By Syamimi Amira
Social media addiction is not an alien issue anymore especially to the new generation today. It can be seen in the environment surrounding us as many of the people are always looking down at their smart phones be it while walking, in the elevator, in the classroom, at the workplace or even worse while driving.
This phenomenon actually visualises the society we now live in and it creates awareness of the effect that social media and smart phones are having on our life.
This type of addiction is actually a “disease” that is affecting millions or billions but it’s very hard to track because it comes in many forms. In fact, not many will actually admit that they are among the addicts because normally people who are involved in this disease do not even realise about how much time they spend on social media.
Since social media are very easy to use, so fast, so accessible, and so widespread around the world, so it should not cause anyone any surprise.
There are so many people out there regardless of age factor are constantly checking and interacting on social sites throughout the day. It sometimes becomes impossible to not at least have a glance at the social sites in a day as it becomes necessity in life for most of the people.
This is because everyone is on the social sites and they are posting things, sharing news and content and talking to each other 24/7. The addictive aspect of social networking is associated with the FOMO, which is Fear of Missing Out, since the fastest way to get all the information or updates concerning almost about anything is available in social media. So, people claimed that social media is a good platform to get fast news and to keep updated with current issues.
It is actually not a problem in using social media until it begins to interrupt your daily life and your social interaction with other people. There are a few signs of social media addiction that we may consider.
The signs are:
1. The first thing you check in the morning
One of the mildest signs you are one of the social media addicts is if you check it the first thing in the morning. Without doing so, you feel strange as it is something wrong and it becomes a wake up routine. Even this is not a definite sign as for some of us , it is just a normal habit we enjoy while waking up but if it combine along with some of other signs listed in this article, it may be something that you need to work on. Another sign that go along with this one is checking your social media updates in the middle of the night.
2. Constantly check your social media updates
You turn on your smart phones every two minutes regardless of your location or present company just to check how many likes do you receive already at that moment on your Instagram or how many people have retweeted your post on Twitter. You feel the need to constantly check your updates because you fear of missing out something from them.
3. You cannot do anything without sharing it
We all love to post good things that are happening in our life or check in from time to time but if you cannot do anything at all without sharing everything you do on social media, this can be an issue. As for example, every food you eat does not only go to your digestive system, but also go into your Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook permanently. This also goes along with the habit of checking in at all locations you drive by.
4. Your friends use social media as the only way to get hold of you
This might be one of the signs if the best way to get in touch with you is through social media and all your friends know that. It shows that it is where you spend your time the most.
5. It is the main thing you use the internet for
If social media is the main purpose you use the internet for, you may need to evaluate how important it is to you and if there is addiction there. There are a lot of other things you can do by using Internet even it is impossible to name all of the possibilities.
6. Creating verb out of the social media platforms
You turn social media sites into verbs to actually replace the original verbs in your daily conversations such as œI need to Instagram that instead of œI need to post that in my Instagram.
7. You freak out whenever you cannot access your social media
This is when you feel stressful and freak out when the social site goes down or when there is no Internet to access your social media. You feel uneasy and cannot focus anything else because your mind is occupied with this matter. ***