Social media addiction has been recognised as an official condition in the UK as reports emerge that hundreds of people across the country have been treated for their dependence on services like Facebook and Twitter.
According to research carried out at the University of Chicago, social media addiction may even be stronger than addiction to cigarettes or alcohol dependence. Hopefully, this news will open many eyes to the potential pitfalls of social media.
The two major social networks are Facebook and Twitter, which boast more than 1 billion and half a million users respectively. These websites are easy to access and easy to use, and help to connect people with friends and others (even celebrities) no matter where they are in the world – part of the reason why they are so popular.
But it seems that overuse of these services can become a serious problem. For example, some experts say Facebook can cause feelings of jealousy and misery due to comparisons between the lives of its users. Some users may feel envious because someone else’s page has more likes or comments. Despite this, users will still visit the site to stay ‘current’.
In Ireland, there are just over two million Facebook users – nearly half the total population, a similar proportion to the UK’s user base. So is social media addiction a problem in Ireland too? Should Ireland also recognise it as an official condition? Although I don’t see it as a big problem in Ireland yet, it might well become one. It would be a good idea for clinics in Ireland to educate themselves about the phenomenon, as there probably are people in Ireland already experiencing the symptoms of this addiction.
People may not realise when they have crossed the line between having fun with social media and being addicted to it. According to consultant psychiatrist Dr Richard Graham, If you spend more than five hours a day on social media websites, if you delay eating and sleeping or if you delay getting to work or school, you may be addicted.
People between the ages of 18 and 35 are more at risk of the condition, especially teenage girls. Although Facebook is supposed to be for people 13 and over, I know of kids as young as eight or nine who have Facebook pages. I am not on Facebook myself, but I do fear for other young people who use the site. These kids are over-exposed and they may see things that they probably shouldn’t. Many are not old enough to know what is and what is not appropriate to post online for the whole world to see, and are putting themselves in danger in the process.
The odds are that as these social networks grow, this problem will only get bigger. The question is, does the responsibility lie with individual users to monitor their use of such services, or with the sites themselves?
Muwa Malaka is a pupil of Adamstown Community College.
