Social media addiction

In this article we will talk about how addiction to social networks manifests itself, where it comes from and how to deal with it correctly.

Social media addiction is considered a real threat to a person’s mental state because it changes personality and ability to socially adapt. The whole problem is that the Internet is really capable of satisfying all human needs. They are standard, designed for everyone, and there are also narrow ones related to development and professional interest. And this is not surprising, thanks to social networks we can quickly exchange information, solve complex issues, plan some business and even make purchases.

A lot can be done by bringing like-minded people together online. However, the disadvantage of all this is that a person gradually becomes dependent on this virtual world and transfers almost all communication to social networks. Let's figure it out when we can say that a problem really exists and how to deal with it.

Social media addiction is a new mental illness: name

Social media
The World Health Organization itself does not recognize social media addiction as a disease. Moreover, their creators deny the existence of problems. However, this does not prevent people from becoming increasingly immersed in the virtual world. In the worst case, this becomes the only form of communication with the outside world.

Psychiatrists are sounding the alarm and putting this addiction on the same level as drug addiction or alcoholism. And indeed, it acts in a similar way. Only people start to worry much later, because too much communication on social networks is difficult to notice.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Symptoms

Content

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You regularly re-read your messages and comments, edit them and bring them to perfection; keep a close eye on the color scheme on Instagram, spend hours processing photos and creating layouts for your stories; With particular pleasure, you sort photos into albums, and friends into groups, and with disgust you unsubscribe from those who publish content chaotically, polluting your impeccable feed.

What it is

A condition or neurosis during which a person is haunted by obsessive thoughts and mania, as well as an acute desire for perfectionism. This disorder is characterized by the presence of repetitive rituals.

How do social networks influence

Research shows that people with OCD (and we are not talking about the Russian Olympic Committee) use smartphones more often. For them, updating their social media feed is one of the rituals that relieves nervousness, but there is no precise understanding of what is the cause and what is the effect.

Addiction to communication on social networks: concept

Social media addiction is a constant need to be online, forgetting that there are real people around. Moreover, the sense of time is lost. Often in this state, people actively spend money on all sorts of paid mailings, purchasing bonuses, and so on. From the outside, the situation looks very absurd. Gradually, such people constantly begin to check pages on social networks and email.

Accordingly, the more a person is drawn into virtual communication, the more difficult it becomes for him when there is no Internet nearby at all.

Advice from psychologists on how to get rid of Internet addiction

Before contacting your doctor for help, read the advice from experienced specialists below. Perhaps they will help you:

Use a timer. If it is difficult to control the time online, turn on the timer, and as soon as the time is up, do not allow yourself to continue virtual communication under any circumstances. The allotted time is no more than 30 minutes.
Ask your family to monitor you. The main thing is not to get irritated, so as not to spoil relationships with loved ones. Remember, they just want to help.
Make a list of things you will do. Now you spend much less time on social networks, treat yourself to pleasant things: shopping or a walk in the park, for example.
Eat without the Internet. You will see how food will begin to bring not only a feeling of fullness, but also pleasure.
Have you come to the cafe? Great, don't connect to the internet.
If you urgently need to find something on the Internet, search, but do not go to social networks.

At first glance, the advice is primitive, but for an addict it is not so easy to fulfill these requirements. Start small and see that everything will work out. If you cannot cope with the problem alone, specialists will always come to your aid.

The problem of adolescent addiction to social networks: features

Addiction of Adolescents to Social Networks
The main problem that addiction to social networks forces to solve is that it is observed to a greater extent in adolescents. In older and older adults, it does not manifest itself so clearly.

First of all, social networks are very popular and fashionable, and all boys and girls strive for trends. They always want to be aware of events. This is why they spend a lot of time on social networks and they become addicted to them. Moreover, teenagers do not have special life experience or responsibility like adults. They do not have to devote much time to family and work.

In addition, teenagers are still just developing their individuality, and therefore they are too dependent on other people’s opinions. They constantly post their own pictures and write things they think are interesting in order to get approval. They get used to putting their lives on public display, which is not a good thing.

