Signs of Addiction to Social Media

In a society where everyone uses social media, it has become the norm to immerse yourself in social media use. However, how do you know when you may be addicted to social media? Below you can find 12 signs (Per PRDaily.com) that may indicate an addiction to social media.

1. You read, comment, and promote someone’s blog about nothing. 
2. Hashtags in your email. 
3. Check in on Foursquare—everywhere you go! 
4. Following or listing your pet. 
5. It’s “first” in the morning. 
6. You update your status while out with “real people.” 
7. You share everything. 
8. Your Empire Avenue portfolio becomes more important than your actual one. 
9. Involve yourself in social media activities that don’t involve you. 
10. Dreaming in 140. (Dreaming about twitter)
11. “Liking” your own content. 
12. Klout becomes your social currency. 

If these signs apply to you, you may need to consider whether or not you are addicted to social media. It is important to realize that just because it is the "norm" to use social media frequently, does not mean that you don't have a problem with social media use. 

Social Media vs. Reality

Social media has become pervasive in our society, and it has connected us in many ways. People are able to stay in contact more easily with each other now than they were before the advent of social media. However, does this connectedness really make us more connected? In many cases it appears that social media has almost detached us from one another. For example, how many times have you gone out to eat with a friend, family member, etc. and felt an awkward pause because the other individual has stopped the conversation to play with their phone? Have you ever been in a group of people who all seem to be too preoccupied with updating their facebook, twitter, or instagram to pay attention to the company at hand? Have you, yourself, ever been the guilty party in one of these instances?

Social media is a great tool for connecting with others, communicating, collaborating, etc. However, when it begins to envelope one's whole life then it becomes a problem. We should all make an effort to pay more attention to the world around us, rather than the world displayed on the screen in front of us. While social media is an excellent resource for connecting with others, we should all take a moment to put things in perspective every once in a while. The real connections we have with others are not those signified by a friend request on facebook or a follower on twitter. The real connections we have with others is right in front of us. These connections are the relationships we treasure with our family and friends, and we should not lose sight of them because of some notification that pops up on our phones.

We're All in This Together

Here, one of our group members, Amanda Vandiver, describes something she has noticed while abstaining from social media. On her third day without social media, she made this video blog!

Our world is obsessed with technology and having information constantly at their fingertips, especially with the uprise of social media. One of the problems associated with this obsession is an increase in social media addiction. About.com defines social media addiction as a phrase sometimes used to refer to someone spending too much time using Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media -- so much so that it interferes with other aspects of daily life. It is indeed interfering with our lives not only because we tend to rely on online communication rather than real time interactions, but those few real time interactions we do manage to have revolve around things we see on social media. Conversations are minimized to "hey look what Johnny posted on Instagram" or "Look what I saw on Buzzfeed today, you have to watch it!" Therefore, it is no longer an issue that can be solved on our own. If we as individuals minimize our social media use or addiction, that will not change the habits of those around us. We will then feel left out of social interactions in which social media is the foundation of the discussion. To reluctantly quote High School Musical, We are all in this together. We have to combat this social media takeover as a unified society. Help out by getting people aware of social media addiction and its prevalence in our lives.

Our Social Media Addiction Explained In Two Minutes

This video does a fantastic job visually expressing the addiction our generation has to social media. We see our world in terms of social media sites and by having our smart phones constantly at our fingertips, our connectivity is never turned off. The part of the video where the protagonist drops his phone shows this phenomenon, for his world is turned off and he feels lost.
This video also shines light upon the fact that relationships are clearly affected by social media. None of the characters that are seemingly friends interact in person or verbally communicate; they rely on posting on one another's wall or adding each other as a friend. Furthermore, we see these characters check out each other's social media presence to make an opinion of them. This is something we are guilty of in today's time. It is very common for us to "stalk" someone's Facebook before pursuing a relationship to ensure their web presence paints a picture of them that is worthy of you. Relationships suffer because being seemingly connected to one another hinders real time face-to-face interactions.

