Introduction

Social media addiction is defined as a behavioural addiction that involves an excessive concern about social media to the point where the use of social media begins to have an impact on an individual’s health and daily life. Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction. Young people aged between 16 to 24 years are mostly affected by social media addiction.

What causes social media addiction?

Social media addiction is caused by a variety of factors from person to person. The following are some of the factors which cause social media addiction;

1. The fear of missing out: The fear of missing out on information causes one to use social media recurrently.
2. Dopamine rush: Getting notifications from social media platforms feels great, this causes the brain to release dopamine which is a chemical that makes one feel good. The dopamine rush makes one crave for more social media notifications and more engagement on social media.
3. Stress and self-esteem: Social media allows people to showcase their lives by only posting the best moments of their lives which gives a false impression that people must work harder to have a desirable life. This causes stress and a low self-esteem on another individual by putting unnecessary pressure on oneself to have a desirable life.

What are the signs of social media addiction?

A person with social media addiction has one or all of the symptoms of social media addiction:

1. Spending excessive amounts of time on social media: Spending a lot of time browsing through social media platforms and neglecting important obligations and tasks that need to be completed.
2. Reduction in the amount of time spent with family or friends: A person with a social media addiction will distance him or herself from family and friends and this causes the relationships to fall apart in the process.
3. Losing interest in hobbies: A person with a social media addiction will start losing interest in his or her hobbies and choose to spend time on social media.
4. Poor performance at school or at work: The more that social media takes up most of a person’s time and energy, this can cause a pupil or student to perform poorly at school since most of the time is spent on social media instead of studying. Social media addiction can also lead to poor performance at work.
5. Attachment to his or her smartphone: An individual with a social media addiction will have a deep connection with his or her smartphone and using it as a means to engage with social media.
6. Emotional withdrawal: A person with a social media addiction will be disconnected from real-world interactions due to the overuse of social media.

How do you deal with social media addiction?

The following tips can be useful in dealing with social media addiction:

1. Reducing the time that you spend on social media can be useful in dealing with social media addiction. Instead of spending an hour or hours on social media, you can choose to decide to use social media platforms for a few minutes and logging out. 
2. Reading books is one of the ways to deal with  social media addiction. When you feel like using social media, you can grab a book and read it.
3. Exercising or working out can assist in dealing with social media addiction.
4. Spending more time with family and friends without using social media can help manage the social media addiction.
5. Deleting social media apps from your phone is one of the best ways to deal with social media addiction.

Conclusion

Social media addiction isn’t impossible to deal with, one needs to take some steps in order to deal with the addiction. Finding alternative ways to deal with social media addiction such as reading books, deleting social media apps and interacting with people in real life can yield good results.