Social Media Addiction and Conceptual Neuroimaging
There is a new [March 31, 2026] fact check on Komo News, Is a social media reckoning on the horizon?, stating that, “The recent ruling against Meta and Google, which owns YouTube, highlights the shift in legal accountability for social media giants accused of harming a teenager’s mental health through their platforms.”
“According to Reuters, plaintiffs and regulators are now pushing for changes like: limiting algorithm-driven recommendations for minors, reducing features that encourage prolonged use, like infinite scroll and push notifications, and strengthening age verification systems.”
“In a separate case, a New Mexico jury ordered Meta to pay hundreds of millions of dollars after finding the company violated state consumer protection laws tied to child safety. A judge is now considering whether Meta could be required to make structural changes to its platform or fund harm-reduction efforts.”
There is a new [March 31, 2026] report on The Guardian, Two-thirds of under-16s with accounts on Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok kept access despite ban, stating that, “Meta, TikTok and Google are being investigated for allegedly disobeying Australia’s social media ban. The Australian government has accused big tech firms like Meta, TikTok, and Google of disobeying the landmark ban on under-16s using social media, after the country’s online safety office warned many children had accounts.”
“The eSafety Commission claimed the technology being used by the companies – such as facial age estimation – was not effective enough, and alleged the firms had lax guardrails which allowed teens to repeatedly attempt age verification until they were successful.”
“The laws, which came into effect last December, carry a maximum A$49.5m (US$33.9m, £25.7m) penalty. Wells said eSafety was continuing to gather evidence before it decided whether to pursue such fines against any company.”
“In particular, eSafety said that facial age estimation had higher error rates for people close to the 16-year-old cut-off, and claimed some platforms would have known some children aged 14 or 15 would receive “false” results of being judged to be over 16.”
Theoretical Neuroimaging
All the options to stave off social media addiction are missing one thing: theoretical neuroimaging or, simply, conceptual mind imaging.
This means the display of a parallel of what the mind is doing, in the state of addiction to social media?
The proposition is to visualize usage data for an equivalence of how the mind is interpreting it, with respect to relaying and anchoring across destinations.
Say the mind is like a collection of shapes, with interconnecting lines for transportation between them. So, all memory and emotions involved in social media addiction can be represented, in a dynamic and almost real-time way, mirroring the human mind.
The objective is to let consumers see their usage for the motions of mind, so that it is no longer just casual to recommend adjustments, but risks are apparent if nothing is done.
Simply, using available and enforced frictions against features that make social media addictive may be bypassed or ignored, if there is nothing more to show how much the mind may be at risk, instantaneously and in cumulative amounts.
Many of the negative effects of social media, especially where comments have driven some teenagers to mental troubles, including self-harm, are also [probably] because they saw nothing to tell them where their mind is, when to drop or stop, and to ensure that risk is remote.
The conceptual neuroimaging application can use data points from sessions of social media to display and relay where the mind is going and how. The application can also be appended to some social media platforms, to have texts, audios, images, and videos, be relayed as they would in the mind.
Just to see. The goal is just to see. There would be scores. There would be recommendations from analytics. But ultimately, the goal is just to see. It may not mean that some people will adhere. But it will at least give willpower a better chance, as well as make whatever is recommended feel necessary.
The conceptual neuroimaging application can shape how the American Academy of Pediatrics approaches solving problematic internet use. Conceptual neuroimaging can be available, if efforts mount around it, by April 30, 2026. It is based on the postulation in Conceptual Biomarkers and Theoretical Biological Factors for Psychiatric and Intelligence Nosology.
This article was written for WHN by David Stephen, who currently does research in conceptual brain science with a focus on the electrical and chemical signals for how they mechanize the human mind, with implications for mental health, disorders, neurotechnology, consciousness, learning, artificial intelligence, and nurture. He was a visiting scholar in medical entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL. He did computer vision research at Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
As with anything you read on the internet, this article should not be construed as medical advice; please talk to your doctor or primary care provider before changing your wellness routine. WHN neither agrees nor disagrees with any of the materials posted. This article is not intended to provide a medical diagnosis, recommendation, treatment, or endorsement.
Opinion Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of WHN. Any content provided by guest authors is of their own opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything else. The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated these statements.
