Social Media Addiction

Addictions may seem like simple pleasures at first. Unfortunately, that's the trap with any addiction. It starts out at a pleasurable interest. Gradually, it can turn into something that's life-altering and all-consuming. Not only can it alter your own life, it can ruin your family life. When it comes to addiction, most people think about the most popular ones like drug and alcohol addictions. However, there are many addictions that fly under the radar.

Now, the amount of followers on instagram and the number of views on snapchat are constantly stressing us out cause there’s always someone with more. An article on businessinsider.com says that today social media dominates users’attention with nearly 20% of total time spent online in the US across both desktop and mobile devices being on social media, Facebook alone making up 14% of that total time. Teens alone spend about 9 hours using media for their enjoyment according to CNN.com. Those 9 hours don’t include using media at school or to do homework. Some 13 year olds check social media 100 times a day for god’s sake. That’s like what 5 times an hour, so that’s every 12 minutes.

The average person spends about 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing on social media per day. That is 700 minutes per week, 3,000 minutes per month and 36,000 minutes per year. Most people don’t realize they are wasting these 600 hours per year just looking at their phone. The use of social media has been shown to influence and persuade people greatly in a negative manner. Although social media is one of the largest used platforms and is an easy source of communication, it has far more negative attributes. Social media affects society negatively through danger, invasion of privacy, vulnerability to falsified news.

The article “Students Addicted to Social Media” touches base on how students are addicted to the media. A study asked 200 students to be without their phone for 24 hours and the results weren't all that shocking. They responded with jitters and felt miserable just like a person with an addiction to drugs would respond. A student admit he was addicted to his phone and found it sickening, because it had turned into something he needed to have everyday. A student also wrote that “they felt lonely and excluded”, being able to talk to their friends and be on the media apparently gave him comfort somehow. What was intriguing was that students didn't talk to their friends at all, because they didn't have access to their phones. The 18-21 year olds said, “ Their lack of access to text messaging, phone calling, instant messaging, email and facebook meant that they couldn't connect with friends who lived close by, much less those far away”. (404) It is not necessarily the media the students missed, it's the people they text message with everyday and the people they keep up with on social media. It's like they have a bond and they’re tied together. Technology has changed the way humans interact. Instead of having a full conversations in person, teenagers are text messaging each other to communicate with one another. As teenagers we go to school everyday with thousands of people, giving infinite opportunities to interact with others, but students feel the need to stay in touch with

In today’s society almost every individual has some type of social media, whether it is Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter, People have accustomed to utilizing these types of social media and it has become part of their life and daily use. According to the essay “Students Addicted to Social Media” by the International Center for Media and Public Agenda, the study from the University of Maryland claims “American college students today are addicted to media” (Signs of Life in the USA 403). The university discovered that when these students are restricted from using media it is similar in terms of drug and alcohol addictions. During the study that the university conducted, students discuss how boring it is without media and how it gives them anxiety about not receiving information through social media. Other students claimed that texting and IM'ing gives them comfort and if they do not have these items then they feel alone and isolated from the world ( Signs of Life in the USA 404). Students are not the only ones who have an addiction of media but also parents and non-students. However, the International Center is accurate in some aspects and the responses students gave are very relatable which some people can agree with.

Today at 2017, the convivial media is being participated in every day, every min, second and hour schedule of the day. There are plenty wondrous experiences you are able to gain on social media, consequently, they don't just experience on social media, they additionally learn and capture offenders. Therefore, people all over the world always in needs to be participating in social media.In reason that today there are plenty of beautiful things, you can learn and experience on the internet that it's incredible to not participating to be on social media therefore in mind for the reasons that we are able to participate in all types of experiences on the internet, plenty of times we individually overuse it to the point where it's capitalizing on our lives over time.

In today's modern time teenager spend most of their day on social media, posting photos of what they are doing or what they are eating say like if they went on a date. social media seems to run today's society, thus it also takes most of our time and attention. It has been shown that teenagers have built and addiction to social media as if it was a drug addiction. I believe teenagers should have a limitation so they could be more active and not be lazy and be at home all day.

