Social Networking Addiction

When you think about the word addiction, you might think of drugs, narcotics, alcohol, or even opioids. But what about overuse of social media? Would words such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat come to mind? Probably not. Historically, the overuse of social media was not considered an addiction; however, in just the last decade, the pattern of use and effects of social media have become pointedly similar to those of addictive substances. In fact, these similarities between social media and other addictive substances include physiological, behavioral, and mental effects. The seemingly simple act of posting on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter challenge our preconceived self-identity with our digital identity, or who we identify ourselves to be online.