Social Media Addiction-My Honor Project
SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION
"I'm an addict. I just got lost in Facebook"
Replies a young mother when asked why she doesn't see herself able to help her daughter with homework, this case while extreme is suggestive of a potential mental health problem.
Social networking sites are seen as global consumer phenomenon and addictive use of social media has become an area of increasing research interest as it may affect over 210 million users worldwide.
If you have thought about leaving Facebook , swearing never to return only to weekly log back in a week later what is termed social media reversion , you're not alone as 44% of this U.S young adult sample reported problematic social media use (PSMU) which was strongly and independently associated with 9% increase of depressive symptoms.
Etiology:
Scholars have suggested that a combination of biological, psychological and social factors contributes to the etiology of addiction.
Neuroimaging studies have clearly shown the portions of the brain that are involved when engaged in social media. Social media engagement has been found to trigger three key networks in the brain – the mentalizing network, the the self-referential cognition network and the reward network":
-"Mentalizing network" means that when the human brain is not actively engaged in something, it tends to start focusing on other people to "see the world through a social lens," – a process called mentalizing. Occurs in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that engages in social interaction, creates empathy to other peoples thoughts and feelings, and helps us make judgments about other people that are perceived as being important and thus non-optional.
-Self referencing thinking about oneself is important for self-appraisals, and social competitiveness. In fact, humans devote about 30–40% of all speech to talking about themselves, but this number spikes to about 80% of social media posts. Egocentrism has been linked also to Internet addiction as it may facilitate the engagement of in addictive behaviors and attracts people to use it in potentially excessive way.
-Reward network Teens have exaggerated activity in the nucleus accumbens area of the brain, which is associated with reward system. The increased activity and size of the nucleus accumbens among adolescents is the reason for social approval and social outcomes administered by peers to be highly valued. It has been proven that an adolescents decisions (good or bad) are certainly influenced by the opinions of their peers. This behavioral tendency has been associated with increased activity in the reward network of the brain. Social media provide the adolescent with a constant supply of social rewards in terms of peer recognition and approval, as can be seen from the triggering of the reward network, which can serve as a powerful attraction to continued social media use.it is possibly the most important reason of disorder. Even more compelling is the fact that online social media engagement causes a release of oxytocin and dopamine making it much harder for people to resist the activity.
Susceptible groups:
An open web-based survey including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Results demonstrated that lower age, being a woman (indicating that women may tend to develop more addictive use of activities involving social interaction than men), not being in a relationship, being a student, lower education, lower income, lower self-esteem, and narcissism were associated with higher scores on the BSMAS . Although most effect sizes were relatively modest, the findings supported the notion of addictive social media use reflecting a need to feed the ego (i.e., narcissistic personality traits) and an attempt to inhibit a negative self-evaluation (i.e., self-esteem).
Signs of social media addiction:
. 1. You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planning how to use it. You feel a preoccupation to use Facebook or the immediate need to share. Over-sharing stems from saying too much and then regretting what we said. Those who suffer from an addiction do not always judge what is appropriate or inappropriate to post.
2. The default choice for your free time activity is to be on Facebook. You may leave your Facebook open in the background, Even when you are outside enjoying a drink with a friend, you log in to the Facebook app on your smartphone every now and then during brief moments of non-interactions.
3. You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems as a psychological escape. The use of Facebook then becomes a distraction from problems because ones attention is always diverted with its use.
4. You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook. With addiction, there is an element of withdrawal. We associated with withdrawal from drugs and alcohol and not necessarily behaviors but studies show that people can also go through withdrawal from additive behaviors like Pathological Gambling. When we talk about Facebook addiction, you may start to feel anxious if you cant access your network.
5. You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your relationships, it may come to a point when you get more comfortable socializing online than offline or fearful with face-to-face communication, which is a far richer experience than communicating online where one cannot actually see non-verbal communication.
Treatment for Social Media Addiction:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the Center for Internet Addiction and Recovery, that works by admitting the presence of the problem, must turn off all notifications, reschedule when checking social media (twice a day is an average) and help the addict find alternative ways of communicating.
*For people interested in the topic please visit the links below for further reading:
http://netaddiction.com/ebay-addiction/
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2004.7.384
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460316301095
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-online-secrets/201709/social-media-addicts-need-feed-their-egos
Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale
http://smaddiction.web.unc.edu/bergen-facebook-addiction-scale/
DISCUSSION QUESTION
1-How did this article make you feel?
2-How does social networking affect your life?
3-What do you suggest as a good alternative ways of communication?
Thank you all for reading; I'm waiting hopefully for your comments and answers.
1-How did this article make you feel?
It makes me reconsider the time I spent obsessing over my exes' social media (though that may not quite be what they had in mind? I wasn't communicating, just watching.) Instead of a distraction, it was the problem. I was thinking of it as a habit, maybe I should think of it as an addiction instead (or a compulsion?) considering how long it lasted and how many times I said I would stop, but went right back eventually.
It also makes me want to pat myself on the back for not being all that interested in Facebook before, or now.
2-How does social networking affect your life?
