8 Telltale Signs of Social Media Addiction
Do You Or Anyone You Know Has Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) or Social Media Disorder (SMD)?
- This article has two parts; 1) 8 Telltale Signs of Social Media Addiction, and 2) The Research Findings of Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD).
Which gender and population group are found to be addicted to Facebook? These are revealed by the Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) research findings below.
It seems these days that the whole world is connected to the internet and almost as many are connected to Facebook. With over 900 million users worldwide, there’s a good chance you have heard someone say out loud that they are addicted to the platform.
When you heard that comment you might have just taken it as something they were saying rather than realizing that there are people out there that have a genuine addiction to using the social media site.
Is Social Media Disorder (SMD) Real?
It would certainly be reasonable to wonder if someone could genuinely be addicted to using a social media platform. The fact is that people have the capacity to become addicted to a great many things.
When we typically think of addiction we think of drugs and alcohol or sex and gambling. But in addition to those things, people can be addicted to TV, food, and others.
In fact, according to one documentary, the state of West Virginia has large segments of its population addicted to Mountain Dew.
A social media platform like Facebook gives people an opportunity to get feedback from friends and strangers and when a person lacks feedback in their personal life, then they can seek it out on something like Facebook.
The type of feedback typically given on that platform is superficial but even so, it’s something that many have come to crave. If you are wondering whether or not you or someone you know is addicted to this social media platform then you’ll be interested in looking at the telltale signs of Facebook addiction.
8 Telltale Signs You’re Addicted To Using Facebook or Social Media
1. Checking Your Status Is The First Thing You Do
If one of the first things you do when you get up in the morning is to check your status then this is a sign you may have, or be developing Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction.
If you find that you check your status just before you start school or work, or when you go on lunch break, or checking posts when you finish school or work, or when you arrive home, then it has certainly become an addiction.
When something takes over your life where you crave it and you find yourself letting other things go in lieu of having time for the addiction, then you can be sure that’s what it is.
2. You Report Every Aspect Of Your Life
If you or someone you know lives a life based on what they think will go over well on Facebook then it’s a good indication that you or the other person is becoming addicted to Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction to the platform.
When you start making decisions about what you do in life based on how it will be seen on this social media platform then it’s becoming problematic and it is interfering with your life choices.
If you want to go to a restaurant and you’re thinking of just running down to some local joint that you like but then you decide that it won’t be cool enough to report on Facebook and so you go to another, then this is showing you that your addiction is controlling your life.
Just like any other addiction it can manifest in a negative way and impact your life negatively if you let it continue to spiral out of control.
3. You Find Yourself Sharing Your Secrets Online
Almost everyone has at least a skeleton or two hidden away in their closet.
But the reason why it’s hidden in the closet is that people are usually smart enough to know that they don’t want the world knowing about it.
When someone starts becoming addicted to a platform like Facebook, they sometimes find themselves sharing very private information about themselves that makes them vulnerable.
If you find yourself doing this then there’s a real concern that you are starting to develop or have already become addicted to using this platform.
Parents of young children should monitor, and educate their children about personal privacy, and the danger of disclosing personal information to strangers.
The whole idea of addiction is doing something to the extreme even though it has a negative impact on your life. When you feel that you have to reveal these deep secrets just to get a response on social media then it is likely that your Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction has spiraled out of control.
4. You Get Jealous When Others Get Likes And Comments While You Don’t
These social media sites establish ways for users to interact with the platform and each other. On Facebook some of these ways are by liking, commenting, and sharing posts.
A normal user is glad to see some interaction by their friends when they place a post but when it doesn’t happen then it’s no big deal.
Someone who has become into Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction, however, finds that they get disappointed when a post they made doesn’t get a lot of likes, shares, or comments.
Equally, it is very common for someone who has become addicted to actually start getting jealous of others on the platform that gets more interaction with their posts.
This is a sure sign that the person has become addicted to using the platform. They have an abnormal desire to get interaction and to have people confirm that they are okay.
