Are you addicted to social media?

Social media addiction is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the handbook used worldwide for the diagnosis of mental health conditions, including addictions. This means facts about social media addiction are thin on the ground. However, the symptoms of excessive social media usage, the difficulty many people have of quitting, and the presence of withdrawal symptoms when a person stops using it all point to social media addiction existing.

The DSM evolves as our understanding of mental health conditions does. New diagnoses are added and old ones are updated in each edition. Social media is relatively new, and contemporary understanding may have yet to catch up to recognise the possibility of addiction to social media. The DSM does recognise that video games can be addictive and includes the condition Internet Gaming Disorder. There are also several tools for measuring social media addiction used in the field of psychiatry, including the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale.

Why is social media addictive?

While social media is much less physically harmful than drugs or alcohol, it is also much more available, making social media addiction insidious. Additionally, drugs and alcohol were not designed specifically to be addictive – they are addictive due to the ways they interact with our brain chemistry. Social media, however, has been altered since its inception specifically to be more addictive and to keep our eyes on our screens as much as possible.

In 2018, Silicon Valley insiders told BBC’s Panorama that social media companies are making their products deliberately addictive. Over time, social media has added new features to keep users returning for more rewards. Features such as infinite scroll, which keeps users looking at the page for as long as possible, or TikTok and Instagram’s ability to flick from one video to the other endlessly with just your thumb have been described as ‘behavioural cocaine.’ Social media companies want to keep time on their platforms as high as possible due to the advertising revenue this can bring.

The struggle to moderate social media usage

One of the biggest difficulties of social media addiction is the ubiquity of smartphones and their necessity for functioning in modern life.

This has sparked a growing trend of people downgrading to ‘dumbphones’ – older phone models that predate the rise of the smartphone, that only have calling and texting capabilities, with other basic and limited tools such as a clock and calendar.

However, many users find themselves turning back to their smartphones—not out of a desire to get back on social media but because they’re missing the apps they think are essential. One of the most commonly asked questions on the 69,000-member subreddit r/dumbphones is whether there is a dumbphone that has maps, WhatsApp and Spotify. So far, the answer to this question is no.

Companies have launched products and apps to address the problem of wanting to give up social media but not lose the useful functions of a smartphone. Unplug and Brick are two companies that offer devices that physically block unwanted apps from smartphones—although it is within the user’s power to reverse this block whenever they want.

Am I addicted to social media?

If you’ve tried and failed to reduce your social media usage or taken drastic measures like buying an older phone or downloading an app to block it and ended up returning, this could be a sign of social media addiction.

As the DSM does not officially recognise social media addiction there isn’t an official list of symptoms – but the following signs suggest that you could be addicted to social media:

• Excessive time spent on social media
• A preoccupation with social media, thinking about it when you’re not using it
• Using social media instead of interacting with people in person, or using social media as a substitute for in-person relationships
• Mood disturbances like depression and anxiety
• Conflict with others as a result of your social media usage.

Like other addictions, social media addiction can also cause withdrawal symptoms when you attempt to stop using it – cravings, mood swings and boredom.

Online tools should never be used in place of a diagnosis from a trained professional – but scoring high on a tool like the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale can be an indication that you should seek help from a professional. The tool is a short six-question screener that measures cravings, preoccupation with social media and how much it interferes with your personal life and mood.

Strategies for managing social media use

Managing social media use is difficult due to the presence of screens in our lives. Many people rely on computers and smartphones to do their jobs. This means that many of the strategies used for drugs and alcohol addiction, such as avoiding triggers, are made more difficult – we need to use the devices with addictive social media on them for work, navigation and for genuinely useful purposes like looking up information.

Many tips for managing social media usage involve locking down apps and putting a physical distance between you and your phone. You could consider:

• Disabling apps and notifications on your phone
• Deleting apps that you don’t need that you find the most distracting
• Where possible, deleting social media profiles that you don’t need
• Keeping your phone in another room of the house, for instance leaving it downstairs when you go to bed
• Trying to ‘fast’ from phone usage at least once a week, also known as a digital detox
• Prioritising physical plans and activities as much as possible.

If these don’t work, you can also consider downloading apps or using tools blocking your device’s social media. If you’re able to, downgrading your phone to one with fewer apps, or using one of the physical solutions such as the ones mentioned earlier in this blog can help.

Many parents use parental tools to keep their children away from harmful websites when using smartphones. This feature can also be used to set up locks on your own phone that block apps you don’t want to be able to access. You will need a second device to set up parental controls on your phone, so you will likely need to enlist a partner or friend to set these controls up. These measures might sound drastic, but they can be very useful for removing the triggers to use social media.

If you’re struggling with social media addiction, we treat a wide range of behavioural addictions – including internet, gaming and social media. Reach out today to find out how we can help.