DHENMAR JAKE TABIAN

G11 BITAOG

Social Media Addiction and the Impacts on one’s life

Social media is the fastest growing web application in the 21st century (Abu-Shanab,

2015). Social media is becoming an integral part of every person’s lives. It is use as a

communication tool, creating online portals in able to communicate with each other. It is also

used to share ideas, informations, medias and updates in every person using social media

platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.

Probably, most people use it for entertainment purposes to kill time. There is nothing

wrong in using social media. The problem is when someone become addicted to it and

overspends their time on those platforms, as a result, it affects their lives negatively. People

should know the signs and symptoms especially young peoples who probably use the social

media abnormally. If you are repeating most of these signs there is a possibility that you are

addicted to it. First is social media is the first thing you do in the morning, what is the first thing

you once you wake up in the morning if your reason is to update your status on any social media

platforms then it is a clear sign that you are addicted to social media. Moreover, craving reacts

(constantly monitoring the ‘’likes’’ and ‘’shares’’ you receive), wasting time scrolling at

nonsense and procrastinate, checking in everywhere you go, checking notification all the time,

craving internet connection, taking photos of everything, social media becomes part of your life

and lastly, checking social media is the first thing you do whenever you are free
(www.thwwisdompost.com) . Those are just some signs and symptoms of social media

addiction. The diverse app of social media like wikis, video streaming and applications and

social networks make phenomenon of the century. Facebook has the most counted users with

over 955 million users topped all social media applications in 2013, followed by Twitter with

over 500 million users (www.thecountriesof.com). The Facebook users age distribution is

focused on the younger categories where 300 million users are 18-24 years old, and 120 million

users are between 13-17 years old (www.quintly.com).

According to ILazAZ (2018), Addiction is different than habit, it is a condition that

affects person’s materially and spiritually life. Addiction is spreading thoroughly in many

individuals, like young people, and has reached the dangerous dimensions. As ILazAZ said, it

affects spiritually and materially life which means being addicted to social is very dangerous in

some ways that when you frequently using the social media or the Internet, probably there are

some instances that you forget everything around you, especially God. For example, if a person

is busy scrolling out posts, chatting and posting pictures on such platforms, there is a possibility

that you forget God by doing the don’ts on your social media life like sharing inappropriate

pictures or you forget God by not going to the church because your very busy scrolling nonsense

on different social media platforms. Social media Addiction is a term that is often used to refer to

someone who spends lots of time on social media like Facebook, Twitter and other forms of

social media (www.thewisdompost.com). In some researches, Social media addiction is similar

to internet addiction and cellphone addiction disorder. These disorders are common to people

since years ago and stated that these disorders may cause serious problems to work

performances, school performances and negatively impacts one’s life.

 According to Hudson (2019), Social Media refers to the websites and applications that

are designed to allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. People

nowadays can’t live without social media. There are many advantage of using social media, it

can enhance person’s relationship skills, convey their views and opinions and even create new

identities. It also exposes students to a whole new way of learning. Research has shown that

persons who are frequent users of social media are more innovative and exhibit better memory.

According to Hilliard (2019), Social Media Addiction is a behavioral addiction that is

defined by being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontainable desire to log

on to or use social media, and allotting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs

other important life areas. The overuse of Social Media has become a progressively popular

activity over years ago. Even though, the widely held of people’s use of social media is non-

problematic, there is a small percentage of users that become addicted to social networking sites

and engage in excessive or compulsive use. Addictive social media use will look much like that

of any other substance use disorder, including mood modification (i.e., engagement in social

media leads to a favorable change in emotional states), salience (i.e., behavioral, cognitive, and

emotional preoccupation with social media), tolerance (i.e., ever increasing use of social media

overtime), withdrawal symptoms (i.e., experiencing unpleasant physical and emotional

symptoms when social media use is restricted or stopped), conflict (i.e., interpersonal problems

ensue because of social media usage), and relapse (i.e., addicted individuals quickly revert back

to their excessive social media usage after an abstinence period)(www.addictioncenter.com).

Importantly, frequent social media usage does not necessarily indicate social media

addiction (Griffiths,2010) and therefore does not always have negative implications for

individuals’ mental health (e.g., Jelenchick, Eickhoff & Moreno, 2013) or academic performance
(Pasek & Hargittai, 2009). Studies investigating social media addiction have mainly focused on

Facebook addiction (e.g., Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2012; Hong et al., 2017;

Koc & Gulyagci, 2013). Research has shown that addiction to Facebook is associated with

depression, anxiety, and insomnia and negatively associated with subjective well-being,

subjective vigor, and life. Research has also suggested the negative impact of social media

addiction, and Facebook addiction in particular, on academic performance.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Abu-Shanab, Emad & Al-Tarawneh, Heyam. (2015). The Influence of Social Networks on High

School Students' Performance. International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching

Technologies. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281035320_The

_Influence_of_Social_Networks_on_High_School_Students'_Performance

J. Hilliard. (2019). What is Social Media Addiction. Addiction Center. Retrieved from

https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/social-media-addiction/

Hou, Y., Xiong, D., Jiang, T., Song, L., & Wang, Q. (2019). Social media addiction: Its impact,

mediation, and intervention. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on

Cyberspace, 13(1), article 4. Retrieved from https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/11562

/10373.

