Addiction to social media

Introduction

Social media is an internet based tool or software that enables people to widely share information. Continuous increase in the use of social media programs or platforms, right from Instagram to Facebook, has made it clear that social media plays a significant role in the lives of many. Researchers believe that social media can be very addictive. Therefore through this article we will try to understand social media addiction.

Social Media Addiction

Browsing and navigating through social media has become increasingly popular or in- demand activity over the last few decades. There is a percentage of people that become addicted or influenced by several social networking sites and also indulge in excessive or uncontrollable use. This kind of excessive use of social media has become a worldwide concern especially for researchers who believe that it affects a person’s mental health.

One of the studies of 2011, conducted by American Academy of Pediatrics identified a trend called ‘Facebook depression’. This kind of depression has been detected in preteens or teenagers who spend excessive amounts of time on facebook.

Reasons behind social media addiction

Several studies have proved that social media can create an impactful effect on the human brain, and can generate effects just similar to addiction. Social media sites or platforms operate to escalate dopamine in the brain. When humans take specific actions which their brain interprets as important for survival, the brain produces dopamine (neurotransmitter) and rewards the person with pleasure. These kinds of chemical changes in the brain lead people to make use of certain things or media that helps them reduce stress or achieve pleasure like social media.

In addition to this research has shown that psychology and personality of a person can be considered as one of the important factors that can make the person dependable to social media. Special personality traits are also responsible for addiction to social media. Two of these personality traits are impulsive behaviour and “neuroticism”.

Other factors that are related to social media addiction are kind of emotional stability, extrovert or introvert nature of a person and “conscientiousness' ' (meaning the quality of a person to do their task thoroughly). People from different cultures can have different personality traits.

Research also states that teenagers who are addicted to social media or the internet have a difficult relationship with their friends or family members to whom they have found to be insecurely attached. Hence, it is important to mention that a person’s cultural, social, political and economical environment is related to their personality which according to research is highly related to their addiction to social media.

Downsides of social media addiction

Indulging or involving in social media once in a while is not likely to be harmful. However, there are some negative impacts that must be kept in mind while overusing social media. Some possible downsides of using social media are listed below −

• Depression or anxiety.

• Poor work performance due to spending too much time on social media.

• Disrupted or disturbed sleep patterns, especially when social media is used just before bedtime.

• Loss of privacy.

• Being misinformed because social media is often a medium for spreading misinformation.

• Decreased physical or personal activity, may affect one's health.

How do you know if you have social media addiction?

A mental health worker or employee can help an individual to determine whether the person is suffering from social media addiction or not. In other words, a person suspected to be social media addicted should be monitored to identify the consequences. Some of the methods can be −

• Identifying whether a person is using too much time period on social media.

• Identifying if a person is dependent on social media for most of the person’s daily work.

• Restlessness and impatience behaviour whenever they are unable to use social media.

• Anger issues or short tempers whenever the usage of social media is reduced.

• Lack of interaction with family members and friends, or lack of participation in social activities.

Ways of decreasing social media use

There are various ways or methods which can help one to decrease or reduce social media addiction. Some of them are −

• Monitoring the time which a person is spending on social media with the sim to reduce the time with every use.

• Setting daily work goals and creating a priority list with an aim to complete them.

• Seeking the help of a medical personnel like a counsellor who can provide necessary treatments for addiction, depression, anxiety and fear.

• Family members and friends should be patient and cooperative with the person by providing enough space for the person to heal.

Conclusion

We can say that there are both pros and cons of using social media but social media addiction is a social or psychological addiction that is described by extreme use of social media. This particular addiction is mostly affecting teenagers or students. Researchers all over the world are quite concerned about the impact this has on the mental health of the addicted person while trying to understand its future prospects and finding ways to minimise them.

FAQs

Q1. What are the reasons for using the Internet?

Ans. According to Bridgestock (2016), some important reasons for using the internet are to remain updated with worldwide events and an urge to express opinions on the internet- based platform. Other reasons include addiction to social media and online games.

Q2. What do you understand about behavioural addiction?

Ans. Behavioural addiction is considered as a disorder. Here people involve themselves in functions that help them to release pain or and experience pleasure.

Q3. What do you understand about alexithymia?

Ans. Alexithymia is a disorder in which people face difficulty processing emotional information and expressing emotions. People with alexithymia often tend to remain absent from social gatherings or limit their interaction with their community and spend more time in the virtual world.