Not everyone can get rid of this habit without consequences. This requires enormous willpower. Parents should also provide all possible assistance and support to their child. Their task is to suggest doing five simple things:

Spend up to two hours a day on social networks. Don't just look at the page
Write down the things that absolutely need to be done. And only when they are completed will you be able to log into the social network
Don't rush to tell everyone about everything. Keep personal details to yourself. Never forget that this can be used against yourself
Don't join groups you're not interested in and try not to read long news stories to reduce your time online.
Communicate in person as much as possible. Don't give up walking or traveling

Imposter syndrome

Imposter syndrome is the belief that your successes are not deserved, but are explained by external reasons: you were lucky, you misled real experts, and they showed leniency towards you. The man is sure that he is, in fact, far from an expert in his field, but a fraudster and his deception may one day be revealed.

The term “imposter syndrome” was first used in 1978 in an article by Paulina Clance and Suzanne Imes, when they said that many successful women believe that they are overrated and are not smart at all. Stereotyping in society reinforces this syndrome for many women: the ability to achieve goals, analyze, think logically and work in certain areas is still considered masculine by many for some reason. If you believe in such a structure of the world, then a successful woman can either believe that she has a masculine character, or that she is an impostor. Men are also pressured by their own stereotypes, and impostor syndrome is also inherent in them. The most striking example is Albert Einstein. Shortly before his death, he confided to a friend: “The emphasis on respect that surrounds my life’s work makes me feel out of place. I can’t help but feel like a fraud.”

Imposter syndrome is a mental reaction to events and circumstances that appears due to certain life experiences. This is not an innate character trait or a disease. There is an opinion that people who are competent in their field are susceptible to the syndrome. They can evaluate what more they could achieve and compare themselves with experts.

Elena Acharova explains the reasons for impostor syndrome: “Most often this is a consequence of low self-esteem. In every new business, any person can feel insecure, this is absolutely normal. With the advent of positive experience, this syndrome usually goes away, the person “gets used” to success. This should be normal. But in some cases it happens that a person cannot adequately perceive his merits. He is influenced by his inner experiences, and not by real events. This happens if a person was not supported in childhood, humiliated, spread rot. We need to deal with each situation individually.”

There is a phenomenon that is somewhat opposite of impostor syndrome and may reinforce it. It is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. This is when people make mistakes because of their low qualifications and because of this they are not able to realize these mistakes, so they overestimate their results. While “impostors” refuse tasks within their capabilities for fear of not being able to cope, the Dunning-Kruger effect contributes to the fact that incompetent specialists fail these tasks and do not even realize it. This harms everyone: “impostors”, incompetent specialists, and the companies in which they work.

How to deal with impostor syndrome

To understand how to fight, you need to identify the cause. If impostor syndrome manifests itself in a mild form in the form of uncertainty in a new business, then you can cope with it yourself.

How to fight the “impostor” on your own:

Create reference points for yourself. There is no need to compare yourself with others, compare your current level with your previous level. Record your achievements on paper. Whenever you doubt yourself, look at this list. This way you will see that you are truly improving.
Share your experience with other people. When you have some real experience, it is useful to share it with newcomers to the field. If the experience is useful and useful to others, then this will give it value in your eyes.
Analyze what will happen if you make a mistake. Most of our mistakes simply will not have global consequences. It’s also useful to ask your colleagues to back you up in case something happens and to notify those who are somehow connected with your task. Very often, the simple understanding that people are ready to meet us halfway is reassuring.

But it is worth remembering that sometimes this syndrome is a consequence of low self-esteem. Fighting it on your own may not be effective. Listen to yourself: if an “imposter” is ruining your life and you can’t do anything about it, then it makes sense to consult a psychologist.

Social media addiction - who is affected?

Features of addiction to social networks
It cannot be said that everyone can become addicted to social networks. There are many people who can go online once every couple of days, or even once a week, and respond to important messages or transmit information. Such people have different priorities in life and there is no place for dependence in them.

There are people who have no desire to communicate on the Internet at all. They may visit the page several times a week, but not for long out of boredom. This behavior is normal, but if you constantly occupy your free time with social networks, it will not end very well. In any case, after a few months, addiction will begin to develop.

