Social media websites like Facebook and Instagram recently announced updates that helped them curb the growing social media addiction in their user base. Such announcements and modifications came after reports of rapidly deteriorating social skills in real life and a significant loss in productivity because of people spending too much of their life online.
The latest statistics show that more than 210 million people have an addiction to social media. But what does it really mean to be addicted to social media and how can we know if we’re involuntarily addicted to social media?
In order to help you know more about your behavior regarding online social media presence, we have come up with 7 signs that are associated with addiction according to many healthcare experts. If you fit the description, it’s time to restrict your social media dependence, or even consider therapy.
- You sign in frequently, spending hours with unending surfing. You could be a prospect for social media abuse therapy if you check your social networking sites first thing each morning while waking up and then again during the day. Social networking is not inherently negative, but it comes with a high potential loss. Any minute you waste on social networks is time that you might have been spending more productively somewhere else, such as socializing in person.
- You are constantly checking your alerts and updating your profile. This type of addictive behavior suggests a strong need for publicity, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram have advanced means of delivering that. It may be difficult to break the habit of obsessing about messages and alerts, but your failure to do so may indicate that you are suffering from social media addiction.
- You use social networking as a diversion from reality. When the pressures and anxiety of the real world is too much, numerous individuals seek shelter in the digital environment. However, far too much abstinence may lead to dysfunctional psychiatric patterns, and social media dependency rehab could be required to restore order to your life back to normal.
- You get very upset if you are unable to use social networking sites. If you get nervous when you are not connected to your smartphone or if you are not connected to the internet, your reliance on social media sites might have gone beyond acceptable limits.
- You schedule your social media updates ahead of time. When you go somewhere only to take pictures of yourself and get frustrated during everyday routines by worrying on how you’ll explain or caption them afterwards on social media, you can struggle to remain focused and active in your ordinary routine.
- You feel irritated because you web messages are not acknowledged. If you are profoundly distressed by online debates, or if your updates get no response from your friends and online followers, you might be overly reliant on online forums for positive reinforcement. Popularity and publicity are often desirable; however, they should never dominate our self-perception.
- Social networking interferes with your in-person relationships. Several individuals among us will actively favor social media over life in general. However, with little steps a lot of us make life choices that gradually eliminate our friends and families, exchanging them with online profile pictures and news feeds. A person suffering from social media addiction may strive to keep close relations with individuals in their real life.
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