You may be a social media addict without knowing; discover the signs and symptoms

Social media companies keep adding more features to their applications, making them fun. As these apps and platforms get more sophisticated and entertaining, you keep using them without keeping track of time.

It’s either you are uploading/watching a story on Snapchat, checking up on your friend on WhatsApp, tweeting/checking the latest trends on Twitter or checking out beautiful pictures on Instagram.

Social Media addiction starts slowly and ends you in a condition where you can’t live without it.

How does it start? Causes of social media addiction

According to Computer World, the addictive aspect of social networking is associated with FOMO — fear of missing out. Whatsapp’s new update, which allows users to put up a Status in the form of an Image, GIF or Video has given users a reason to stay longer on WhatsApp, scanning through the stories of their contacts.

The more social media a person consumes daily, the higher the probability of becoming addicted.

Also, people get a sense of social validation on Social Media through likes, favorites, re-tweets etc. So, to escape their unpopularity in real life, they hung on to social media.

How do you know you are addicted? Symptoms of social media addiction

• You spend much time thinking about Social Media or planning how to use it.
•  You feel the urge to use Social Media more and more.
•  You use Social Media in order to forget about personal problems.
•  You have tried to cut down on the use of Social Media but have yet to succeed.
•  You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Social Media
•  You use Social Media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

Social Media addiction has the ability to constantly take you from the real world to a virtual world of fantasies. Tackling it head-on is the best way to go.

We hope this article helped you learn about social media addiction. You may also want to look at our article on internet addiction.