Read more here!

6 Signs you addicted to facebook

With over a billion users on facebook, it has become second nature to have a facebook profile and use this social media outlet to connect with old friends and new ones. How do you know though if your social media use is getting out of hand? Here are SIX signs that your facebook use could be a problem:

1) Tolerance - with your continued use of facebook, is the need to increase the amount of time you spend on the site increasing to achieve the same amount of satisfaction?

2) Anxiety and Withdrawal after not logging on after an extended amount of time - if you can't handle being away from your facebook for too long or experience anxiety when you cannot upload a post, then this is indicative of a problem.

3) Replacing normal forms of communication by supplementing the real world interaction with social interactions from facebook.

4) Virtual dating instead of real world relationships - if you only feel comfortable meeting new people behind a computer screen then you may be in danger of a facebook addiction

5) If 8 out of 10 of your friends on facebook are strangers that you have never met before in real life

6) When meeting new people you always conclude with "I'll see you on facebook" or "find me on facebook"

The Growing Movement to Break Technology Addiction

The University of Washington recently did a study examining 75 sources, 1/3 of which were obtained from social media sites and blogs, 1/3 from news sources and the last 1/3 from literature sources. Many technology users who first embraced constant connectivity are now pushing back, looking for ways to resist the constant call to be permanently connected.  This pushback behavior is starting to appear in the popular press, in personal blogs, and in a small number of academic studies.  “Pushback” is a growing phenomenon among frequent technology users seeking to establish boundaries, resist information overload, and establish greater personal life balance. They discovered five primary motivations  related to the pushback of technology users. 

In their research findings, the five motivations for limiting technology use are as follows: 

1) Emotional Dissatisfaction - users are limiting use because their needs are not being met. This is often accompanied by dissapointment as a result of having had high expectations regarding technology.

2) External Values - pushing back due to politcal, religious, or moral reasons. These people often desire to reconnect with family or adhere to political religious beliefs that encourage selfless behavior and face to face interaction with others. 

3) Taking Back Control - Users pushing back to regain control of their time and energy. This concern is primarily about time management and the feeling that some technology use, use a specific type of technology, such as social media, is stealing productive time from the user. 

3) Addiction - pushing back as a result of technology addiction. The fear is expressed in both young and old. One student said, "I am clearly addicted and the dependency is sickening."

5) Privacy - Users pushing back due to fear about their privacy being violated. A huge fear is that online users are being monitored or their online identities are in jeopardy.  

Mr. TCU Discusses Social Media Use at TCU

We interviewed Taylor Baker, the 2013 Mr. TCU, and asked for his opinion on social media use and addiction at TCU. Taylor had some great insight as to how social media affects the TCU campus. 

Taylor has accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but mainly uses his Facebook account. He claims that it's difficult to determine how many hours he spends on social media each day, because he checks it periodically throughout the day rather than sitting down for a long session. He believes it would be a good to have a break from social media, but thinks that overall, social media serves a greater good in that it allows him to stay in better contact with people. However, he still believes that social media addiction is valid and that people can become addicted if they don't limit their use.

Furthermore, Taylor thinks that social media is also a big deal at TCU, because so many people use it. Social media allows people to share their opinions on various topics, and Taylor has used this to his advantage by posting many statuses about Horned Frog football. Social media has also led to some online trends at TCU. For example, two years ago, the Facebook account "TCU Memes" became popular and got a large TCU following. Accounts such as "TCU Admirers" and "TCU Funkyfrog" have also served as ways to bring the TCU population together based on common interests. In the past few weeks, the article "The Woes of Being a TCU Girl" has led to a lot of heated discussion on Facebook. 

Overall, Taylor gave some great insight on how social media affects his life and life at TCU. It is very interesting to reflect on how social media has changed our experiences at college and will continue to change them in the future. It's important, though, to remember to limit social media use as to not become addicted to it.

Feel free to take a look at our video, either on this page or at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1KY7ugQvLM