{"id":33284,"date":"2016-11-07T13:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T21:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=33284"},"modified":"2016-11-04T12:51:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T19:51:42","slug":"six-questions-could-test-for-social-media-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/six-questions-could-test-for-social-media-addiction-1107162","title":{"rendered":"Six Questions Could Test for Social Media Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungSix simple screening questions can test for social media addiction<\/a>, according to James Roberts, PhD, a marketing professor at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business. Roberts researches smartphone addiction and wrote the book Too Much of a Good Thing: Are You Addicted to Your Smartphone?<\/em><\/p>\n

A recent poll from Common Sense Media shows about half of all teens<\/a> feel they are addicted to their smartphones, and at least 59% of parents believe their kids are addicted. Nearly two-thirds of parents say their teenagers spend too much time using mobile devices, and 52% of teens feel the same way.<\/p>\n

Are You Addicted to Social Media?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Roberts, <\/em>social media addiction shares six key features with other behavioral addictions: building tolerance for the stimulus, symptoms of withdrawal<\/a>, conflict about the source of the addiction, high salience of the addictive behavior, a sense of euphoria<\/a> when indulging the addiction, and vulnerability to relapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Roberts suggests six questions can uncover these features and identify social media addiction. Those questions are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Salience: Is social media use heavily integrated into your daily routine?<\/li>\n
  2. Tolerance: Do you find yourself spending progressively more time on social media to get the same satisfaction?<\/li>\n
  3. Euphoria: Do you rely on social media as a source of excitement, or to cope with boredom or loneliness<\/a>?<\/li>\n
  4. Withdrawal: Do you feel a need to use social media, and feel edgy or anxious<\/a> when you cannot?<\/li>\n
  5. Relapse: Do attempts to quit or reduce social media use fail?<\/li>\n
  6. Conflict: Does social media cause problems in your life or conflicts with loved ones?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Answering in the affirmative to three or more questions points toward a social media addiction.<\/p>\n

    Why Is Social Media Addiction a Problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    \n\t

    Find a Therapist<\/a><\/h2>\n\t
    \n\n\t\t\t\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\tAdvanced Search<\/a>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>Previous research suggests excessive use of social media can affect mental health. For example, a 2015 study found a correlation between significant use of social media in teens and untreated mental health issues. Another 2016 study indicated an addiction to the internet<\/a> may be associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Roberts cautions that social media use can undermine in-person relationships by causing users to prioritize online relationships. Therapy<\/a> can help effectively treat social media addiction, as well as other compulsive behaviors.<\/p>\n

    References: <\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Are you addicted to social media? Expert offers six questions to ask yourself. (2016, October 20). Retrieved from http:\/\/www.baylor.edu\/mediacommunications\/news.php?action=story&story=174059&_buref=1172-91940<\/li>\n
    2. Dallas, M. (2016, September 18). Internet addiction may be red flag for other mental health issues: Study. Retrieved from http:\/\/health.usnews.com\/health-care\/articles\/2016-09-18\/internet-addiction-may-be-red-flag-for-other-mental-health-issues-study<\/li>\n
    3. Mozes, A. (2015, July 31). Too much Facebook, Twitter, tied to poor mental health in teens. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/medlineplus\/news\/fullstory_153889.html<\/li>\n
    4. Wallace, K. (2016, July 29). Half of teens think they\u2019re addicted to their smartphones. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/05\/03\/health\/teens-cell-phone-addiction-parents\/<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      According to a professor at Baylor University, six questions regarding social media habits could identify whether an attachment to social media is an addiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2555,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[447,471,25],"class_list":["post-33284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-therapy-news","tag-addictions-compulsions","tag-internet-addiction","tag-psychotherapy-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2555"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}