These days, there is a lot of discussion about whether social media is addictive or not. People around the world spend hours a day on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc. and this behavior has triggered concerns about what effect these social medias have on our health. Academic papers are written on the subject and debates are held by health professionals, the media and the general public. Terms like Facebook addiction and Instagram addiction are often thrown around in magazines, podcasts and blogs. Is the desire some people have to check their social media multiple times a day an addiction that should be treated as a disorder? Many say yes and many say no.

Based on my research, I would say that it is not, however I would also argue that whether it truly is or isn’t an addiction in the clinical sense doesn’t really matter. At the end of the day, we know that various problems arise from certain kinds of social media use and the label of addiction won’t give us real insight into why these problems arise and how to address them. I propose moving away from the addiction framework and instead looking at the specific ways that social media can become problematic, which users are most susceptible to problematic use and why, and how to successfully treat the negative consequences of such use. In this blog post I will talk about the pathways that often lead social media use to become problematic and in Part 2 I will talk about the specific problems that are most common and how to prevent them.

FOMO and Social Comparison

At this time, research has identified three motivations commonly found at the root of problematic social media use – Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and social comparison, validation seeking, and avoidance coping.  Fear of Missing Out is when you feel like things are happening around you that you are not a part of or interesting information is being shared by others that you do not know, thereby creating anxiety that you’re being excluded and stirring a desire to be involved, or at least to be in the loop. In order to make that happen, you must plug in to the social stream. Eventually, some people start checking their profiles compulsively to avoid missing something important and to always be in-the-know. Then, when they do see what people are up to, they start to compare their own selves and lives to those of others (whether consciously or subconsciously) and often develop feelings of dissatisfaction with their own experience (Przybylski et al., 2013) which can even turn into anxiety and depression (Baker, Krieger & LeRoy, 2016; Oberst et al., 2016).

This happens because online, people post only their best sides and their most interesting moments, carefully cropped and edited, thus creating an unrepresentative image of who they are and how they live. When you compare your own life – full of ups and plenty of downs, some great moments but also many mundane moments, some good angles and some unflattering ones – to these seemingly always fun and beautiful lives of others, you think wow…my life sucks. But rarely is this true. The lives of those you are seeing online are probably very similar to yours – you are simply seeing the full picture of your own life with all the behind-the-scenes messiness included but only a partial, carefully crafted theater of others’ lives. The two cannot be compared.

Validation Seeking

The second motivation that can develop into problematic social media use is validation seeking. Validation seeking is the process of posting flattering photos, accomplishments or other attention-capturing content on social networks in hopes of receiving positive feedback such as compliments that communicate to you that what you posted is indeed good, beautiful or valuable.  Although it is common for people of all kinds to dabble in the occasional validation seeking (we’ve all posted a cute selfie or several), it has been found that the groups most likely to engage in regular validation seeking online are those high in narcissism, low in self-esteem (Marshall et al., 2015; Casale and Fiorvanti, 2018), high in neuroticism (Marshall et al., 2015), and high in perfectionism (Flett et al., 2014).  Validation-seeking is problematic because the value a person puts on themselves or their experiences becomes dependent on what others think of it rather than on what they themselves think. In other words, the value stops being intrinsic (originating in the self), and becomes extrinsic (dependent on others’ opinions).  When value is extrinsic, it is fragile because it is susceptible to external forces and thus conditional and unstable, i.e. no longer within your control.  It is fleeting rather than constant, meaning that regular validation is needed in order for the user to keep feeling good about themselves. This is an unsustainable and ineffective approach to happiness, well-being and self-love.

Avoidance Coping

The final pathway that can lead social media use to become problematic is avoidance coping. Avoidance coping is what happens when you distract yourself from negative internal mental/emotional states or unpleasant external situations instead of addressing them directly and dealing with them head on. Avoidance coping can be mild, like when people use their smartphones to avoid boredom, or it can be employed in more serious situations, such as when people try to distract themselves from stress, anxiety, or depression. Occasional avoidance coping is normal and even helpful, especially if you are very stressed and need relief or to relax. However, regularly practicing avoidance coping is unhealthy in the long run because you do not develop skills that are adaptive for optimal functioning such as healthy coping mechanisms. The small stressors of life are like exercises that teach us coping methods and problem-solving skills which help us handle bigger stressors down the line, a process that has been compared to vaccination and called “hardship inoculation” (Alter, 2017).  If you always avoid life’s small stressors, discomforts or inconveniences, you don’t learn how to deal with them. This can lead to underdeveloped resilience and coping abilities which can actually make you more vulnerable and sensitive to stressors and uncomfortable situation/feelings/experiences. This in turn obstructs the development of self-confidence and feelings of competence and agency.

Since social media is just a click away, the temptation to distract ourselves with it at the slightest hint of discomfort has become commonplace. But we must be conscious of the fact that this might be an act of avoidance coping and understand its risks.  Avoidance coping has been associated with anxiety, depression and long-term negative consequences (Panova and Lleras, 2016; Blalock & Joiner 2000; Holahan et al., 2005) because not dealing with a problem does not make it go away; it simply covers it up for the moment.  Active coping such as dealing with the problem directly has been found to be much more effective at resolving stress and improving mental health in the long run (Frydenberg and Lewis, 2009; LeDoux and Gorman, 2001). 

Summary

Although these days there is much talk about social media addiction, it is a better to look at the specific pathways that turn normal social media use into problematic use. Simply using social networks to establish and maintain social connections has become a normal part of everyday life and is therefore not problematic in and of itself. However, if the social networks are used to frequently check what others are doing and then compare oneself to them, if they are used to gain validation because one does not have healthy levels of self-confidence or self-esteem to validate oneself, or when they are regularly used as tools for avoiding unpleasant or uncomfortable experiences, then their use can transform into an unhealthy dependence and problems can develop. I will discuss some of the common problems associated with social media use and how to prevent them in Part 2.

For more articles on the subject of social media and mental health, check out the social media folder of the blog or my academic publications.