Apart from the incident I mentioned in (1), where I only joined so I could see what they were up to, I don't think it affects my life all that much, which I find surprising now that I think about it — I've had low self-esteem, depression, and been out of relationships for most of my life. I had a Facebook account years ago, when the rest of my family made their accounts, but I wasn't all that interested so I deleted it. I joined another social media site but that was only because they were going to pay me, I never paid much attention to it (like most people, apparently, as it's dead now.) There's one guy on YouTube whose Twitter I check whenever I remember he has one, but I've never felt the need to join and follow him.
3-What do you suggest as a good alternative ways of communication?
Well that I'm not sure of, as I was never great at socialising, before Facebook or nowadays. This makes me think about something my mother mentioned once, about being at my brother's house with a bunch of other people who barely say anything to each other face-to-face, usually they're all off in different rooms on some sort of device. When the power was out, though, they all ended up having to talk to each other. I don't know how well that would work if everybody in the room is this attached to their social media, though.
Thanks for posting this! It got me thinking and I learned something new (like the mentalizing network.)
@MorsVicta
awesome you learnt something new :) thanks for sharing and the 3rd question my family say all the time quote was how would people cope without technology since they much rather message via facebook than talk like it was in the old days
@MorsVicta I'm proud of your want to improve and that you learn something new ...that's awesome, social media definitely makes our actual socialization harder although face to face connection has a lot of advantages as voice tone and body language which we lost on networking.thanks a lot for your interest and participation I really appreciate that 😊
Chatting Addiction (article url included) - Does not apply to Listening addiction here. 
https://www.7cups.com/forum/GetSupport_28/GeneralEntries_39/ChattingAddictionarticleurlincluded_87182/
@CaringHand44
How did this article make you feel? Was interesting to read as i used to be always on facebook always needing to check it etc now im more casual its not a need but now and then i browse but not an urgency so id say this article made me feel intrigued with the info i just skimmed over it though will take a better look after not one for lots of text im more of a get to the point short sentences :)
2-How does social networking affect your life? Only use to keep in contact with family who no longer live nearby , to find stolen property find a job , maybe update my status now and then or check out motivational quotes that are shared from the groups pages im on or watch videos which is a great self care / distraction when low
3-What do you suggest as a good alternative ways of communication? Phone word of mouth but it is proven that social media things travel much quicker than old methods so not only can it be bad but good for the purpose of finding work or stolen property
Social media is good and bad, but we can't let it it consume us!
@emotionalwreck03. Exactly its about finding balance isnt it ?
Thanks for posting this, @CaringHand44 . I really enjoyed it 
1-How did this article make you feel?
This article made me feel sad in a few different ways. The first being that we are in fact, addicted to social media. I think we are all aware that the social media should be used to supplement our IRL conversations with others, but it's gotten to the point where it has seemed to reverse itself (i.e. no one really talks to one another).
It also makes me feel sad/ashamed that society is continuing to progress into this digital age where we are losing aspects of our humanity.
2-How does social networking affect your life?
Social networking affects my life by changing my communication with one another, by changing what motivates me, and by changing my self-esteem. Talking to others is just so much easier online, and I think that is why everyone turns to that media to convey a thought or message. But the problem is that it's really become the only option to talking with others, both people you know, and people you haven't had the chance to know yet. Simply walking down the street, people are glued to their phones, and It's causing us to miss moments with others.
My self-esteem is arguably worse off from social media because I'm constantly comparing myself to others. You see others having a great time, others who like way prettier than you, others who seem to have it all together.... but then there's me and I'm so much lesser than so and so. and it's inevitable to feel that way.
So now I'm stuck in that cycle of traveling to take pictures to post online, or taking selfies to get likes to reaffirm that I am pretty or good-looking, and hanging out with others to seem sociable, rather than just being mindful of the moment, having a great time, and recognizing our own beauty and positive aspects that we bring to others.
3-What do you suggest as good alternative ways of communication?
I think that in-person communication is still the best alternative to social media, but it's going to be tough to change that media when we have had an entire generation that has grown to know that as the societal norm (myself included).
Video chat/phone calls would be a good alternative too. (even though I slightly cringe when doing both of those 
)
4 - other thoughts.
I would be curious to see what other implications social media has on us, and what even moderate use does to our physical and mental health.
@ashleykae I liked your courageous comment so much and sense how much your communication with others and even your personal characteristics have been affected by social networking... even we think we communicate more it's not like the physical ones that's so true ....i agree with your suggestions considering the actual meeting with others that's really wonderful and yeah social media misuse is one of recent topic that require more research on the physical effects of virtual world on our life ....great discussion and really hit the point.... thanks so much for your true words
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@CaringHand44
A beautiful read, I must say. Extremely educational.
Social media addiction is indeed a severe problem among millennials, leading to various mental, physical, as well as psychological problems.
Although I'm not much of an addict, I would really like to cut the usage down. Thank you for the links, will be checking them out. :)
@damselinthisdress thank you for your beautiful words being aware of something is good, isn't?
@CaringHand44
Absolutely!
I feel at times I can be but at other times I can be afraid of social media. Like ill be to afraid of looking at someones profile it will turn me inside out
1-How did this article make you feel?
No comment.
2-How does social networking affect your life?
I was addicted to 7cups, to be honest, when I was a teen. Nothing to do at all but to study, had no social life outside school. I got attached to a few listeners and a few members. But I don't mind. I needed it.
3-What do you suggest as a good alternative ways of communication?
No comment.
