Overall, 40 percent of U.S. online users aged 18 to 22 years reported feeling addicted to social media. During the April 2019 survey, five percent of respondents from that age group stated that they felt the statement "I am addicted to social media" described them completely.

According to a 2023 survey conducted in the United Kingdom, 48 percent of social media users aged between 16 and 18 years reported feeling addicted to social media. Feelings of addiction were higher amongst female teens than male teens, with 57 percent of girls in the UK saying they thought they were addicted to online platforms. In general, social media can be difficult for teens to navigate, partly due to pressure to create the perfect image or partake in online challenges.

Many have argued that digital technologies such as smartphones and social media are addictive. We develop an economic model of digital addiction and estimate it using a randomized experiment. Temporary incentives to reduce social media use have persistent effects, suggesting social media are habit forming. Allowing people to set limits on their future screen time substantially reduces use, suggesting self-control problems. Additional evidence suggests people are inattentive to habit formation and partially unaware of self-control problems. Looking at these facts through the lens of our model suggests that self-control problems cause 31 percent of social media use.

Overall, 30 percent of online users in the United States reported feeling addicted to social media. During the April 2019 survey, 11 percent of responding Hispanics stated that they felt the statement "I am addicted to social media" described them completely. Overall, 29 percent of Hispanic respondents completely or somewhat agreed with the statement.

Overall, 34 percent of female online users in the United States reported feeling addicted to social media. During the April 2019 survey, 11 percent of female respondents stated that they felt the statement "I am addicted to social media" described them completely.

According to a survey on the lifestyles of Arab youth and their dependence on social media in April of 2023, ** percent of young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region had difficulty disconnecting from social media. Only ***** percent of survey participants said they do not find it difficult to disconnect from social media, while ** percent were neutral.

Technology’s pull often feels impossible to resist. More than half of Americans report an almost daily reliance on smartphones, the internet, and social media, affecting everything from sleep to relationships. From health care settings where digital detox programs help patients reclaim balance, to corporate wellness initiatives that curb online burnout,...

The older a child gets in Poland, the more dependent they become on social media. In 2021, ** percent of young people required help due to social media addiction. Furthermore, nearly one in **** neglected other activities due to social media use.

According to a March 2024 survey conducted in the United States, 32 percent of adults reported feeling that social media had neither a positive nor negative effect on their own mental health. Only seven percent of social media users said that online platforms had a very positive effect on their mental health, while 12 percent of users said it had a very negative impact. Furthermore, 22 percent of respondents said social media had a somewhat negative effect on their mental health. Is social media addictive? A 2023 survey of individuals between 11 and 59 years old in the United States found that over 73 percent of TikTok users agreed that the platform was addictive. Furthermore, nearly 27 percent of those surveyed reported experiencing negative psychological effects related to TikTok use. Users belonging to Generation Z were the most likely to say that TikTok is addictive, yet millennials felt the negative effects of using the app more so than Gen Z. In the U.S., it is also not uncommon for social media users to take breaks from using online platforms, and as of March 2024, over a third of adults in the country had done so. Following mental health-related content Although online users may be aware of the negative and addictive aspects of social media, it is also a useful tool for finding supportive content. In a global survey conducted in 2023, 32 percent of social media users followed therapists and mental health professionals on social media. Overall, 24 percent of respondents said that they followed people on social media if they had the same condition as they did. Between January 2020 and March 2023, British actress and model Cara Delevingne was the celebrity mental health activist with the highest growth in searches tying her name to the topic.

Students in sub-Saharan African countries experienced online classes for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. For some individuals, greater online engagement might have led to online dependency, which can be associated with depression. The present study explored the association between problematic use of the internet, social media, and smartphones and life stressors in the past 2 weeks prior to the study with depression symptoms among Ugandan medical students. Despite life stressors being the largest predictor of depression symptom score severity, problematic online use also contributed significantly. Therefore, it is recommended that medical students’ mental health care services consider digital wellbeing and its relationship with problematic online use as part of a more holistic depression prevention and resilience program.

