It is expected that soon enough, the users of social networking sites would rise to 2.67 billion this year. With this, there is a continuous rise of social media obsession which interestingly, many people don’t even know they are suffering from, not even when the first thing they do in the morning is to log on to Facebook and it is the last thing they do at night.
Inasmuch as social networking has become a very important tool to help in linking up to friends and staying connected, many people still believe it is not without its many problems most especially among the youths. In places such as China, there are already camps set up to treat teenagers who have been found to be addicted to social media.
According to a research reported by Mashable as far back as 2010, as much as 43% of social media users check Facebook and Twitter when they wake up at midnight. More so, 56% of people cannot do without not checking Facebook at least once a day. 12% of the 1000 people who participated in the research pointed out that they check and use Facebook every couple of hours.
At the moment, the above data has changed completely with over 28% time spent on social media as against all other media. Collectively, we are all said to spend 39,757 years on social media each year. The big question is whether or not you are suffering from social media obsession. Here is how to know:
1. First and the last thing to do each day
When your Facebook or Instagram or even Twitter is the first thing you use/ check each day you wake or it is the last thing you do before you sleep each day, you may just be a candidate. You do not need to make a post before you are obsessed the fact that you can’t stop checking may just be a sign.
2. Announcing all your activities
Another sign of social media addiction is the inability to control yourself from sharing every single thing about your life from the things you are eating to the place you are at, to the people you are with, and the things you are doing.
3. Continuous visiting social media sites
When you cannot go a few hours without changing what who is saying or sharing on social media, there may be a problem. It is not out of place for one to have different social media accounts, but what is not normal is the feeling that you have to spend your day on all of them.
4. You care about the number of friends
Apart from people that care about making money from their social media accounts, when one cares about increasing the number of one’s friends list on social media only because they want to be seen as having many friends, there may be a case of social media obsession. Among these people, they send friend requests to strangers and accept strangers as friends just for the numbers.
5. You chat as you move around
Sometimes, it may be something very serious that may get or force you to reply to a message or chat when you are walking. But then, when you always chat, tweet, and comment on posts when you are walking or working, there is a very big chance that you are heading towards the ditch of obsession.
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Another sign is that you can’t stand people ignoring you on social media.
6. When you form your real-world ideas based on things you see online
There is nothing wrong with forming ideas based on the things you see around, but when the things you agree with or disagree with are the things many people agree or disagree on social media, something isn’t right. This gets more critical when you don’t even put any thoughts to it.
In the same line, there is also a problem when you always seek advice about everything in your life from people on social media, and you share all the problems that are and those you suspect may be.
7. Neglecting responsibilities and losing interest in offline activities
Social media addiction can get one to lose interest in offline activities and completely neglecting important things one needs to do. This is most popular with teens as they tend to get lost in the social media world that the real world doesn’t interest them anymore.
8. The best people in your life are on social media
If your new best friend and your new boyfriend or girlfriend and other close pals are all people you meet on social media sites and that is where you constantly meet, you probably have met people that are like yourself, suffering from social media obsession.
9. People on social media can tell everything about you
When others know every member of your family, where you live, the schools you’ve been to, the things you will be doing tomorrow, and every other thing about your real life, it may be another sign. If you know someone like that, it may just be that such a person is suffering from social media addiction.
10. Social media decides your happiness or sadness
A picture not getting many likes or a post not getting a lot of comments can make you very unhappy, and a picture not uploading on Instagram can spoil your day. On the other hand, a lot of likes and comments can get you very happy. If this is your condition, this may just be another sign.
11. Poor interpersonal relationships
Just like most other addictions, social media can affect your relationship with friends and people around you. This is mostly because it makes people get so obsessed with their online presence that they take their offline relationships for granted. This is the point at which the core of social media is which is to enhance relationships is defeated since it destroys your relationship with those around you.
Ways to cure social media obsession
1. Post Less
The more you post pictures and other things online, the more it pulls you in to want to come online to see how it is doing and even interact with people.
2. Try and be a little private
Avoid sharing everything that happens in your life on social media. This will help you cut the need and urge to go online again and again.
3. Reduce the number of friends
Trash a lot of strangers in your friend list, most especially those that are just there to add up the number. It will save you a lot.
4. Stop gaming on social media
Playing games on social media is another thing that pulls a lot of people back to the platforms. You need to cut it off.
5. Spend time with friends and family
Make appointments with friends online and keep to the appointments. Time spent with family and loved ones come with more benefits than time spent online, and the more you spend the time, the better.
6. Get a real life activity
Try and engage yourself with something in real life. Idleness is one of the main reasons why people constantly go online.
7. Have a plan for going online
Have a social media schedule and ensure you keep to it. The importance of this is that it makes you very disciplined.
8. Never go online when with people
When you are having a conversation with people, never interrupt people to go online. It doesn’t just make you rude and disrespectful, but it doesn’t help your cause to fight social media obsession.
9. Turn off your notification
One of the best ways to cure Social Media obsession is to turn off your social media notification because the more you get to know a message has come in or that you have something there, the more you want to go online.