Social media addiction – do you have it? Take a test!

Check if you have the symptoms of social media addiction.

autorzy: Joanna i Jarek Burdek - założyciele projektu Offlajnowi.pl
August 7, 2024

We’ll start with my personal reflection. I simply cannot stand these times of constant comparison and fighting for likes. Uploading content just to get someone to comment on it. Putting your life on your smartphone to snap a picture for Insta or LinkedIn. Like in the song, “I am humble, but I want everyone to know about it.” Personally, I consider social networking and the fight for the likes of people on the Internet to be a waste of free time. But this is my opinion. You may have a different one. I prefer people in person. Maybe it’s because I am old. Or maybe it’s because I find these online relationships to be full of crap.

Social media addiction test

Since you’re here, you might think you have a problem with social media addiction. You don’t know how to identify an addiction. Take this short social media addiction test for yourself.

How to take the social media addiction test?

Take a piece of paper (or open a spreadsheet). Write down the question number on it. If you agree with the answer and it applies to you (you can relate), write down – 1. If not – 0. At the end, add up the score.

Do you usually feel a compulsion to use social media?
Do you feel guilty if you don’t like something a friend has posted?
Have you ever been bothered by social media when you were studying/learning or working/working?
Have friends, family, or others complained about how often you use social media?
Are you more active on social media today than you were a year ago?
Does your lack of access to social media make you feel stressed?
Do you use social media while exercising?
Are you active on social media while eating meals with family or friends?
Do you use social media while driving a car, a boat, a motorcycle or a bicycle?
Is the first thing you do upon waking up is to open social media?
Do you use social media in bed before going to sleep?
When you see something beautiful, unusual or extraordinary, do you primarily think about posting it on social media?
Do you use social media when you’re in the bathroom?
Have you thought about leaving social media?
Do you happen to use social media instead of taking care of something else you should be doing?
Have you tried to cut down on social media or leave it, but returned to old patterns?

How to interpret the results of the social media addiction test?

0-5 It seems that everything is under control.
6-9 Slow down! It looks like warning signs have appeared.
10-16 I think we have a problem… Stop, rethink your habits, apply digital detox.

Source: Sven Rollenhagen “Digital Zombie”

Life on social media is one big scam

Recently, a friend of mine compared posting on social media to the orchestra on the Titanic. Even as the ship was sinking, it played until the end. This is very much like what some (most?) people do. No matter how bad it is, how awful they feel, on social media everything is A-OK. It’s perfect. Perfect breakfasts, perfect families, accomplishments. (Worst of all, I’m stuck in it myself).

Social media addiction and duck syndrome

Are you familiar with the duck syndrome? I read about it in Julianna Miner’s book Raising a Screen-Smart Kid. Ducks seem to float on a lake very so gracefully . Meanwhile, beneath the surface, they are ambling with their feet like crazy. The problem is that we cannot see those legs, and we think they are accomplishing in no time at all what we are doing with maximum effort.

Work, getting clients, attending conferences, academic titles – it takes effort! Literally yesterday, at a university Christmas party, I met a guy who said out loud: “I have two PhDs, but it took no effort at all”. Well, as a person officially expelled from doctoral studies, I can only say: QUACK QUACK QUACK!

Social media and comparing yourself to others. This is why you feel worse!

It pisses me off how people pretend that everything just falls out of the sky. THAT’S SUCH A SCAM. And then I go on social media and see. Everyone has it better than me. Everyone is prettier, richer, etc. And I feel down. On the one hand I have this realization, but on the other hand I don’t post anything different myself. I am guilty of that too.

Why is social media so addictive?

Humans are social creatures. Our survival once depended on whether we had companions. Lonely people fared worse. And that’s how we still are. Here are the reasons why social media is addictive:

we want to know what others are up to
stay up to date – get information
brag – reward ourselves
get a heart – reward ourselves
make comments – reward someone
talk – build relationships
seek opinions – feel safe

Dopamine and social media addiction

Those hearts are more than a reward and a good feeling. They are also a dose of dopamine, which our brains love so much. Dopamine is the pleasure anticipation hormone. Every time you hear a notification or the sound of acomment being published under a post, your brain secretes this hormone – you wait: What will it be, who wrote it.

Over time, for the pleasure to exist, your brain needs more and more of dopamine , and you keep uploading those pics, posts, etc. Over and over.

Source: The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race Lieberman Daniel Z., Long Michael E.

This is how behavioral addictions are born. Yes, social media addiction is a type of behavioral addiction. So is gambling or shopaholism. The risk of addiction is especially high in children, as their brains do not have a well and fully developed impulse control center.

The effects of social media addiction – do you experience them?

If you notice the following symptoms of social media addiction in yourself, take action. Or maybe your close friend is struggling with addiction? Do not wait and do not promise yourself that it will get better. You need to take action today. The impact of social media on your life and mental health is perhaps greater than you think. Check if these symptoms and effects of social media addiction apply to you?

You spend a lot of time on them

You spend most of your time using social networking sites and the Internet. You use TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and others. You spend a lot of time looking at others’ posts. You don’t even control how much time you spend there.