They want everyone to recognize that they are special and that their posts have value and they determine that based on other’s interactions with it. This is a sign of lacking self-esteem.
5. Over Sharing On Social Media
You want to share everything including where you are at now, which restaurant you are eating at, which hotel you are staying during a vacation, and taking a photo of your food/dish and post it before you eat them.
This prompt to over-sharing behavior has been very common without due diligence to personal privacy and security, whilst inviting stalkers over time.
You want to immediately upload these activities to show others. You are keen to post every little aspect of your life that can become a habit that is not productive in your other personal goals. This can be a definite sign of Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction.
6. Obsessed To Add More Friends And Strangers
You want to add more friends so that others would not judge you as being a loner.
You feel embarrassed that your friends have over a thousand friends and you don’t. You care so much about what others think of you, and you want to add more friends, including strangers, just to become popular.
7. Eager To Know How Others Comment On Your Post/Videos
When you post or upload a video, you want to see if anyone has commented on it. You want to know what others think of your post or videos.
If the comments or likes are low, you feel unhappy and desperate to know why people are not liking or commenting on your posts.
This is yet, a clear indication of Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction.
8. You Want To Know What Other People Posted
You log in more often because you do not want to miss anything of everything posted by others. This is a sign of social anxiety where you need to be updated and keep current with your friend’s activities.
In doing so, you can tell others about another so you feel included in the group.
Is Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction Evil?
This and other social media platforms are not inherently evil.
In fact, Facebook has given many people a super-easy way to keep in contact with one another when in the past they would have never kept up with each other as much without that type of platform.
That means that this is a tool that can be very helpful if you know how to use it wisely.
Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD) Research Findings
Many academic researchers have attempted to study Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD). These studies offer many different viewpoints and varying results.
For example, in “Impact of Facebook Addiction on Students Academic Performance“, the findings indicated that Facebook users have a negative impact on academic achievements. However, another research study indicated that academic achievements are not impacted by Facebook or social media usage among college students.
However, many research findings seem to agree that loneliness and women are the major cause of Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction
The other would be social anxiety whereby shy people would expose themselves more freely over Facebook than on personal social interaction.
Facebook usage among teens in the lower-income groups is also confirmed by the research findings of Pew Research Center (see below).
The findings indicated that teens from lower-income households (less than 30,000 per year) tend to use Facebook more often than those teens from higher-income households.
According to Psychology Today, whether a person is addicted to Facebook or any social media is difficult to be confirmed unless it is diagnosed by a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist. The Washington Post offers a great checklist as well.
The Pew Research Center conducted a study in 2018 that identify Facebook usage among Americans. Their findings provided 10 major facts.
It should be noted that Facebook is no longer the top social media site among teens as of 2018, but certainly, the landscape of social media constantly changes.
Conclusion
There are many research studies on Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD)or Social Media Addiction (SMA), both by academic researchers and by private research organizations.
Many of the research findings have a conclusion with all or some of the following results that negative self-esteem, lower education, lower-income, and woman have a higher tendency to an addiction disorder.
Another research study conducted by The University of Twente in “Facebook addiction: Where does it come from?“ -A study based on the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, concluded with similar results.
In its 15 years of operations, and with close to over 1 billion users around the world, Facebook has revolutionized social media.
If Facebook Addiction Disorder or Social Media Addiction has proven to be a social problem, it may be beneficial for Facebook to limit the time of usage per day as was done for the research of addiction in gambling.
Again, I would conclude that using Facebook is beneficial in many ways. These include keeping in contact with family and browsing the latest news. However, one should be wise not to expose or to share personal information in any public domain.
Furthermore, it is common to find that many people are spending time on the smartphone rather than having a conversation with their family and friends while out dining. These are not children or teenagers, but parents and adults alike.
By the way, can you imagine how one restaurant encourages its customers to turn off their cell phones while dining?
How about you? Do you spend more time on Social Media platforms while dining with family and friends? Or perhaps seen others doing so?
