Individuals with social media addiction may experience negative psychological and physical symptoms. If you do suspect you have social media addiction, there are ways you can treat it to increase your overall well-being. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a mental health professional for help with this type of addiction. A mental health professional can help you determine whether you truly have social media addiction or just really enjoy using it a lot.

Lack of problem-solving skills

The more you know about how your child is interacting on social media, the better you’ll be able to address any problems. Parental control apps can help limit your child’s data usage or restrict their phone use to certain times of the day. You can also adjust privacy settings on the different platforms to limit their potential exposure to bullies or predators. While many of us enjoy staying connected on social media, excessive use can fuel feelings of addiction, anxiety, depression, isolation, and FOMO.

Internet Addiction in Kids

If you decide to fill your former social media time with a new activity, like say reading, it will take a few weeks for the new habit to set in. It’s totally normal to sit down to read and feel the urge to check social media for a while. But, it’s best to commit to your routine and try not to break it (even if it’s just “no social media after 9 p.m.”) for at least three to four weeks, according to Jones. Childhood and the teenage years can be filled with developmental challenges and social pressures.

Social Media Influencers and Dopamine Overdose

The general characteristics of participants in the study are presented in Table 1. In severe cases, someone who is worried about social media addiction should also consider prescription drug detox and withdrawal treatment how to detox seeking professional help from a therapist or mental health specialist. The study also talks about the relationship between low self-esteem and social media use.

Seek help from a mental health professional

Another perpetuating factor of social media addiction is the fact that the reward centers of the brain are most active when people are talking about themselves. When a person posts a picture they may receive positive social feedback, which stimulates the brain to release dopamine, rewarding that behavior and perpetuating the social media habit. Other signs may include feeling anxious if you can’t locate your phone, having FOMO (fear of missing out) if you’re not checking the internet or social media, struggling to focus without (or due to) constant checking behaviors, etc. Common Sense Media finds that 59 percent of parents “feel” their kids are addicted to their mobile devices—just as 27 percent of the parents feel that they themselves are. Sixty-nine percent of parents say they check their own devices at least hourly, as do 78 percent of teens. Spending a lot of time on the internet is increasingly considered normal behavior, especially for adolescents.

People who overuse social media are likely to be less involved in their offline community and may lack secure, fulfilling personal connections offline. Social media overuse is primarily a concern among teenagers and young adults, who are more likely to use social media. Further, our brains aren’t equipped to process the millions of comparisons the virtual world demands.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Lundman and Graneheim qualitative content analysis method. If you’re a heavy social media user, it’s wise to think about the negative impacts of social media on you and your peers. The first step is getting to know what this problem is then recognizing that you may have it.

In preparing the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatrists and other experts debated whether to include internet addiction. They decided that there was not enough scientific evidence to support inclusion at this time, although the DSM-5 does recognize Internet Gaming Disorder as a condition warranting further study. Online therapy can provide a supportive space to examine and reveal the motivating factors and underlying causes behind a YouTube addiction.

Because these individuals cannot easily accept and endure griefs and sufferings, they are more likely to be in SM. Hence, they use social networks as a defense mechanism for more comfortable tolerance. However, participants stated that if they had exciting entertainment facilities, exciting entertainments, and a secure and well-paid job, they could easily cope with their problems. “For some, it may break a cycle that has started to feel toxic aa step 1 acceptance is the first step to recovery or have negative effects,” she says. “For others, stopping altogether may lead to craving its use and not being able to sustain the break, or might keep someone from accessing the beneficial parts of social media, like a way to stay connected and reach out for support.” Abstinence is often recommended for treating drug or alcohol addiction, but for social media addiction, the ideal psychological outcome is controlled use of the internet.

For some kids, social media has a way of exacerbating those problems and fueling anxiety, bullying, depression, and issues with self-esteem. Feeling and expressing gratitude about the important things in your life can be a welcome relief to the resentment, animosity, and discontent sometimes generated by social media. We all need the face-to-face company of others to be happy and healthy.