Second of all, using social media is not a good way to make people release their stress, but it actually isolates people. According to the article, “Addiction, Social Media,” “Social media addiction is an increasingly popular term used to represent heavy use of social networks that interferes with daily life. Many studies have shown that social media possess addictive qualities similar to drug, alcohol, or chemical addictions.” This quote explains that social media is not something that just about fun, it is addictive. Just like an alcoholic, all he or she wants is alcohol. When people are addicted to social media, they will more likely isolate themselves from the real world. They will not have the real relationship with others because everything they do is just texting through their social network sites. In addition, when people who are addicted to social media hangout with their friends, they will always check their phone for the news, statuses, and pictures that their friends on the virtual whole post. Moreover, these people will not have too much real communication with the person that they think is “friend” through the Internet. So, when someone is addicted to social media, all he or she do is living with social media, not the real world.

Social media has revolutionized the way United States society functions. Society will change based on technology whether we like it tor not; it depends on how we use technology to see the positive and negative effects of it. It is up to the individual whether or not to let social medias take over his or her life. From kids to teens to adults technology is crucial part in daily life. It is important to find a balance between social media and a personal life. It is up to the individual to create a limit of social media use, since it has positive and negative effects. In some cases the negative outweighs the positive.

A study at the University of Maryland had 200 college students disconnect from their phones for 24 hours and then blog about it: the students described the experience in terms similar to drug addiction going through withdrawal. Symptoms such as anxiety, craving, depression, and jitteriness were described, which coincide with symptoms familiar to drug addicts attempting to quit (Merrill Study). The feelings while using the social media are also similar to those of drug users, with one student admitting that social media provides “a constant feeling of comfort” and reduces feelings of seclusion from loved ones (Laster). However, regardless of this study, it is cogent to note that the American Psychiatric Association has not formal recognition of Social Media or Internet Addiction as an official psychological disorder. For this study in particular, critics such as blogger Zack Whittaker point out that the results were misinterpreted: the diagnosis of addiction is not a strongly supported one and this “addiction” is merely an escalation of the amount of time that individuals spend on social media sites that naturally coincides with the recent increase in their presence and importance in daily life (Whittaker). While investigation continues into whether the social media epidemic should be categorized as overuse,

There is not a clear stated definition of digital addiction however Shaw and Black (2008) characterize Internet addiction by excessive or poorly preoccupations, urges or behaviours regarding computer use and internet access that lead to impairment or distress. However as the term addict is a strong description DA is seen as a general misuse of the internet in various forms, as no formal definition exists the author sees the disorder as problematic computer usage resulting in negative consequences. According to Young et al DA is a broad term covering a wide variety of behaviours and impulse control problems. K.Young (1999) also categorised DA into five subtypes of DA, they are cybersexual addiction, cyberrelationship addiction; net compulsion (e.g. gambling or shopping on the internet); information overload (e.g. compulsive database searching); and computer addiction (excessive game-playing). This project highlights social network addiction which falls into the category of cyberrelationship addiction but also contemplates all other types.

Today’s youth generation, has a strong attachment to the online world. Many adolescents spend most of their time online versus offline. Therefore, one can consider these adolescents as a social network addict, a person who spends a fair amount of time on one or many social platforms. Throughout the three articles, “Social Networking Addiction: An Overview of Preliminary Findings” by Mark Griffiths, “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Nicole B. Ellison and “Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers’ use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy, and Self-expression” by Sonia Livingstone, show how this addiction has changed people’s communication among people. While there are

addiction to social media is not only such a pressing matter in society today, but it is a matter that

Social media is a part of everyone’s life. Social media issues permeate every aspect of a

In a similar case, Shanaz (2010) found that the use of Facebook was increased particularly among female university students in Malaysian universities, and was the most popular site among the female students aged 18-24 years old. The other survey also found that 85 per cent of students were using Facebook to communicate with other students in their courses (Ophus & Abbitt, 2009). The findings of Stern and Taylor (2007) also show that 49 per cent of university students use Facebook, and that of those, 3 per cent spent more than two hours. Likewise, Sheldon (2008) found the greatest common uses of Facebook among 172 students with Facebook accounts (N = 160) being entertainment (M = 3.23, SD = 1.19), maintaining existing relationships (M = 3.64, SD = 1.24), and passing time (M = 3.88, SD = 1.23) (Peluchette & Karl, 2008; Raacke