Is Addiction to Social Media Real or Simply a Lack of Self Control?
Since the last decade people are witnessing an explosion of social network such as facebook and twitter and are adding a new dimension to the web. Internet addiction and social media addiction is recognized as psychological disorders all over the world. Addiction of social media is sometimes referred to as someone spending too much of time using social media such as facebook, twitter and other form of social media.
They are using it so much and addicted to social median in such a way that in interferes with other aspects of daily life. People those who are addicted to social media forget everything in their life just like if they are engaged with other addicted things. Though there is no medical recognition that social media addiction as a disease or disorder.
But it mainly happens with heavy or excessive use of social media. Social media addiction can also be defines as the addict that could be considered with a compulsion to use social media to excess i.e constantly checking the media sites for hours on end. As per the research it has been found that symptoms of anxiety, depression and some psychological disorders in people which lead to the social media addiction.
A person can be said that he is addicted to social media if he does the following things:
- Read, comment and promote someone’s blog about nothing
- Hashtags in their email
- Check on Foursquare-everywhere he goes.
- If engaging in the social media is the first thing in the morning.
- Liking your own content.
Social Media is even more Addictive than Cigarettes
Though for most people social networking sites like facebook, twitter are harmless platforms for someone for social interaction as well as personal expression. But for some others it is more than an entertaining form of engagement and is has become an increasing compulsion.
As per the psychologists and from the research, it has been found that social media is even more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. As we know addiction is after all about feeding a compelling urge and this urge is very difficult to control because of the easy access availability of it.
Correlation Between Self Esteem and Social Media Addiction
As per another research it has been found that there is a great correlation between self esteem and social media addiction. It has been observed that being social online is easier for people who suffer from self esteem issues and facebook and twitter is much more easily formed in this type of group. We should also understand that social media is not causing addiction, it is the mental illness which is causing addiction.
Just like any other addiction, you can be addicted to social media if you don’t have self control. Everything has both positive and negative aspects. Social media is very good if it can used with self control and not spending much time spending on social media sites hampering the other daily activities.
Thus the social media addiction is directly related with self control. If you can control your urge and can understand the negative aspects f it and are fully focused on your work, social media can never be addiction for you at all.
Conclusion
It has been said that the boom of social media addiction comes when Americans are spending more and more time on social media sites. Social media addiction is growing very quickly and there is no question that it is addictive. It is seen often especially among the adolescent population. There are still lots of controversy going on regarding whether social media addiction is really an addiction or lack of self control.
But whatever it is, we should know that it is psychological and mental disorder and we should control ourselves from this dangerous addiction so that we can normally do with our daily activities taking the benefit of social networking sites.
