Social networks constitute a new form of interaction, a new door that generates different possibilities in the field of personal and professional relationships. The causes of the popularity of social networks are due to many factors, what is undeniable is that today it represents one of the pillars of communication.
However, sometimes the use of social networks carries a significant risk. This is what happens when people reduce their universe to the constant filter of social networks, moving face-to-face ties to the background. Addiction to social networks is part of a new type of pathology: behavioral addictions, a real fact that causes a lot of suffering to those who suffer from it.
A new reality that requires comprehensive treatment and new professional training such as master’s degrees and postgraduate degrees in behavioral addictions. For this reason, in Psychology-Online, we address the causes, consequences and solutions of social media addiction.
What are behavioral addictions?
The Internet addiction It is something very common among young people and adults who have become accustomed to using the online medium, but do so obsessively. However, it is not the only non-substance addiction that exists; recently, various attitudes related to addiction have begun to be studied but that do not involve the consumption of any external toxicant; these behaviors are known as behavioral addictions.
Today, they are considered one of the most abundant mental disorders in Western society. We can divide these addictions according to the stimulus that produces the dependence:
In order to address these behaviors, it is necessary tor study its origin, maintenance and the various ways of treating it. From this purpose, specific training for psychology professionals, courses and postgraduate degrees in behavioral addictions were born, whose objective is to shed a little more light on this recently appeared phenomenon.
Causes of addiction to social networks
There are different reasons that determine the need to be connected to social networks. Next, we will see the main causes of addiction to social networks.
Normalization of the use of social networks
One of the causes of addiction to social networks that influences the development of dependency, for example on Instagram, is the naturalness with which so many people share photographs, write comments and interact with others. A positive and creative experience that ceases to be so at the moment in which the person no longer enjoys it, but rather feels that their will is subjugated by the constant need for interaction.
Loneliness
The Internet is a window of social relationships for everyone. However, those who live a period of loneliness are more vulnerable to the risk of dependency because they observe in this communication vehicle a substitute for those voids and emotional deficiencies. In this article, we tell you that your happiness does not depend on social networks.
Ego food
Some Instagram image galleries project a universe in which vanity seems a constant based on images starring those who show endless smiles and a dream lifestyle.
Thus, another of the causes of addiction to social networks is this desire to show an image of perfection It also receives feedback in the form of a “like”. A type of language that offers an immediate interaction that is different from that of face-to-face relationships. It is a risk to confuse the number of followers with the value of self-esteem.
Lack of limits
Adolescence is one of the periods in which young people are most vulnerable to lack of discernment of possible risks of social networks. Lack of training on the positive use of social media can increase confusion. This is one of the reasons why parents also have the responsibility of training themselves to know the potential of social networks and technology in order to make good use of it, since, in addition, the parents’ own example It also influences children.
Personal difficulties
If we talk about causes of social networks, in terms of additions, the barriers at the level of social skills, can make a person apparently feel more comfortable when interacting over the Internet. The risk of this is that the patient develops stress and anxiety when he has to face face-to-face situations that are outside his comfort zone. For these cases, we propose.
Consequences of social media addiction
The dependency generated by social networks can negatively affect people. The main consequences of addiction to social networks are the following:
- Difficulty maintaining concentration: Although a person is physically present in one place, their mind can be in a completely different place. One of the consequences of addiction to social networks is that the person compulsively consults any detail, leaving the direct reality of day-to-day life in the background. In this article, we show you different ones.
- Alteration of sleep and rest habits: The tendency to live glued to a screen alters the pace of life in factors as essential as these. For example, the habit of checking your phone at night delays your sleep time or interrupts your night’s rest.
- Distortion of reality: the person behaves as if the mobile phone were an extension of their being as important as a part of their own organism. For example, one of the consequences of addiction to social networks is that there is a loss of intimacy. The person concludes that a moment is happier if he or she shares it with others.
- Lack of privacy care: as a consequence of this loss of the sphere of intimacy, those who suffer from addiction to social networks lose control of the information they share about themselves, that is, they do not realize the amount of data about their own life that they provide. to others. People who, in many cases, don’t even know the person.
- inner void: Social networks are marked by constant interaction, but also by the ephemerality of this form of expression. A photograph shared on Facebook a few weeks ago is completely out of date today. For this reason, this excess of activity that remains on the level of superficiality, leaves behind an immense feeling of emptiness in the face of the high emotional demand for recognition from others.
Solutions to treat social media addiction
Once we have seen the causes and consequences of social networks, the first step to solve this addiction is become aware of the problem. Be honest with yourself and observe this limitation to understand how this addiction is affecting you, not only in your personal life, but also on an academic or professional level.
Furthermore, given the consequences of addiction to social networks, it is advisable ask for help psychological from an expert specialized in the subject to do therapy. The expert will carry out a diagnosis of the initial situation to, from that moment, specify an individualized treatment that increases the resilience of the affected person in the face of those stimuli that generate some type of discomfort.
How to prevent social media addiction
Beyond the specific treatment that can be proposed as a solution, it is advisable to take measures to prevent addiction to social networks. Next, we will see what should be done in these cases:
- Always prioritize your relationships and face-to-face conversations: This is a reference premise for not making a medium like social networks an end in itself.
- Enjoy the expansion of intimacy from freedom: When you enjoy a plan, forget about photographing that moment to upload it to your networks. It is better that you observe the details of that day to save them and feel them in the memory of your retinas. Does that mean you can never take a photograph? It means that you must find the balance of living taking photographs when they really have meaning.
- Turn off your mobile phone for three hours every day or leave it in a different room when you are at home. It is recommended that you train practical and concrete ideas to enjoy social networks in measure. To do this, you can also establish a schedule of use and specify a time of day when you look at them for the last time.
- Remember what your life was like before the arrival of social networks: Essentially, it was exactly the same as now. If you need to remember that time, then enjoy old movies that show you a lifestyle before technology.
- Educational training: It is recommended that academic centers schedule talks on this topic for teachers, parents and students. Talks that deal with addiction to social networks, its causes, consequences and how to treat it.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5). Panamericana Editorial.
- Joseph J. Sandler. (1986). The patient and the analyst: the clinical framework of psychoanalysis. Paidos Publishing House, Barcelona.