You often sit on social media longer than you intended. Addicts do not control this. You think you are there for a shorter time than you actually are. You have difficulty saying “NO, enough of sitting online” to yourself. You feel time slipping through your fingers!

You feel worse!

Social media addiction is associated with feeling worse. The time you spend on social media consists of browsing other people’s posts and stories. You keep tracking other people’s photos, behaviors, tidbits from their lives published online. When you do this, you think to yourself: What a great life they have, they are better than me. And I am so lame. You constantly compare yourself and this makes you feel worse. Your self-esteem gets worse and worse. You do not take into account that what they post is often a directed scam ! According to research, worse moods especially affect women and girls who spend a lot of time on social media.

The worse you feel, the more you’re on the web

You do not know how to deal with your emotions anymore. When you feel worse, you jump on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. This leads to feeling even worse!

You don’t know how to just experience things – you put everything on social media and constantly fight for likes and comments.

What you do is dependent on looking good on Instagram. Your phone is an integral part of your life at all times! You are constantly thinking about what to post on a particular social network. When you experience something cool, you do not experience it at all, you just record and upload it. After all, it is the reactions that count. Really?

You find it hard to focus. School or longer classes are a nightmare!

Dopamine addiction has gripped your brain. By constantly flipping through videos and not reading longer texts or books at all, your brain has turned off the parts responsible for focusing, remembering and concentrating.

From constant distraction you just get dumber, have memory impairment, are unable to focus, have difficulty thinking for longer stretches of time! Seriously, there is research on this, scientists in Germany have observed that phone addicts experience a loss in the gray matter of the brain (source).

Social media is your window to the world, you have more friends online than in real life.

There are times when you would rather spend time there than go out or hang out with your friends in the city. The very subject of life and being with others offline scares you a bit.

You do not feel like making new friends. After a while, you feel uncomfortable leaving the house at all. You isolate yourself. You have no real interpersonal relationships, only those on social media. You also have fewer other activities and are not interested in your previous hobbies. New technologies now overtake most of your free time. You live on your phone.

You have trouble sleeping.

You either stay up too late and are sleep-deprived, or you can’t fall asleep. You use social media right before bed, or even at night when you wake up. The problem is that the phone’s blue light inhibits the secretion of melatonin, the sleep hormone. And the excitement of using social media does not help you fall asleep at all!

You feel panic when you cannot check social media.

Social media is the first thing you check when you get up.

You cannot live without them. When you open your eyes, you immediately reach for your phone and check what you missed while you were asleep. At work, you spend time browsing social networks. Sometimes you mess up because of this.

You react to notifications on your phone like a child to candy.

Notifications and sounds of incoming messages are accompanied by a thrill , excitement, anticipation. Do you ever run straight to your phone as soon as you hear those “pings”?

You neglect other matters

Neglecting your responsibilities is a dangerous symptom of social media addiction. It often leads to serious consequences – professional, personal, family. You find it difficult to cope with reality.

Browsing Facebook or Instagram often becomes the most important thing in the world for you. Your relationships, functioning in society suffer. Do not let social media take control of you or let it become dangerous.

Treatment of addiction

Ok. You already know you have a problem, now what. How do you treat social media addiction? First of all, seek the help of a specialist to help you figure out the problem in therapy.

Help from a Specialist – If you are addicted, consider this first.

And this I recommend with full conviction. A specialist will help to overcome difficulties, and the addicted person will receive professional support.

Believe me, today i’s not something to be ashamed of, but a symptom of being a conscious and wise person.

What else can you do?

Check out group therapy – search Google for “behavioral addiction group therapy” or “behavioral addiction groups” + city).
How to help a child with an addiction? If the problem affects your child, go to the class teacher or school counselor to ask for help. It’s not a shame.

Say NO to social media today!

We learn the true effects of any technology over time. In the past, no one thought asbestos was carcinogenic.

In the same way, the effects of social media and Internet access will be felt by our children someday, in the future. Although it is already known that being constantly online is simply not quite good for us. Some countries, however, are already acting:

Collective lawsuit – 33 US states are suing Meta (Facebook and Instagram) for harming children.
High penalties for accounts – France has introduced huge fines for children having social media accounts.

What can you do today?

Turn off all notifications.
Uninstall social media apps from your phone.
Uninstall messaging apps from your phone.
Use social media exclusively on your laptop.
Start controlling how much time you spend on social media.
If you cannot stop yourself – set an hourly limit.

Summary – social media addiction:

Younger and younger children start using phones and the Internet.. The alarming statistics on cases of depression and even suicide are a worldwide problem. All generations have symptoms of addiction. Adults who are addicts themselves teach children how to live on a smartphone. Social media is interfering with our work, life and relationships.

And sharing something on social networks is more important than experiencing them. We upload and wait for notifications from the Internet. These are behaviors of addicted people. If you observe them in yourself, even some of them – reach out for help. Right away.

Be like a granny. Experience, don’t just register!!!