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| Source: http://www.lousycv.com/10-confessions-of-a-recovering-social-media-addict/ |
I remember I mentioned this during our webinar. I will share
the findings from my experiment in my other post. Right now, I would like to
share some notes about this as an introduction.
The term “technology addiction” was introduced to refer to
excessive use and poorly controlled urges or behaviors related to internet and
computer use (Shaw & Black, 2008) that could impair users’ psychological
well-being, academic performance, occupational responsibilities and social
interactions (Beard, 2005). Moreover, internet addiction has been legitimated
as a clinical disorder that often requires professional treatment, which
explains the increasing number of hospitals and clinics providing services and
rehabilitation centers (Young, 2007). According to Young and de Abreau (2010),
technology addicts have psychological dependency on computer/internet and would
experience withdrawal symptoms, including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and
irritability, if they are not connected.
My question is: Are you addicted?
Try to answer below questions (I am taking this from BergenFacebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), developed by Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, and Palessen, April 2012):
How often during the last year have you…
- Spent a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planned use of Facebook?
- Felt an urge to use Facebook more and more?
- Used Facebook in order to forget about personal problems?
- Tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success?
- Become restless or troubled if you have been prohibited from using Facebook?
- Used Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies?
Answer this by using 1: Very rarely, 2: Rarely, 3:
Sometimes, 4: Often, 5: Very often. Try to total your answer, if you score more
than 18, then maybe you have to start asking yourself THE question: Am I an
addict?
References:
Beard, K. W.
(2005). Internet addiction: a review of current assessment techniques and
potential assessment questions. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 8(1),
7-14.
Shaw, M. and
Black, D.W. (2008). Internet Addiction: definition, assessment, epidemiology
and clinical management. CNS Drugs,
22 (5), 353 – 65.
Young, K. S.,
& de Abreu, C. N. (Eds.). (2010). Internet Addiction: A Handbook and
Guide to Evaluation and Treatment. John Wiley & Sons.
Young, K. S.
(2007). Cognitive behavior therapy with Internet addicts: treatment outcomes
and implications. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10(5), 671-679.
I feel like Facebook has become a strange cycle for me. All of my clubs at school use it to communicate events, updates, and more. Rather than using Facebook to "lose myself" in the social media world, I check in regularly to see if there are any updates I should know. Is that addiction? I have occasionally considered deactivating my account, but it's difficult since I'm not sure how I would connect to these groups. So, I end up keeping my Facebook and rather than leaving it on for hours, I simply open and close the window periodically throughout the day. I suppose I'm not sure if I'm an addict! I treat it kind of like I would my email.
ReplyDeleteHi Devin, from your explanation I don't think it is an addiction but I don't know, what do you feel when you cannot get connected? If you're okay and don't feel anxious or depressed, I think you're fine. I think I remember I read one line in our Networked book which says that human brain is always craving for social interaction. So I guess it's natural to check for updates periodically throughout the day.
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