The third group of people is the largest and it is precisely the addicted one. They tend to visit their page at least every 20 minutes. They are always waiting for a message, and if correspondence begins, then even chatting about nothing goes on for several hours. At the same time, they do not care at all what is happening around them.

Usually, lonely and timid people who find it difficult to communicate in person become addicted to social networks. But on the Internet they can feel like heroes. They themselves do not notice when they go beyond the line and become dependent.

Why social media is addictive

Social media addiction is a form of behavior generated by Internet addiction. It is characterized by compulsive and chaotic use of gadgets not for the purpose of communication or improving education, but to “keep my hands and head busy.” Risk factors include:

narcissism;
extraversion;
neuroticism;
social vulnerability.

Using social networks activates the reward center in the brain: “They like me and write nice comments, which means I’m popular!” In other words, it's about receiving instant gratification, no matter how real the praise is.

Social networks can become a problem for those who have not found their place in life. They run away from reality, stop striving for their goals and making any contacts. This is especially reflected in communicating with people: why meet and meet if you can like a photo and send a message?

Social networks are becoming a replacement for personal interaction. They quarrel, get divorced, make peace and solve global issues. In severe cases, self-doubt, coupled with sad past experiences, leads to even greater isolation and loneliness.

Causes of social media addiction - where does it come from?

Addiction to social networks can be explained by the fact that it is fashionable. As we have already said, young people always strive to be in trend. The fashion for alcoholic drinks and smoking has already passed. But now everyone blogs, writes their stories, and talks about their every step. The older generation communicates much less on the Internet.

In addition to the fact that age is the reason, it is important to remember that developers are trying to do everything so that people spend as much time as possible on their pages. To do this, they change the design, add functions and capabilities. That is, you can always view only what pleases you, and block all the negativity so that it doesn’t even catch your eye. In other words, you create for yourself an ideal world that is constantly accessible, where you will not be offended and only good things will be said. In addition, a person always has to face reality, which may not be so rosy. And people are looking for salvation from this on social networks.

Gradually, a person develops hormones of joy from spending time on the Internet, paid content and functions begin to be used. For some, social media is the only place they can be recognized. But we all enjoy being praised. So, if in the real world beauty or talent was not recognized, then he will try to be where all this is.

It is also important to note that addiction in adolescents develops due to a large number of complexes that appear during adolescence. But online communication allows you to depersonalize yourself to some extent and feel free.

Why do we like Instagram so much?

The writer recalls an incident from Paris, where in one of the most famous museums in the world a girl was desperately trying to take a good selfie.

“What seemed truly remarkable and tragic to me was the figure of a slightly stooped young man standing a little further away in a jacket with a hood. He was the boyfriend of one of the girls, but he stood there, aloof and indifferent, because they had found a replacement for him in the form of a two-foot-long collapsible aluminum stick. The lost expression I noticed on his face reflected the feeling that he was obsolete,” Brewer writes.

Surely each of us will remember a couple of similar situations from our lives. We met uninteresting people and dreamed of going home quickly, but at the same time we took a happy selfie and captioned it “It’s so good to meet old friends.” They felt bad and hated the event they found themselves at, but they still published a happy photo, where they talked colorfully about their trip to the concert.

Most often, such situations can be seen in popular tourist places: a couple of tourists run into a church or museum and quickly take a photo with a selfie stick with the phrase “We have 5 minutes.” But they could devote this time to getting a good look at the unusual interior. By the way, in 2014, Time magazine named the selfie stick one of the 25 best inventions of the year. Why are we so obsessed with taking pictures of ourselves?

Signs of a teenager’s addiction to social networks - how does it manifest itself?

Signs of addiction to social networks
When a teenager is addicted to social networks, it can be recognized by several signs.

They are as follows:

The child constantly wants to be aware of information and therefore regularly checks messages on his pages and in the mail. Moreover, he can do this every five minutes.
He sits for a long time and looks at the pages of friends and acquaintances, without noticing how much time has passed. Sometimes a child can spend 24 hours in front of the monitor
A child promises to just watch something and ends up disappearing for several hours
There is great interest in comments, especially under your own photos. The same goes for likes
All communication takes place exclusively virtually. In real life it rarely happens
Visit games and applications when notifications arrive. This is done with great interest
If you can’t log into a social network or there is no Internet, then aggression begins and the child seems to be cut off from the whole world.

