Social Media Addiction
Abstract
Over the past few months I have been extensively researching social media addictions: its causes, its effects, and the aspects that make it so addicting. I chose this topic because social media has become a daily use for a majority of the people I know; including myself. Before writing this paper I didn’t think social media addiction was a real issue, more of an excuse for being on your phone so much. However, after finishing my research I’ve found that this is a serious problem that isn’t talked about enough.
Reflection
I was surprised by many things that I found throughout my research, most perhaps by the amount of people that suffer from social media addictions. It is estimated that 210 million people suffer from social media and internet addictions worldwide (Longstreet). When I was trying to find a subject to research and stumbled onto social media addictions, I originally assumed that it was problematic but not a huge issue, now I know that it affects millions of people and has very serious problems associated with it. Expert on the subject Adam Alter, who recently wrote a book on social media addictions, said, “All addiction essentially involves the treatment of a psychological need that isn’t met elsewhere: insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, and so on. Social media addiction is this way too.” In this way social media is very similar to substance addictions which is a huge issue. I also found it quite interesting that Alter said that teens were more susceptible to social media addictions because, “Teens are susceptible because they’re at a developmental stage that makes them prone to social insecurity.” I had no idea that social media addiction was this big of an issue, now more than ever. The world is becoming more and more digital and as people start spending more and more time on social media rather than face to face people are going to start becoming addicted to social media because they depend on it just how other substance addictions work, you depend on it so you keep going back to it. I’m very passionate about trying to resolve this issue because on its current trajectory this problem is only going to get worse. In my research I found that breaks from social media as well as time restrictions can help keep people from being addicted.
Longstreet, Phil, and Stoney Brooks. “Life Satisfaction: A Key to Managing Internet & Social Media Addiction.” Technology in Society, Pergamon, 28 May 2017, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160791X16301634.