1. As of December 2023, 91.56% of Americans are active on social media, with Facebook being the most popular platform.
2. If you recognize the symptoms of Internet addiction in yourself or someone in your care, talk to your doctor about getting help.
3. Westbrook, A., Ghosh, A., van den Bosch, R., Määttä, J. I., Hofmans, L., & Cools, R.
4. BetterHelp is an online therapy service that matches you to licensed, accredited therapists who can help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and more.
5. Also, social media giants like Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter, and youtube pour billions of dollars into advertising and hire engineers that are paid to make content more addictive.

It is characterized by excessive and compulsive social media use and an uncontrollable urge to log on and use social media. This use is enough to disrupt one’s life, ruin one’s relationships, and negatively affect one’s overall well-being. While there is still no formal diagnosis of social media addiction, there’s been a growing body of research about this emerging mental health problem. One recent study showed that people using one social media platform for long periods of time had the tendency to make riskier decisions. Another study linked heavy social media use with having more physical ailments. One of social media’s great strengths is its ability to connect us with like-minded others.

Rather than helping to alleviate negative feelings and boost your mood, you feel more anxious, depressed, or lonely after using social media. Nothing reduces stress and boosts your mood faster or more effectively than eye-to-eye contact with someone who cares about you. The more you prioritize social media interaction over in-person relationships, the more you’re at risk for developing or exacerbating mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. Addiction Resource is an educational platform for sharing and disseminating information about addiction and substance abuse recovery centers. Addiction Resource is not a healthcare provider, nor does it claim to offer sound medical advice to anyone.

Westbrook, A., Ghosh, A., van den Bosch, R., Määttä, J. I., Hofmans, L., & Cools, R. Striatal dopamine synthesis capacity reflects smartphone social activity. I have an introverted personality and I find SM interesting, because I do not see the other person and I can easily talk (P1).

First, it’s important to keep in mind that social media is literally addictive. Just like a drug, it’s designed to trigger reward centers in your brain every time you see a notification on your phone or a like on your latest Instagram post. And this is why the cold-turkey approach sometimes won’t cut it (or will be so tough you’ll give up). If you’re worried about your child’s social media use, it can be tempting to simply confiscate their phone or other device. But that can create further problems, separating your child from their friends and the positive aspects of social media. Instead, there are other ways to help your child use TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms in a more responsible way.

When social network users repeat this cyclical pattern of relieving undesirable moods with social media use, the level of psychological dependency on social media increases. While internet addiction is not in the DSM-V, it is clearly a behavior that negatively impacts mental health and cognition for many, and many struggle to cut back on their time online. In today’s world, many of us rely on social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to find and connect with each other.

Which is why social media often feels good while we’re doing it but horrible as soon as we stop. I wanted to tell readers what I’d learned from patients and from neuroscience about how to tackle compulsive overconsumption. Feel-good substances and behaviors increase dopamine awareness and health observances observances drug overdose release in the brain’s reward pathways. While there may be no medical diagnosis for social media addiction, a doctor or psychiatrist will be able to determine whether you display the hallmark symptoms of addiction or if your social media use is at a safe level.

In a 2019 survey, 40% of individuals in the United States aged 18–22 years reported that they felt addicted to social media. “A large part of the story is that we’re trying to tell about what happens when an entire group of people move their lives onto addictive-like platforms,” he says. Dating apps are designed to help people find dates and develop long-term relationships. One of the main components leading to consumers spending more time on YouTube is how their recommendation algorithm works.

A 2020 paper stated that people using negative language on social media were at higher risk for death from heart disease than those using positive language. Social media addiction is when a person feels an extreme compulsion to log in or use social media. They may also feel an overwhelming concern about social media and devote a large amount of time to it. Social media is an online platform that allows people to communicate with one another electronically. Examples of social media websites include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Whether you have social media addiction or are just on your apps more than you need to be, the good news is there are ways you can help decrease your overall use.

This can include simple steps, such as turning off sound notifications and only checking social media sites once an hour. Other changes can include having periods in the day where there is self-imposed non-screen time, such as during meal times, or leaving the phone in a separate room at night so as not to disturb sleep. This allows for a restored focus on social interaction in the physical world and reduces dependency on networking sites.