ObjectiveThis study investigates the impact of social suspicion on social media addiction among Chinese college students, examining the mediating role of the sense of meaning in life and the moderating effect of gender.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 19, 2023, to November 2, 2023, involving 1,558 students from three universities in southern Anhui Province, China. Participants completed questionnaires assessing social suspicion, social media addiction, and the sense of meaning in life. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, Hayes’ PROCESS macro, and bootstrap methods to test mediation and moderation effects.ResultsThe findings revealed a bidirectional relationship between social suspicion and social media addiction. Social suspicion positively predicted social media addiction, with the sense of meaning in life mediating this relationship. Gender moderated the mediating effect, as the indirect effect of social suspicion on social media addiction through the sense of meaning in life was significantly stronger among female students compared to male students. Additionally, social media addiction also positively predicted social suspicion, with the sense of meaning in life and gender moderating this relationship.ConclusionThis study reveals a bidirectional relationship between social suspicion and social media addiction among Chinese college students, mediated by a sense of meaning in life and moderated by gender. Social suspicion directly drives addiction while indirectly exacerbating it through reduced the sense of meaning in life, with females showing stronger mediation effects and males exhibiting heightened susceptibility to suspicion when addicted. These findings emphasize the need for gender-tailored interventions to address psychological vulnerabilities and mitigate risks of digital overuse.

The dataset consists of interviews with young adults on their experiences of voluntarily limiting their social media use. The interviews were divided into four sections. The first questions were related to the identification and initial stages of the interviewees' problematic social media use. The interviewees were asked to describe, among other things, at what point they started to consider their use of social media as problematic. The question also investigated how the interviewees had initially tried to manage their social media use and how they had sought help for the issue. The second set of questions explored whether the interviewees had experienced similar problems in the past and whether they had witnessed similar problems in their immediate circle or elsewhere. The third set of questions focused on what the interviewees thought had led to their problematic use of social media. The interviewees were also asked to reflect on whether there was anything specific in their own life at the time the issue started that could help to explain the development of the issue. Additional questions were asked about the treatment and support the interviewees had received, and how the problem was perceived by those close to the interviewees. The final set of questions charted the impact that problematic social media use had on the interviewees' lives, on their self-perception and on how they are perceived by others. The interview framework used was based on the McGill Illness Narrative Interview (MINI) interview protocol. Background information included the interviewee's gender, age group, and economic activity. The data were organised into an easy to use HTML version at FSD. The dataset is available only in Finnish.

With the popularity of social networking sites (SNSs), the problems of SNS addiction have been increasing. Research has revealed the association between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination. However, the mechanism underlying this relation is still unclear. The present study aimed to examine the mediating role of social networking site fatigue and the moderating role of effortful control in this link among Chinese undergraduate students. The Social Networking Site Addiction Scale, Social Networking Service Fatigue Scale, Effortful Control Scale and Irrational Procrastination Scale were completed by 1,085 Chinese undergraduate students. Results indicated that SNS addiction, SNS fatigue and irrational procrastination were positively correlated with each other, and negatively correlated with effortful control. Further analyses revealed that, SNS addiction has a direct effect on irrational procrastination. SNS fatigue mediated the relationship between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination. Both direct and indirect effects of SNS addiction on irrational procrastination were moderated by effortful control. Specifically, this effect was stronger for people with lower effortful control. These findings help clarify the mechanism underlying the association between SNS addiction and irrational procrastination, which have potential implications for intervention.

According to a survey on the lifestyles of Arab youth and their dependence on social media in April 2023, ** percent of young adults in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries strongly or somewhat agree that they find it difficult to disconnect from social media. This is higher than the regional average of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) of ** percent who found it difficult to disconnect from social media.

The present cross-sectional study examined the chain mediating roles of spousal support and dyadic adjustment in the relationship between social media addiction and sexual functioning among 211 married women of reproductive age in Qazvin, Iran.

Abstract Introduction To improve the comprehension of the interface between smartphone addiction (SA) and Facebook addiction (FA), we hypothesize that the occurrence of both technological addictions correlate, with higher levels of negative consequences. Moreover, we hypothesize that SA is associated with lower levels of social support satisfaction. Methods We recruited a convenience sample of undergraduate students from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, with age ranging between 18 and 35 years. All subjects completed a self-fulfilled questionnaire comprising sociodemographic data, the Brazilian Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI-BR), the Bergen Scale for Facebook Addiction, the Barrat Impulsivity Scale 11 (BIS-11), the Social Support Satisfaction Scale (SSSS), and the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-8). After completing the questionnaire, the interviewer conducted a Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results In the univariate analysis, SA associated with female gender, with ages 18 to 25 years, FA, substance abuse disorders, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, low scores in SSSS, high scores in BSSS-8, and high scores in BIS. The group with SA and FA presented a higher prevalence of substance abuse disorders, depression, and anxiety disorders when compared to the group with SA only. Conclusion In our sample, co-occurrence of SA and FA correlated with higher levels of negative consequences and lower levels of social support satisfaction. These results strongly suggest that SA and FA share some elements of vulnerability. Further studies are warranted to clarify the directions of these associations.

