Likes

LIKES

While visiting social media platforms, so often, so many of us tend to first check the ‘score’ in the ‘notification’ tab. ‘Has anyone liked something of mine’? ‘Has anyone tagged me’? ‘Has someone commented?’ We get obsessed with ‘Likes’.

We crave for approval. We request others to endorse our posts. We go around clicking on ‘Like’ for posts of others in the hope of a quid pro quo. We vent our anger and unhappiness at being ignored. We raise the issue of ‘dirty politics’ and ‘group-ism’. We withdraw into a shell and some of us give up.

The rush you feel when your post gets more ‘Likes’ than normal, has a reason: Dopamine. For every thumbs up or heart, we get a little psychological high through a shot of dopamine. The more ‘Likes’ the more shots. The more shots we have, the more shots we want. It’s a habit we quickly get pulled into. It’s addictive.

Now we find ourselves in a loop. It was believed that dopamine was responsible for pleasure in the brain, but we now know that rather than create pleasure it makes us seek it. While it is natural to seek recognition, approval and endorsements; over obsession for desirable response can lead to distress.

We must learn for performers from various fields. While they crave for the applause and the approval of their audience, their primary focus is on the joy that comes from giving the best efforts. There are cooks, farmers, artists, writers, workers who choose to find happiness beyond the ‘Likes’ by their own estimation of success.

So while we seek ‘Likes’ we must first focus on ‘liking’ what we do and doing it well. Since we understand that ‘Likes’ give the recipient a ‘high’ of happiness, we must express appreciation where it is due… not just in the virtual world but also in the real world. There are so many around, giving their best efforts. They deserve our ‘Likes’!

It is okay to seeks ‘Likes’ without over obsession

It is good to give others… the same satisfaction!

~ Pravin K. Sabnis