Causes

The desire to keep abreast of all the news

The desire to gain approval from others.
Dependence on other people's opinions.
The desire to become popular.
Interest in a large flow of information.
The ability to simultaneously communicate, listen to music and view photos.
A way to escape loneliness.
The result of a traumatic experience when communicating with real people.
Lack of interests in life, hobbies.
The desire to be aware of all the news.

Treatment of addiction to social networks - how is it carried out?

Treatment of addiction to social networks
When a person turns to a specialist because he has an addiction to social networks, he gives a number of recommendations. It is important to follow them exactly in order to definitely solve the problem.

So, to get rid of addiction, you will need:

Determine the exact time when you can visit the website . Moreover, both the start and end times. Gradually the time should be reduced to a minimum.
Try to communicate on the Internet as little as possible. Remove all unnecessary friends, write only what is important, and also remove uninteresting groups. Even if you have any questions, try to always at least make a call.
Stop posting details of your personal life. The fewer posts you make, the more boring you will be online, because you will no longer have to keep track of likes, comments, and in general there will be less communication.
Disable the image loading feature in your browser. When there are no images at all on a social network page, it turns off and becomes uninteresting.
Don’t forget to write a plan of mandatory tasks for every day. This will allow you not to plunge deeply into the news and not approach it at all until all matters are redone.
Find an interesting hobby that you can focus on. So, when you want to go online, just do it.
Give up the habit of eating on your phone or at the computer.
Go outside as often as possible, even just for a walk . By the way, it is also advisable to ask friends and family to keep an eye on you.

How it works?

According to the scientist, each of us has “buttons” that when pressed cause stress. We, like other living organisms, learn to take actions that lead to positive consequences and avoid those that lead to negative ones. If a specific action is tied to a reward, the more often it is reinforced. Thus, it can be called an evolutionary trap (Mother Nature had no idea that we would have the Internet).

Every time you feel the urge to post another photo on your Instagram account (trigger), you upload it (behavior) and then get a whole bunch of likes (reward), which reinforces the process. Unknowingly, you are making your habit worse. Instead of enjoying life, you think about how to take a beautiful picture and post it on the Internet.

"What is the problem? The same learning process occurs, only with a different trigger: the girl is dealing with negative reinforcement. She'll soon realize that posting photos on social media not only lifts her mood, but also helps her forget about unpleasant feelings (like sadness) - at least temporarily. The more often she does this, the more the behavior is reinforced until it becomes automatic, habitual, and ultimately becomes addictive,” writes the neuroscientist.

Prevention of addiction to social networks - how to avoid becoming addicted?

In general, so that addiction to social networks does not bother you, it is better to prevent it. There are several preventative recommendations for this:

Communicate more in the real world or at least on the phone. Well, if you have free time, then spend it with friends or family, but don’t sit on the computer
Set a limit for surfing the Internet. This way you won’t have the urge to look at what’s new in your feed.
Install a program to remind you of the time spent on a social network. After the time has expired, the program automatically removes you from your personal account.

Addiction to social networks is a really bad habit that you can and should get rid of. Remember that although virtual life is attractive, real life is in any case more interesting.

Crazy scenario

This scenario seems completely crazy, but in reality, stories like this happen all the time. The scientist believes that this behavior is based on the following scheme: trigger - behavior - reward. Based on this, behavior is developed that makes us hang out on social networks. The same pattern underlies other addictions, be it alcohol or drugs.

This is not always a bad thing, for example, the same scheme underlies training. But on the other side, according to the scientist, is people's obsession with their phones to the point that they write messages while driving a car. In between there are many other things - from the habit of having your head in the clouds and chewing gum to immersing yourself in a state of stress.

Consequences of addiction to social networks - what is the danger?

Consequences of addiction to social networks
Addiction to social networks can lead to disruption of a person’s mental health, and physical abnormalities become a consequence. That is, over time, vision problems develop, headaches appear, digestion is upset, the spine hurts, and sleep becomes poor.

At the same time, addiction has one consequence - you constantly want to receive new information, and this leads to loss of perception of real information, inattention and lack of concentration. It becomes difficult for a person to concentrate on simple things, because other people’s problems and information will constantly be spinning in their head.