Objectives This study assessed the incidence of transitions in smartphone addiction proneness (SAP) among children and examined the effects of gender, use patterns (social networking sites (SNSs) use and smartphone gaming) and depression on smartphone addiction transitions.Methods A representative sample of 2,155 children from Taipei completed longitudinal surveys in both 2015 (5th grade) and 2016 (6th grade). Latent transition analysis (LTA) was used to characterize transitions in SAP and to examine the effects of use patterns and depression on SAP transitions among boys and girls. Results LTA identified four latent statuses of SAP: about half of the children were in non-SAP status, one-fifth were in tolerance status, one-sixth were in withdrawal status, and one-seventh were in high-SAP status. Both boys and girls had a higher prevalence of high-SAP and tolerance in 6th grade than in 5th grade, whereas in both grades boys had a higher prevalence of high-SAP and withdrawal, and girls had a higher prevalence of non-SAP and tolerance. Controlling for parents' education, family structure, and household income, higher use of SNSs by children, increasing use of mobile gaming and higher level of depression were individually associated with increased odds of being in one of the three SAP statuses other than non-SAP. When all three covariates were jointly entered into the model, usage of SNSs and depression remained significant predictors. Conclusion Both boys and girls tended to transition to tolerance or high-SAP statuses, while children's depression and their usage of SNSs increased the risk of smartphone addiction.

Background: Facebook addiction is said to occur when an individual spends an excessive amount of time on Facebook, disrupting one’s daily activities and social life. The present study aimed to find out the level of Facebook addiction in the Nepalese context and briefly discuss the crimes associated with its unintended use. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine of Lumbini Medical College. The study instrument was the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale typed into a Google Form and sent randomly to Facebook contacts of the authors. The responses were downloaded in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 16. Results: The study consisted of 103 Nepalese participants, of which 54 (52.42%) were males and 49 females (47.58%). There were 11 participants (10.68%) who had more than one Facebook account. When different approaches were applied it was observed that 8.73% (n=9) to 39.80% (n=41) were addicted to Facebook. Conclusion: When used properly Facebook has its own advantages. Excessive use is linked with health hazards including addiction and dependency. Students who engage more on Facebook will have less time studying leading to poor academic performance.People need to be made aware of the issues associated with the misuse of Facebook Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Forensic Medicine of Lumbini Medical College after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee vide the letter IRC-LMC 01-G/019.

The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) is a questionnaire that comprises of six core features of addiction: salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse.1 Each of the six-core features consists of three questions, making a total of 18 questions. The final BFAS retained one question for each core element of addiction. Only the scores for questions 1, 5, 7, 11, 13 and 16 determine the level of Facebook addiction. Each question is scored on a 5-point Likert scale using anchors of 1: Very rarely and 5: Very often. Higher scores indicate greater Facebook addiction.

Participants scoring 4 (often) or 5 (very often) in four out of six questions were considered to be addicted to Facebook. BASF has put forth two scoring schemes to determine Facebook addiction. As per a polythetic scoring scheme, Facebook addiction was determined by a liberal approach, where a score of 3 or more was observed in at least four of six items; whereas using a conservative approach, a score of 3 or above in all six items determined Facebook addiction by a monothetic scoring scheme.

References:

1. Andreassen CS, Torsheim T, Brunborg GS, Pallensen S. Development of a facebook addiction scale. Psychol Rep. 2012;110:501-17.

