Social Media Addiction: Consequences and Strategies for Recovery

Introduction

Social media was really a useful and practical way to get new friends and share information with other people that we do not normally meet. Nearly everybody has a social networking page these days, and keeping it can take time. Keeping an online status, regularly updating social media profiles and games involves a lot of attention. Social media is building a network of people around the world. Thus, through virtual communities, they can share information, career interests and other forms of interaction. Although online spending time may be useful in gaining daily life updates, too much and irrational usage of social media may cause addiction. Addiction to social media can affect any one in everyday life and can cause health issues. To analyze the effects of social media addiction, this essay will describe related health problems and suggest alternative ways to address the addiction.

FOMO

The first problem associated with social media addiction is that can cause what is called FOMO. FOMO is referring to fear of missing out, it is the feeling or perception that others have more fun, a better life or a better experience than you are. It involves a profound feeling of envy and affects self – esteem. The FOMO phenomenon has been accelerated in several ways by social media. It provides a situation where you compare your regular life to the highlights of the lives of someone else, as David Blackwell said, if people are anxious about relationships, they probably fear being excluded from society. FOMO behavior can be understood as deficiencies in satisfaction with psychological needs. The relationship can be directly or indirectly. As Andrew K. Przybylski said, people with a low basic need for satisfaction may tend to stick to the use of social media because contact with others is apparent as a resource or indirectly, providing need deficits could lead some to a general sensitivity for fear of missing out.

Social media anxiety disorder

The second problem associated with social media addiction is that can cause what is called social media anxiety disorder. Disorder of social anxiety involves a fear of situations of social and performance in which others can judge you negatively. Social media can contribute to increasing this condition negatively. According to Weidman, social anxiety is associated with higher depression rates and lower self - esteem among individuals using the Internet as a social compensatory medium. Individuals with low self - esteem in social anxiety may express themselves in ways that do not appeal to others, making others less attractive to connect with them. As Parade said, social anxiety is a common mental health concern among emerging adults and can be particularly disadvantageous given the social interactions needed to address the transitional issues they face. Moreover, a social media anxiety disorder can affect academic performance. As Willoughby said, it is difficult for socially anxious students to form the social connections necessary for academic success.

Suggested solution

A suitable solution for social media addiction could be using more strategies face - to – face. According to Claudius, The Internet provides a safe place to avoid face - to - face interactions by socially anxious individuals. It can be done by going out with your friends and enjoy without taking any selfies. Governments and organizations can help minimize and ban the use of mobile devices in some cases. Some such steps — like banning the use of smartphones while driving — are already in place in many countries. An alternative solution could be going to therapy. Taking to therapy can help people who are addicted to social media to relies on their problems and the effect that social media has been doing to them by understanding the effect of the social network, people can balance between their life and social media.

Conclusion

To conclude, although social media is a great tool for many aspects of our life, there are some negative effects also. One of the effects is that can cause what is could FOMO. FOMO is referring to fear of missing out. It is the feeling that other people are better than you or having fun more than you are. Social media can increase this condition negatively. The other effect is that can increase the social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder involves a fear of situations of social and performance in which others can judge you negatively. Social anxiety is associated with higher depression rates and lower self - esteem among people using social media. A suggested solution for social media addiction is that using real face-to-face communication or taking to therapy could be a very good solution.

References

• David Blackwell, 21 April 2017 Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction. From https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.039 .
• Przybylski et al., 2013 A.K. Przybylski, K. Murayama, C.R. DeHaan, V. Gladwell Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out Computers in Human Behavior (2013), pp. 1841-1848, 10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014.
• Weidman, A.C., Fernandez, K.C., Levinson, C.A., Augustine, A.A., Larsen, R.J., & Rodebaugh, T.L. (2012). Compensatory internet use among individuals higher in social anxiety and its implications for well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(3), 191-195. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1016/j.paid.2012.03.003
• Parade, S.H., Leerkes, E.M., & Blankson, A.N. (2010). Attachment to parents, social anxiety, and close relationships of female students over the transition to college. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(2), 127-137. doi: 10.1007/s10964-009-9396-x.
• Cludius, B., Stevens, S., Bantin, T., Gerlach, A., & Hermann, C. (2013). The motive to drink due to social anxiety and its relation to hazardous alcohol use. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(3), 806-813. doi: 10.1037/a0032295.