The University of Valencia and the researcher at the UV Polibienestar Institute, Víctor Ciudad Fernández, explained it. The real red flags aren't how much time you spend on social media. The problem is when control is lost and the person begins to have conflicts with those around them. True social media addiction has symptoms that should not be taken lightly.
Addicted or not
They investigated how problematic use of social networks is measured. The study included 190,335 young people between 11 and 15 years old, from 40 countries. It was published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. «You think about Instagram as soon as you wake up. You open TikTok whenever you have a free moment. You feel like every day you want to spend a little more time online. Does that make you addicted? No," said Víctor Ciudad.
According to research, these are behaviors that alone are not signs of a problem. Millions of people experience them without suffering any negative consequences. The signs that do indicate a real problem are very different.
These signals are identified in the study as "core criteria." They are consistently associated with psychological distress, sleep problems, and poorer quality of life. «In everyday language: you try to use the networks less and you don't succeed. You have serious discussions with your family, partner or friends about your use of networks. You lie to others about how much time you spend on them. You feel bad, irritable or restless when you can't wear them. You leave aside studies, sports or hobbies to dedicate that time to networks. You systematically resort to networks to escape from problems or negative emotions. That is the true addiction to social networks.
Actual measurements
If you recognize yourself in several of these situations, it is worth stopping to reflect. If you just think a lot about networking or want to use it more, but none of the above happens to you, you probably don't have a problem.
Current questionnaires to measure social media use are inspired by those used to diagnose substance addictions. But it mixes the signs that really point to a problem with others that only reflect frequent use. This is not to deny that there is problematic use of social networks. It exists, and it can cause real suffering. But we need to distinguish between who is suffering negative consequences and who simply spends a lot of time on these platforms because they like them.
Leave a Reply