What is Social Media Addiction?
Social media addiction, sometimes called problematic social media use, or social media overuse, has been described as a form of psychological or behavioral over-dependence on social media platforms by an individual. Psychologists have described social media addiction as a behavioral disorder similar to Internet addiction disorder, gaming disorder, and other forms of disorders associated with overusing the digital media. Generally, social media addiction can be defined as the compulsive usage of social media channels resulting in the significant inability of a person to properly function in various life domains over a long period of time.
The latest social media addiction facts suggest that more than 210 million people in the United States suffer from social media addiction. With research by experts in psychology and mental health suggests that social media addiction is more prevalent in women and girls more than men and boys, it was observed that the adverse effects of this behavioral disorder on individuals usually depend on the kind of social media platform used. Simply, an individual can be said to be addicted to social media when they prefer to spend too much time online rather than be engaged with meaningful social activities or some productive work.
The Adverse Effects of Social Media Addiction
Even though it does not involve eating, drinking, or smoking any poisonous substance, as in the case of drug and alcohol addiction, there is no doubt that over-dependence on social media networks also has its adverse effects and can really be detrimental to mental health. Mental health professionals have concluded that social media addiction can have adverse effects on the addicted users, such as damage to the psyche and mental health. This can ultimately have long-term effects on an addict’s personality and confidence, and even pose more threats like depression, and trigger crime involvement or suicide. Some of the adverse effects of social media addiction are discussed below:
Insecurity
The inundation of users’ timelines with overly filtered photos on Instagram can diminish many people’s self-esteem and instill insecurity and loss of self-confidence. In the same way, obsessively checking your social media feeds for updates just before bed can have adverse effects on your sleeping pattern and contribute to insomnia and other sleep disorders.
Furthermore, one of the adverse effects of social media addiction is that online posts typically portray a picture-perfect version of the realities in everyone’s life. My friend always says, “nobody is posting their failures on social media platforms” Usually, what you see on the social media timelines is not always real because everyone has their problems, issues, and challenges. However, because of what you have seen or watched, you might end up comparing your own life with that of those popular faces and celebrities, and start thinking less of your own life.
Social media creates an avenue for an unhealthy comparison between individuals, by the number of likes, number of followers, and number of comments on their posts. For people who are famous and have a greater number of followers, it often gives them a feeling of grandiosity and egocentrism. When people in your social media circles seem to be having a good time and living large, you may feel worthless, envious, and experience a gloomy mood. Research has shown that an uncontrolled use of social media can demotivate people, make them aggressive, and cause a drop in their level of confidence.
Cyberbullying
Social media users are people of different age groups. Many of these users range from adolescents to adults. Just as the privilege for anonymity and ease of use that social media networks have given their users, this privilege has also increased the rate of cyberbullying. Cyber bullies can safely hide behind their smartphones and PCs to threaten, assault, and demean others without fear of the consequences. Today, cyberbullying is no longer restricted to children or teenagers, it is also being experienced by adults on social media. Being a victim of cyber bullying can trigger stress and depression, leading to a decline in mental health.
Social Anxiety
Even though the goal of social media is to ease and enhance communication with others, this kind of communication is not always as real and satisfying as with actual human interaction, which everyone actually craves. In fact, it has been observed that one of the adverse effects of social media addiction is that it can make people more distant and detached from real-life relationships. Social media addicts often don’t get easily distracted, often lack concentration, and often find it even more difficult to engage in face-to-face interaction. Sadly, one of the adverse effects of social media addiction today is that many young adults rather spend more time indoors with their smart devices instead of keeping real friends.
Distraction
Addiction to social media has been known to decrease productivity because users can spend hours scrolling through their feeds when they could really be doing something else. This means that most of the time spent online viewing photos and videos, liking posts and posting comments are really unproductive, as these social media activities do not require the use of intellectual abilities. Instead, activities on social media are mostly a distraction from profitable intellectual activities like reading and researching on the Internet. Consequently, the brain will not get enough food for development, and this can slow down the brain’s response rate and cause a decline in intellectual abilities.
Fatigue and Stress
One of the adverse effects of social media addiction is how it triggers fatigue and stress. As social media users constantly switch from one task or app to another, they are prone to information overload. This information load can tire out the brain, especially as it is received randomly without a regular pattern. Because the brain needs time to accept data and process it into intelligible information, multitasking on social media makes the brain work overtime. Consequently, this can prevent the brain from relaxing, and this fatigue stresses the mind, thereby making it hard to concentrate on anything at all for a reasonable amount of time.
Peer Pressure
Furthermore, one of the adverse effects of social media addiction is that the obsessive use of the social media can also create what is commonly called FOMO – the fear of missing out. This is mostly prevalent amongst the young adults and adolescents. As young adults want to do what everyone else is doing and “stan” the latest fad and trends, this can evoke anxiety and result in negative emotions, thereby creating mental health problems, stress, and anxiety disorders.
Depression
As earlier stated, social media has the tendencies of making a perfectly happy person completely vulnerable and eventually depressed. People often go online to seek other people’s opinions for validation. This endless crave for attention, coupled with seeing other people happy when they are going through a tough time, or even as trivial as getting less likes or comments than someone else can create a feeling of inferiority and fuel resentment or jealousy. These and many more can lead people to break and eventually metamorphose to depression. One sad example of the adverse effects of social media addiction is how a young lady on Twitter, who asked for a number of retweets to confirm if she should commit suicide or not – and sadly, she got more than the number of retweets she requested and eventually killed herself.
Fake News
The propagation of fake news is one of the adverse effects that social media overuse can bring. Social media is increasingly being used to create and broadcast false opinions and information indiscriminately. Sadly, as many social media users barely conduct a background check on the source of the news to verify its accuracy, false accusations, misinformation, and propagandas are on the rise. Propagandists manipulate social media users to blackmail others and spread violence, change the opinion of the society for their own gains, and employ other forms of manipulation.
Adult Content
Because of the freedom and anonymity privilege that social media platforms provide, these channels are hardly free of pornographic material. Most times, kids and teenagers get exposed to these X-rated contents through social media for the first time, and quite sadly, the addiction can become unquenchable with time. Consequently, this becomes a serious issue, as this exposure might influence a mental disorder and trigger sex crimes, such as rape and child pornography. Recently, India had to ban the app “TikTok,” because of the spread of adult material on the platform.
These are some of the adverse effects of social media addiction that addicts are prone to. Therefore, users are advised to minimize and control their social media use, so it does not affect their mental health and productivity.