This survey charted the gambling, social media usage and subjective well-being of young people aged 15-25 years in Finland. The study was conducted as part of the "Problem Gambling and Social Media: Social Psychological Study on Youth Behavior in Online Gaming Communities" research project. The aim of the project was to analyse how young social media users evaluate, adopt and share gambling-related online content and how online group processes affect their gambling and gambling-related attitudes. FSD's holdings also include two other datasets that were collected using a nearly identical questionnaire (FSD3400 and FSD3591). Data for the research project have been collected in Finland, the United States, Spain, and South Korea. First, the respondents were asked which social media services they used (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, discussion forums, online casinos) and how often. Topics that the respondents discussed on gambling-related social media were charted more closely, and they were asked, for example, whether the discussion usually related to instructions or tips on gambling or to problem gambling and recovering from problem gambling. Some questions on the respondents' social media activity were also presented, for instance, how often they saw gambling-related advertising online, how often they changed their most important social media passwords, and how often they uploaded pictures of themselves on social media. The respondents were asked whether they had ever been harassed online or had been the victim of a crime on the Internet in the past three years (e.g. defamation, identity theft, fraud, sexual harassment). The respondents' identity bubbles on social media were surveyed by using the IBR scale (Identity Bubble Reinforcement Scale). The respondents were asked, for instance, whether they thought they could be themselves on social media and whether they only interacted with people similar to them on social media. Additionally, the CIUS scale (Compulsive Internet Use) was used to examine problems related to Internet use. Questions focused on, for example, whether the respondents found it difficult to stop using the Internet when they were online, whether people close to them said they should use the Internet less, and whether they felt restless, frustrated or irritated when they couldn't use the Internet. In the next section of the questionnaire, the respondents were randomly assigned to two groups for a vignette experiment. Respondents in the test group were told they belong to Group C because they had answered the earlier questions in a similar manner to others in the group. Those in the control group were given no information on the group. The respondents were presented with different gambling-related social media scenarios, and they were asked to evaluate the contents of the gambling-related messages by "liking" or "disliking" the message or by not reacting to it at all. Each respondent was shown four different gambling messages with different contents. Three factors were manipulated in the scenarios (2x2x2 design): expressed stance of the message on gambling (positive or negative), narrative perspective of the message (experience-driven first-person narration or fact-driven third-person narration) and majority opinion of other respondents on the message (positively or negatively biased distribution of likes or dislikes). For Group C, the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other Group C members, whereas for the control group the majority opinion was seemingly provided by other respondents. Additionally, the respondents' attitudes towards the message were surveyed with statements regarding, for instance, how likely they would find the message interesting or share it on social media. Next, the respondents' attitudes towards gambling were charted by using the ATGS scale (Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale). They were asked, for example, whether people should have the right to gamble whenever they want, whether most people who gamble do so sensibly and whether it would be better if gambling was banned altogether. The respondents' gambling habits were examined by using the SOGS scale (South Oaks Gambling Screen), and they were asked, for instance, which types of gambling they had done in the past 12 months (played slot machines, visited an online casino, bet on lotteries etc.), whether the people close to them had gambling problems, and whether they had borrowed money to gamble or to pay gambling debts. In addition, the respondents' alcohol consumption was surveyed with a few questions from the AUDITC scale (The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), and they were asked whether they had used various drugs for recreational purposes (e.g. cannabis, LSD, amphetamine, opioids). The respondents' subjective well-being and social relationships were examined next. The respondents were asked how happy they were in general and how satisfied they were with their financial circumstances and life in general. They were also asked how well the single statement "I have high self-esteem" from the SISE scale (Single-item Self-esteem Scale) described them. The three statements on lacking companionship, feeling left out and feeling isolated from the LONE scale (Three-item Loneliness Scale) were also included in the survey. Feelings of belonging to different groups or communities (e.g. family, friends, neighbourhood, parish/religious community) were charted, and the 12-item GHQ scale (General Health Questionnaire) was used to survey the respondents' recent mental health. Questions included, for example, whether the respondents had been able to concentrate on what they were doing, had felt they couldn't overcome their difficulties, and had been losing confidence in themselves. Finally, the respondents' sense of control over the events in their lives was examined with the MASTERY scale (Sense of Mastery Scale), with questions focusing on, for instance, whether they thought they had little control over the things that happen to them and whether they often felt helpless in dealing with the problems of life. The respondents' impulsivity was surveyed by using the EIS scale (Eysenck Impulsivity Scale) and their willingness to delay gratification was surveyed with the GRATIF scale (Delay of Gratification). Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, country of birth (own and parents') level of education, type of municipality of residence, number of inhabitants in municipality of residence, household composition, disposable income, possible financial problems, and economic activity and occupational status.

Rich nature of social media data offers a great opportunity to examine social worlds of its users. Further to wide range of topics being discussed on social media, alcohol-related content is prevalent on social media and studies have found an association between this content and increased consumption of alcohol, cravings for alcohol and addiction. This study analyses social media data to examine social worlds of risky drinking in Victoria, Australia. This study conducted a scoping literature review and two online surveys, one with the general community and the other with health professionals, to determine key words to search for on social media sites. These keywords were used in a social media analytics tool called Talkwalker to generate quantitative and qualitative data on the social media users and their conversations. NVIVO was used for developing categories and themes in a sample of 172 posts. A total of 1,021 results were obtained from Twitter. The main demographic group found to be involved in conversations about drinking alcohol on Twitter was young fathers aged 25–34 years. The culture of alcohol consumption in Victoria for Twitter users is reflective of Australia’s drinking culture within which risky drinking, and in particular binge drinking, is normalised.