Merve ILÄžAZ, (2018). "Social Media Addiction: A Study On High School And University

Students," Turkish Journal of Marketing, Ali Çağlar Çakmak, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20.

Retrieved from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tjm/journl/2018-3-3-4.html

M. Hudson. (2019). What is Social Media?. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com

/what-is-social-media-2890301

Team The WisdomPost & Sophia. Social Media Addiction: Meaning, Symptoms, Causes,

Effects, and Treatment | Essay. Social Media Addiction. Retrieved from

http://www.thewisdompost.com/essay/addiction

/social-media-addiction/social-media-addiction-meaning-symptoms-causes-effects-treatment

/1293

Griffiths, M. D. (2010). The role of context in online gaming excess and addiction: Some case

study evidence. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8, 119–125. https://

doi.org/10.1007/s11469-009-9229-x

Jelenchick, L. A., Eickhoff, J. C., & Moreno, M. A. (2013). “Facebook depression?” Social

networking site use and depression in older adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 52,

128–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.05.008

Andreassen, C. S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G. S., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development

of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological Reports, 110, 501–517. https://doi.org/

10.2466/02.09.18.PR0.110.2.501-517

Koc, M., & Gulyagci, S. (2013). Facebook addiction among Turkish college students: The role

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and Social Networking, 16, 279–284. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0249

Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing
in print or electronic forms without written permission
of IGI Global is prohibited.
50 International Journal of Web-Based
Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-
59, April-June 2015
size (www.internetworldstats.com).
The last
statistics indicate that Jordanians use
Facebook
through their mobiles, and the
Internet. Such
high penetration (38%) is indicative
of the
importance of Facebook and the social
media
domain for young people.
The use of information and
communication
technology (ICT) is an important
factor that
opened doors for remote learning and
remote
access of educational material. Such
phenom-
enon is called “e-learning”, where ICT
is used
as a facilitator of communication,
assignment
management, and task collaboration.
A study
in Jordan concluded that e-learning
systems are
not fully utilized in Jordan and many
applica-
tions are not used by students and
instructors
(Abu-Shanab, Ababneh & Momani,
2012;
Abu-Shanab, Momani & Ababneh,
2012). Such
results indicate that it is important
to reach
students wherever they are, and
especially on
social media applications.
This study will explore the
influence of
Facebook on students’ performance
and how
they spend their time. As seen
previously, young
Jordanians are the major category
that uses
social networks, where they spend
substantial
time on the net. Such issue is
influencing their
academic performance. Research
connected
school/university performance with
Facebook
use. This study will try to empirically
explore
such relationship regardless of its type
of influ-
ence, bad or good.
The following section will explore
the
influence of social networks. The
following
section will cover a description of the
research
method used in this research. Data
analyses and
discussion of results will follow in the
fourth
section. Finally, research conclusions
and future
work will be depicted at the end
Social media (SM) is the fastest
growing web
application in the 21st century. The
diverse ap-
plications of SM like Wikis, video
streaming
and applications, and social
networks make
it the phenomenon of the century.
Facebook
counted users topped all social media
applica-
tions with over 955 million users in
2013, fol-
lowed by Twitter with 500 million
users (www.
thecountriesof.com). Such huge user
base is
comparable to countries, which
indicates the
importance of such applications.
The age distribution of Facebook users
is
concentrated on the younger
categories where
300 million users are 18-24 years
old, and
120 million users are between 13-
17 years
old (www.quintly.com). The same
source
indicated a nearly equal distribution of
users
between males and females. In Jordan,
users
of Facebook accounted for 2.5
million users
at the end of 2012, with similar
Internet users’
DOI: 10.4018/IJWLTT.2015040104
Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Copying or distributing
in print or electronic forms without written permission
of IGI Global is prohibited.
50 International Journal of Web-Based
Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-
59, April-June 2015
size (www.internetworldstats.com).
The last
statistics indicate that Jordanians use
Facebook
through their mobiles, and the
Internet. Such
high penetration (38%) is indicative
of the
importance of Facebook and the social
media
domain for young people.
The use of information and
communication
technology (ICT) is an important
factor that
opened doors for remote learning and
remote
access of educational material. Such
phenom-
enon is called “e-learning”, where ICT
is used
as a facilitator of communication,
assignment
management, and task collaboration.
A study
in Jordan concluded that e-learning
systems are
not fully utilized in Jordan and many
applica-
tions are not used by students and
instructors
(Abu-Shanab, Ababneh & Momani,
2012;
Abu-Shanab, Momani & Ababneh,
2012). Such
results indicate that it is important
to reach
students wherever they are, and
especially on
social media applications.
This study will explore the
influence of
Facebook on students’ performance
and how
they spend their time. As seen
previously, young
Jordanians are the major category
that uses
social networks, where they spend
substantial
time on the net. Such issue is
influencing their
academic performance. Research
connected
school/university performance with
Facebook
use. This study will try to empirically
explore
such relationship regardless of its type
of influ-
ence, bad or good.
The following section will explore
the
influence of social networks. The
following
section will cover a description of the
research
method used in this research. Data
analyses and
discussion of results will follow in the
fourth
section. Finally, research conclusions
and future
work will be depicted at the end