When we look around us we often see people on their devices, a smartphone or a laptop. When people talk about why they haven’t finished their work one of the most common answers is “I was on *insert social media site* all night”. Modern digital media has become an addiction that we can’t get away from, almost everything is in a small devise that we live so much of our lives through. The three main reasons for social media abuse (Specifically Facebook) are relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment, and compassion (Tracii Ryan, Andrea Chester, John Reece and Sophia Xenos, 2014 [built on studies from Kuss and Griffiths (2011]).

 

Research by Caplan (2005) has found that introverted people gravitate towards social media websites and apps because there is no face-to-face engagement involved. This gratifies shy individuals and can become an issue due to them becoming addicted to conversing through this medium.

 

Cecilie Schou Anderson, Stale Pallesen and Mark D Griffiths suggest that narcissism comes into play with social media addictiveness, people rely on recognition through likes and positive comments as rewards for sharing their accomplishments and succusses to a large internet audience. This method of gratification has proven to be harmful as it creates almost a fake image of self-creditability hidden behind crippling lack of self-esteem. These people who spend large amounts of time and effort on social media fall into picking up addictive social media symptoms, loosing touch with real life social interaction and expressing themselves in person (Beck, 2007).

 

Tracii Ann Ryan, Doctor of Philosophy viewed blogs from people who identified as being Facebook Addicts, User Bobby L (2008) described it as harder than quitting cigarettes, that the site was like a “digital slot machine” calling his name. The USA released several studies after 2006 showing a sample of 340 communication students, on average the participants would log onto Facebook 5.56 times per day using the site for 17.4 minutes. The number of studies showed that most students logged in multiple times a day with out considering their daily schedule, rather working their timetable around Facebook which is seen as an unhealthy habit (Fogger, 2008).

 

The idea of creating three sculptures with medical needles containing the three dominant social media gratification symbols (Thumbs ups from Facebook, Love hearts from Instagram, & Re-tweets from Twitter) came to me after I started to realise how much time my parents had started to use their smartphones post signing up to Facebook. After dinner they sit at the table for hours just scrolling and tapping starring at a glowing screen. It made me realise how easily humans become addicted to not only substances but also digital medias. People aren’t aware of how much time they spend online and how much of an influence it has on their mind with the way they look at not just other people but themselves creating psychological impacts.

 

 

Bibliography 

Ryan, T 2015. Facebook Addiction: A Exploratory Study Using Mixed Methods, RMIT University, Melbourne, AUS.

 

Ryan, T, Chester, A, Reece, J & Xenos, S 2014. The uses and abuses of Facebook, Akademiai Kiado, Hungary.

 

Andreassen, C, Pallesen, S & Griffiths, M 2016. The Relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissm, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey, Elsevier, Nottingham, UK.