Social Networks’ Addiction in Adolescents and Young People: Effects and Possible Approaches

Abstract

Social networks addiction consists of uncontrolled and continued use of digital sites such as Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. A social media addict loses control of using and avoid the normal course of life. It is considered an abuse of social networks when it is above 6 daily hours, it shows dependency on them. An addicted person experiences a great euphoria because of using social networks without considering long term and negative consequences. This type of addiction causes negative effects on the different dimensions of people´s lives. Some of them are: sedentary lifestyle, social isolation and obstacles to building relationships, work or study normally. The abusive use of social networks has caused the increase of some health problems such as sleep disorders, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and withdrawal syndrome. The anxiety for staying connected to social networks, texting with WhatsApp or ´die´ in case of getting disconnected from cyberspace, is a psychological disease called nomophobia. Indeed, there are six basic criteria to identify social networking addiction: 1. Spend a lot of time thinking about social networks like Facebook, Instagram, etc. 2. Feel the need to use social media all the time. 3. Use the social network to forget about personal or work problems. 4. Fail in the attempt to reduce the use of the social network. 5. Feelings of restlessness and anxiety to use the social network, especially when it is forbidden.