What Are The Signs Of Social Media Addiction? 10 Telltale Signs.
By Antoine G Larosiliere
After noticing my own behavior and my children as well; I began to wonder, “what are the signs of social media addiction?”
Experts estimate that around 5 to 10% of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction. Social media addiction can be attributed to the dopamine-inducing social experience that social media sites provide. Sometimes I notice myself going a little overboard, other times I notice my children consumed with their social media activity and I must look into what are the signs of social media addiction? After some research, I was able to narrow it down to 10 telltale signs.
#1 Lost interest in spending time with real world friends.
When your friend calls to hang out, do you turn them down when you have absolutely nothing to do? Do you make excuses just so you can stay home and be on your phone; more specifically, social media? When you hang out with them, are you constantly checking your social media? If so, chances are you’re addicted to social media.
#2 Constantly comparing yourself to people on social media.
You’re constantly viewing yourself as less attractive than those on social media and have developed a negative body image. You believe the people on social media are better fit than you, having more fun than you, and are much happier than you. You might have also developed an eating disorder because of your negative views of your body. Your low self esteem has you believing people on social media are just better than you and you desperately want to be like them.
#3 You start experiencing cyberbullying.
People are posting things about you on social media and you can’t seem to stop it. They are sending you rude and insulting messages and you’re not blocking them. You rather spend time trading insults and going back and forth with your harassers. You’re being cyberbullied and refuse to do anything about it. You don’t want to report any incidents that might affect your social media activity. You can’t help but to constantly check to see what others have posted about you or what harassing comments they left behind under your posts.
#4 You’re distracted everywhere.
Whether you notice it or not, you’re distracted either at school, your workplace and anywhere else for that matter. You are consumed with posting content on a regular basis, and worry if you don’t get a chance to. You’re always checking to see if you got comments or likes on your post and respond quickly to the comments. You take your phone everywhere with you so you can have access to posting, responding and checking your posts regularly.
#5 You’re not giving yourself time to process life.
Your main focus has become engaging with social media from when you wake up in the morning, to when you go to sleep. Because of this, you likely haven’t given yourself time to process emotions, events and problems that have occurred throughout the day. You haven’t given yourself time to reflect on some of the decisions you’ve made and if future choices are the correct ones. You haven’t set aside time to analyze what triggered certain behaviors, and responses. These are the thought processes that would allow you to mature and grow from your experience.
#6 You compromise who you are for likes, and shares.
You become so obsessed with getting likes and going viral, that you start to compromise your integrity. You lose focus on what your brand is and make questionable decisions that hurt your brand. You put yourself and others safety needs at risk through negligence and reckless behavior. You play dangerous pranks, post embarrassing content, thirst traps, and cyberbully others. You’ll even use your phone to get on social media when it’s unsafe or inappropriate.
“Sleep deprivation is a serious problem that can lead to poor performance and/or health problems.”
#7 You become sleep deprived.
Sleep deprivation is a serious problem that can lead to poor performance and/or health problems. If you’re constantly checking your phone at night, the light from your phone can disrupt your sleep. Even if you’re not checking, but checking is on your mind throughout the night; you will become restless and not sleep soundly.
#8 Worsening symptoms of anxiety or depression.
If you already have problems with anxiety and depression, social media can exacerbate the issue. If you choose to use social media to alleviate any negative feelings or stress you may have, there’s a great chance that you will feel worse. Seeing staged images and videos of people living the life you want to live and further sink you into depression. You may even be subjected to cyberbullying and trolling in your comment section that will trigger your anxiety.
#9 You constantly fail at reducing your use of social media.
If you’ve made several attempts at reducing, maybe even eliminating your use of social media for a specific amount of time and have repeatedly failed; you have a serious problem. Maybe you deleted all your apps, just to download them again before the day is up. You could have just decided not to post anything, but found yourself looking and responding to other people’s posts.
#10 You start imagining things that aren’t there.
When you’re obsessed or consumed with something, it’s on your mind even when you’re not engaged in it. You’ll even hear or see images that remind you of it. You might think you hear or see things, but it’s just wishful thinking. You may think you hear a phone notification but it’s just your mind playing tricks on you.
We all have our problems, and having to deal with an addiction can exacerbate our personal and professional relationships. If you’re struggling to control your social media use and believe you might be addicted; please contact an addiction treatment provider. I hope this has been helpful. Also visit my YouTube channel for more insight to these topics.
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