Surrendering to Social Media: Is It Addiction?

SURRENDERING TO SOCIAL MEDIA: ISTADDICTRO You see how many Facebook friends post pictures and update their status on a regular basis, but just HOW DRAWN INTO SOCIAL MEDIA ARE WE THESE DAYS? It's been predicted that Facebook will reach In September 2011, it was reported that ----------------. ----------------- 1 BILLION 100 MILLION share USERS BY AUGUST 2012. l PEOPLE ACTIVELY USE TWITTER. 2) IF SO MANY PEOPLE ARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES, <«««« HOW EXCESSIVELY ARE THEY USING THEM? IS IT AN ADDICTION? In a national survey of 1,000 teens, said they visited a 50% social networking site every day. 131 Many admit to being addicted, but they also see SOCIAL MEDIA AS A POSITIVE. 50% 30% said social media said social networks had helped their friendships. made them feel outgoing. Research from the University of Maryland showed 45- out of students experienced negative side effects when disconnecting %*$#/ from technology for a day. 141 Most students couldn't make it without social media for 24 HOURS. Panicked Insecure Lonely Some of them felt: mobile phones and social Many admitted to being addicted to networking. Other recent research reveals it may be harder to refrain from tweeting than it is to refrain from: 151 Smoking Consuming Alcohol This might be because of the associated costs of using each: Social media Cigarettes and alcohol costs you have long-term health your time. and monetary costs. ARE YOU ADDICTED? II It's not hard to get sucked into the social media frenzy. In fact, social networking sites - Status Updates are designed to keep drawing you back in. 161 Comments They do this through: Email Notifications And any other way you can reach out to the site or have the site reach out to you. The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale has been used to determine if people are addicted to this extremely popular social networking site. " It's based on how people rank the following statements: very rarely, rarely, sometimes, often, very often. 1 You use Facebook so much that it has a negative impact on your studies or job. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often 2. You become troubled or restless if you can't use Facebook. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often 3. You've tried to reduce the time spent on the site, but it didn't work. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often 4. You go on Facebook to forget about your personal problems. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often 5. You spend a lot of time using or planning to use Facebook. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often 6. You want to use Facebook more and more. very rarely rarely sometimes often very often If you chose "often" or "always" for at least 4 of these statements, you might be addicted to Facebook (at least according to this study). Whether people are "addicted" or not, social media is becoming a huge part of our society, both in terms of our personal lives and business lives. HOW MUCH TIME DOES SOCIAL MEDIA TAKE UP OF YOUR DAY? Brought to you by: Itotal dui Sources: [1]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/facebook-users-1-billion-icrossing_n_12 04948.html [2]http://techland.time.com/2011/09/09/twitter-reveals-active-user-number-how-man y-actually-say-something/ [3]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-tech/post/many-teens-tell-survey-theyr e-addicted-to-social-media-texting/2012/06/25/9JQAVZC72V_blog.html [4]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8436831/Student-addiction-to-techno logy-similar-to-drug-cravings-study-finds.html [5]http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/03/twitter-resist-cigarettes-alcohol- study [6]http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/information/social-n etworking-sites-addictive2.htm [7http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507102054.htm Confused Depressed Dependent