Adults should look after not only themselves, but also the child. Especially for him, because his psyche is more receptive and has not yet fully strengthened.

Deceptive intimacy

The creators of all popular social networks are well aware that they exploit the vulnerabilities of the human psyche in order to make money. But they still continue to do it. For example, former Facebook president Sean Parker admitted this.

People use social media because they seek approval. According to a 2015 study, it is the desire to be a positive hero in the eyes of other people that leads users into the trap of social networks. Each publication is a cry for help, a sign that the author is uncomfortable, lonely or simply bored. Likes and comments quench the thirst for approval, but it appears again and again. “You check your phone in the morning before you pee, or while you pee. You only have two options,” says Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook, in the documentary The Social Dilemma.

As a result, the abundance of online communication leads to the fact that a person loses the ability to cope with problems and falls into an isolation trap. So likes and messages do not improve your mood, but only create the illusion of it. Moreover, the picture of someone else’s happy life not only does not please, but also suppresses others.

In 2014, Facebook decided to study the extent of its influence on the psychological state of users. 689 thousand social network users took part in the experiment. True, they themselves had no idea that they were being experimented on.

The experiment consisted of the following: for some users, the algorithm selected publications in such a way that they were predominantly positive; for another part, more negativity was added to the news feed. Over the course of a week, the researchers observed how the test subjects’ reactions changed and what they themselves published.

The changes in people's behavior were astonishing. It turned out that a person who encounters a huge number of negative publications begins to post the same content. But if you sharply increase the positivity in the feed, the user’s mood improves. It turned out to be too easy to manipulate the state of people: it was enough to just slightly direct the algorithm in the right direction.

“Emotional states can be transmitted to others through emotional contagion, causing people to unconsciously experience the same emotions. “Emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (contact with a friend expressing an emotion is sufficient) and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues,” the study said.

The very fact that Facebook secretly, without asking, experimented on living people shocked many. It turned out that the social network not only has the power to influence people’s moods, but also does not ask permission to do so. In fact, Facebook has the right to do whatever it wants with people’s minds: upon registration, any user accepts a data use policy, which also contains clauses about experiments. The social network doesn’t even hide this and justifies any actions by “improving the service.”

Addiction to social networks - how to fight: reviews

Many parents have experienced their children developing an addiction to social networks. They often say that everything will go away on its own, but sometimes there are cases when a child spends time on the Internet constantly and goes beyond all possible boundaries. In any case, most parents agree that social media is causing a lot of harm and should be limited.

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The power of one

But changing the mood of millions of people is not the only visible effect of using social networks. As it turned out, they directly affect the mental health of users. In 2014, a team of researchers from the universities of Palo Alto and Houston, led by Duquesne University specialist My-Lee Steers, studied the connection between active Facebook use and symptoms of depression.

Experts found that Facebook users felt depressed when comparing themselves to other people. First, scientists were able to identify a connection between the time spent on social networks and the depressive symptoms that appeared among the respondents. It turned out that the more time a person spends on the phone, the worse he feels.

This doesn't mean Facebook causes depression, but depressive moods and spending time comparing yourself to others on Facebook tend to go hand in hand.

says the study

The situation is aggravated by the fact that people do not talk about everyday life and routine matters on the Internet. They share joy, achievements, beautiful views. All this makes it clear that our life, compared to someone else’s, is gray and uninteresting.

People who may have problems even without social networks often feel lonely and unnecessary when viewing the feed. This only pushes them towards isolation.

“Research shows that constantly comparing yourself to others is bad for your psyche. Too frequent comparison clearly leads to a deterioration in the emotional state,” explained one of the study authors.

However, social networks do not at all need a stable psyche of users: it is important for them to remain online and generate profit. “Companies like Google and Facebook constantly conduct experiments on users. Thanks to them, they know exactly how to get people to do what they want. It's a simple manipulation,” says former Facebook manager Sandy Parakilas. According to him, the audience of modern social networks are experimental animals. And experiments on them are not carried out in order to develop a cure for cancer or help starving children. “We're just zombies. They want us to watch more ads. This way they will earn more money,” he concludes.