emotion to the content like Khaby Lame? Maybe incorporating larger-than-life personas like MrBeast? Or just going with something original? It is almost always more engaging and interesting if what you’re doing is creative and involves thinking ‘outside-the-box’.

WHY Is It So Effective?

Influencers are no doubt inseparable from social media. Most people, especially younger generations, are glued to their phones thanks to the engaging content from the influencers on social media, and these influencers can get their content promoted on such popular platforms, forming a positive feedback loop. But is often times overlooked when discussing the significant impact social media has on today’s youth is why it is so good at what it does.

People can go endlessly scrolling on TikTok and Youtube for hours without stopping, and this is no coincidence. These platforms are specifically designed to keep you on your phone, ‘consuming’ content that their large algorithms offer you. Although influencers may not be actively thinking about it, they are actually manipulating our biological systems, the same systems that are manipulated by addictive drugs. What I’m talking about is dopamine.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps us feel pleasure. It is also involved in a lot of our daily lives, including motivation, movement, attention, etc. Doing something enjoyable, like achieving a goal, will make your brain release dopamine. This burst of dopamine creates a feeling of satisfaction, encouraging you to repeat those behaviors for the reward.

There are a lot of things that can result in the release of dopamine in the brain. These can range from exercise to eating some delicious food. It also includes social media.

Social media, as stated before, is designed in many ways to be engaging. It brings about a temporary release of dopamine in our brains, and with it a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. However, that’s also where the problems start to arise. As social media can have similar properties to that of drugs, it can be addictive as well. That’s basically the reason why some people can’t resist to put down their phones, and scroll through social media all day.

The Problem With Social Media

Social media isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Influencers and content creators can bring to people niche experience and expertise that would otherwise be hard to access. But when it becomes addictive, the disadvantages start to outweigh the advantages. These drawbacks not only include the time and energy that is wasted engaging with social media, it also includes another much bigger problem: an increased dopamine base level.

What I’m about to cover mainly revolves around the theory that everyone has a dopamine base level. It basically states that every individual has a baseline level of dopamine activity in the brain. This baseline level influences everything from our mood to our actions to how we respond to rewarding stimuli. For some people, activities such as social media and gaming falls on the higher end of the dopamine activity spectrum, so it brings more reward to the person. In comparison, other activities such as studying and exercise may not be as attractive, making them comparably less rewarding and in turn less likely to be done.

So what’s the problem here with dopamine base levels? Well, it’s the fact that nowadays, there are increasingly more people who engage in increasingly more high dopamine activities, especially engaging with social media. Endless scrolling is one such example. It satisfies our brains by providing a constant stream of novelty and possible rewards. It hooks us by maximizing the fear of missing out (FOMO). However, repeated exposure to high dopamine activities like scrolling through social media invokes a psychological process known as tolerance. It’s just a fancy word for describing the body’s ability to withstand the effects of something after repeated exposure, so you’ll need more of the thing to achieve the same effect. In the case of social media, you’ll start to feel dissatisfied even after you’ve scrolled all day, as you’ve been engulfed by tolerance. You’re dopamine base level starts to increase, and less rewarding but productive activities such as studying will become increasingly hard to complete.

This could become a feedback loop, and what started out as harmlessly exploring social media can become a threat to other everyday activities, possibly effecting an individual’s life in unexpected ways, ranging from a decreased interest in doing other things to increased aggression.

How To Make Social Media Work For You

In an increasingly digital world, it is hard to not use social media. However, there are many ways that you can access the benefits of it while not being controlled by it.

From a psychological perspective, there are many ways that you could take back the reins.

Reducing your dopamine base level is an effective way. One recommendation from experts is limiting phone use (and usage of electronic devices in general). Try putting down your phone if you have the urge to start scrolling and doing something else for a change.

Boosting physical activity or engaging in meaningful hobbies can be a nice alternative to prolonged phone usage, filling in the time that you would usually use to scroll through social media.

In addition, reducing notifications from social media as well as becoming mindful and aware about the problem can both help.

Furthermore, increasing the dopamine released from doing certain activities can also help in mitigating the problem. Implementing more interactive studying methods, going on a run with a group of friends instead of by yourself, etc.

Conclusion

We should admit that the world of influencers and social media in general has quite an expansive reach. However, it is quite like a double-sided blade. It can both help you and harm you.

Lastly, I would want to address the question: Why am I writing this article? I’m publishing this as the 600th article of New News, and as winter vacation is approaching, to express my concern on social media’s possible effect on individuals during this period. I hope that everybody can act responsibly with our digital devices. It is never too late to put down your phone and start doing something meaningful.

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