Social Network Addiction
Carolina Gonzalez
The University of Texas at El Paso
Abstract
This literature review is on Social Network Addictions that seek to explore the following questions: 1.What is Social Network Addiction? 2. What are some solutions to this problem? 3. What kind of resources does a social network abuser have access to? Social Network Addiction is a psychological disorder around the world, it is stated that internet addiction was the cause of social addiction. Some of the signs of this addiction are low self-esteem, when a person socializes, and when a person looses sleep because he/she is connected to the social network website. Some solutions to this problem maybe spending quality time with family. The resources for this kind of addiction vary in many ways, psychologists are always a big help but most of all family support is necessary in order to help the addict.
Social Network Addiction
Social Networking in today’s time was a huge impact among the internet system. For some people, computers are considered essential on a daily basis. This had cause to many people become abusers to this great service. Now, we see almost in every social places providing Wi-Fi service. Also, with all the great technology now days we no longer have to carry a laptop to places to use the internet, phones have immense technology access. Currently, people can use their phones to update their social page. Also people who have some level of social addiction like or find pretty interesting and getting to know everything about their friends through the monitors of their computers and cell phones. No longer hanging out with friends is interesting them anymore.
For many people is pretty easy to become addicted to social networks due to the fact that it is very popular among not only young people but adult people too, also it is easy to access, and it is entertaining. Although, it is important to consider that the purpose of the multiple social networks presented to people is to keep in touch with family, friends, and old friends that one may have lost touch with. Addiction to these internet websites becomes a problem once it starts to interfere towards daily life. This review of literature review seeks to explore the following questions: What is Social Network Addiction? What can be some solutions to this problem? And, What kind of resources does a social network abuser have access to?
According to Pamaoukaghion (2055-2010) Social Network Addiction was first known as a psychological disorder around the world, also internet addiction lead to social network addiction (paragraph #2). According to Young (2009) Social Networking can be compare as the same as being addicted to drugs or alcohol. Internet addiction is big cause of social network addiction because people started to explore the internet and by that started visiting social network websites and by that people when to internet addiction to social network addiction. Social network addiction leads to many problems such as problems with your family, work, friends, etc. According to Pamaoukaghion (2005-2010) Facebook is one of the most famous visited social network website. There are many levels of social network addiction, some of the levels are for emotional low self-esteem, and afraid to be socially expose Pamaoukaghion (2005-2010) (paragraps#4-5). People with low self-esteem are most likely to fall into social network addiction because of the unstable social expose with people in person. According to Pamaoukaghion (2055-2010) in a study from the University of Athens, psychiatrists discuss about a woman who lost her job because of being online on a social network websites (paragraph #3). The discussion was about this situation of the women that it could be a sign of social network addiction.
According to Cheever (2009), there are five signs that may signal one has type of social network addiction (paragraph # 2). The ones with more relevance include when one is losing sleep over spending hours on social networks, when a person spends more than an hour in social networking, when one ignores work and this could be also school work, and also if the thought of having a day without visiting a social network creates and stress (paragraph #3). This is one of the most popular sign of social network addiction because is when you start to break your ordinary scheshulde and the person using the social network website starts to miss school, work or any other important thing by being connected. Although all of this information may sound alarming or others may find it totally normal for their daily living, according to Hardie, E (2007) “High internet use was related to high levels of emotional loneliness, but low levels of social loneliness” (p#22). What this means is a great connection between people who suffer from emotional distress tend to be addicted to social networks. One personality factor could be that when encountering themselves with face-to-face time with other human beings their found it hard to make a social connection. Some people have social network addiction because of their insecurity of communicating with other people in person. I become easier to these people who are socially intimidated to communicate via internet because they are not exposing and also because they feel that it is a more comfortable way to express. In the primary research conducted for this Literature Review in February 2011 a survey, some of the results where that many students at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) see Social Network Addiction as a hobby now in days. This is because students used the Social Network as a way to contact better with their friends by viewing it has the new fashion to have a social network website to express themselves and communicate other than sending an email through their school accounts. In the survey many of the students at UTEP answer that yea they see Social Networking has a hobby, they add that people should learn to control it and to have a limit. According to the survey the students seem to answer the survey very quickly, they already seem also to know that they have an addiction but some of them don’t take it seriously since it not a big critical on their health. Also according to the survey only 3 out of the 10 students asked to answer the survey were interested on how they can fix their early signs of Social Network Addiction. The rest according to the survey didn’t seem to be interested even though they have shown and know early signs of the addiction. They seem to care more about their social lives and reputation on the internet.
Some solutions that Cheever (2007) suggests is to try to find medical support if symptoms of social network addiction are getting noticing from closed relatives such as family members. It is important to also people who notice this type of behavior for example with teenagers, parents should know the correct approach to correct or at least lowering the levels of addiction of their teenager by having open conversation and try to be has supportive as possible. It is important to be supportive because that way the person affected by the addiction can feel more confident to become stronger to manage their addiction. According to Cheever (2007) spending more time with your family by going out and going stuff together than be online in the social networking website the addict can avoid social networking. Also Cheever (2007) recommends used the reward system works is like setting a goal, complete the goal and then reward yourself, and finally Cheever (2007) states to make an effort to stay offline, to be mature about the recovery that it takes to become successful to fight back Social Network Addiction.
Social Network Addiction is a psychological disorder almost all around the world with internet access. It is known that internet addiction leads to social network addiction. The signs of social network addiction are very easy to indentify but the person that is affected by the addiction is the one that notices it the first time but does not seem to pay attention to it since they do not identify internet use as a psychological disorder. The people that are affected by this addiction are mostly the ones that have social insecurities, but also the other people see it as a hobby, but in reality they are being affected by the psychological disorder. Some solutions of social networking is to be able to do physical activities: like going out with friends, family, playing sports, or just to spending more quality time with family. One recommendation is to be able to control oneself, in the survey conducted in February 2011 many students added at the end of the survey that one strategy to control their addiction to social network websites is to manage their time and create a schedule or set a strict time schedule. Social network addictions is growing more and more as technology keeps progressing. As they progress so will additions
References
Cheever, J. (2009). Signs of addition to online social networking. FebruaryThursday, 2011, from Life 123 answers at the speed of life: http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/online-social-networking.shtml
Hardie, E., Tee, M. (2007)Excessive Internet Use: The role of personality, loneliness, and social support networks in internet networking. Australian Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society. Vol 5. No. 1 pp.34-47.
Pamoukaghion, MA Veronica (2005-2010) Social Network Addiction-A scientific No Man;s Land? . Topics from Multidimensional Biopsychosocial Perspectives.
YOUNG, K. (1998). Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1 (3), 237-244 DOI: 10.1089/cpb.1998.1.237
