So this is why social media is so addictive. Oxytocin is a single neuropeptide also referred to as the “cuddle hormone,” because it’s the chemical that bonds babies and nursing mothers. The feel-good chemical is reportedly also triggered by social networking on the internet.
Adam Penenberg at Fast Company had a researcher measure his levels of oxytocin before and after a ten-minute Twitter sesh.”In those intervening 10 minutes my levels of oxytocin had risen 13.2 percent–as much as a groom at a wedding,” he writes.
Another journalist saw his levels of oxytocin increase 150 percent after going on Facebook.