In this age of social media and virtual intelligence, there are many theories about social media. The positive and negative impact, pros and cons of social media, and many more things. But is social media addiction a real problem? Let’s know more about it.
Do you feel the urge to scroll through your social media platforms most of the time even when you’re occupied somewhere else? Do you check your notifications again and again within a few minutes? Do people’s likes and comments on your social media posts affect you and your personal life a lot?
Well if the answer is yes then you are possibly going through this behavioral addiction of social media.
What is social media addiction?
Social media addiction is a kind of behavioral addiction. Where people are obsessed with social networking websites or applications. They usually develop a compulsive obsession with social media.
They develop an uncontrollable urge to check their phones, social media notifications, and use social media again and again. They spend most of the time in their social media, virtual life and less focused on other areas of life, real life. Now we need to think of social media addiction is a real problem.
Do social media affect our brains?
All kinds of addictions almost have the same blueprint. Of course, Social media can affect us mentally and then physically too. When we observe someone using excessive social media or we can say social media addict, it affects someone equivalent to other addictive substances.
For example
Someone gets addicted to something because he wants to escape something else. People get addicted to things because they want to feel good. The same thing happens with social media addiction.
When people get notifications, messages, or mentions in social media handles, they feel like they’re getting attention from other people and they feel good about it. The brain receives a rush of dopamine and results in good feelings and pleasure. It’s like when someone posts a picture and gets a positive response from people, he naturally feels good and when he doesn’t get the desired result he feels bad. So social media addiction can affect our minds a lot. This can definitely somehow provide somewhere the answer to “is social media addiction a real problem?”
How to recognize if someone is addicted to social media?
Many people use social media casually. They just developed a habit to check their social media accounts again and again. But some people get more into this and develop social media addiction. So here are a few things one can check to know if they’re suffering from social media addiction.
Signs of social media addiction
1. When you’re going to someplace where you’re not having Wi-Fi or a mobile network, you get anxious about it. You try and walk here and there to see if your phone is catching signals or not. And it’s not about the calls from friends and family but it’s about your WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms.
2. You’re at some meeting or family get together. Suddenly your phone beeps, you get a notification and you can’t resist checking the phone. You try to check the phone in between everything. Then you really need to consider is social media addiction is a real problem?
3. You get happy when you get more likes, shares, and comments and you get sad and upset when you’re having fewer comments and likes.
4. You hardly care about your real-life friends and family because you’re more into your virtual friendships and virtual life. You get distant from everything and everyone. You’re more with your phone than the real people.
5. Whenever you are posting some event photographs or some traveling photos, you click them and consider them if they’re likable by social media friends or not. You think before clicking the picture that it will get more likes. Not because you want to keep the memories.
How to stop Social media addiction?
Social media addiction is not a traditional disease but it can damage you mentally and physically as well. It can affect your real life in many ways. Here are some ways to get out of this addiction by yourself.
Take a break
Do take a break from social media after some time. It doesn’t mean to not use your phone or delete your social media handles. But just deactivate them for a few days or one week. Take a break. Engage in real-life activities. Travel with your family or friends, explore nature, read a book, do some meditation, or just take rest.
Set time to use social media
Limit your social media use by assigning time. Just set a particular time for social media like in the evening or after work or after lunch. This will help you to balance your social media usage.
Distance from your devices
Maintain a distance from your digital devices when you don’t actually need them. Occupy yourself somewhere else. Try to let go of the urge to check your phone or keep your phone with you always. Especially when you are on holiday or with family or friends. This will definitely help you to get out of your social media addiction.
Turn off the notifications
When you’ll turn off the notifications, you will not get distracted easily. Sometimes we forget about our phone naturally when we get busy but notifications always remind us to check out phones. So turning off the notifications can help you to limit phone usage.
Is Social Media Addiction A Real Problem?
Well, many people are using social media without having any kind of addiction or problem but there are also people who are getting addicted to social media day by day. This is a problem but this is reversible, if someone wants to get out of this he or she can. You just need to set some boundaries. If you think you’re not able to come out of this by yourself you can also take some professional help.
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Aw, this was a very nice post. In thought I wish to put in writing like this moreover – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and certainly not appear to get one thing done.