Consciousness remains scientifically unexplained, with no hypothesis yet ruled out or universally accepted. This paper argues that consciousness is fundamentally first-person perception. It proposes the antagonism hypothesis: consciousness arises from conflicts in mature individual experiences that cannot be seamlessly integrated, and the function of consciousness is to address and navigate these conflicts. The hypothesis draws on predictive processing, information theory, thermodynamics, and neuroscience.
A combination of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and metaphor therapy (MT) can effectively reduce problematic social media use (PSMU) by changing participants' cognition and behavior. Thirty individuals with PSMU received the intervention, while another thirty served as controls. The therapy addressed the psychological needs and unreasonable cognitions underlying PSMU, which behavior-only approaches often miss. The results indicate that MBCT combined with MT is a useful intervention for PSMU.