Anne W. Hansen 
What Is Addiction??
The word “addiction” prompt to mind alcohol and drugs. Still, over the past 20 years, a new type of addiction has come up: “addiction to social media”.
It may not lead to physical harms, such as those caused by tobacco and alcohol, but it has the capability to cause a long-term impact on our emotions, behavior, and relationships.
However, the older generation those born in the baby boom period soon after the Second World War had alcohol and drugs as their vice, the younger generation the so-called millennials have social media as theirs. The millennials, born between 1984 and 2005, have grasp the digital age, using technology to relax and interact with others. Social media is a big deal for them; it is an aid to the outside world.
Even though people of all ages use social media, it is more nasty for younger users than it is for older people.
Social Media: All Engrossing
Addiction may appear a bit of a strong word to use in the framework of social media, but addiction refers to any behavior which is pleasurable and is the only logic to get through the day. Everything else dims into worthlessness. Millennials may not suffer from liver damage or lung cancer from social media, but it can be detrimental nonetheless.
The impact lies in their alter in behavior. Their addiction also means spending an increasing amount of time online to form the same pleasurable effect, and it means social media is the main action they engage in above all others. It also refers to taking away attention from other tasks, encountering unpleasant feelings from decreasing or stopping interaction with social media, and resuming the activity very soon after stopping completely.
We should also be anxious about the impact of social media on sleep and doing less “offline”, such as making time for work responsibilities and direct face-to-face social interaction. It has also been related to depression and loneliness, both of which may be the cause or the impact of social media addiction.
Millennials report obsessive checking social network profiles and updates. They can make riskier decisions and be prone to online exploitation. They often wrongly believe that, if things go wrong, they will get assistance from their online community, even if this community includes relative strangers.
Social Media: Inadequate Self-confidence
Most of us bet partly on the potential to reflect on our thinking, feeling and behaving to form our own self-image. The issue with social media is that self-image relies chiefly on others and their opinions.
A recent study discovered higher narcissism (an exaggerated self-image of intelligence, academic reputation or attractiveness) in millennial college students, compared with preceding generations. This does not foreshadow well for a society where self-confidence is key to making informed and balanced decisions.
The digital age has altered the nature of addictions in millennials, who have replaced one unfit behavior with another. Social media certainly looks as if it has dislodged alcohol as a way of social interaction with others. It is perhaps no surprise that, over the past ten years, there has been a 20% increase in the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who are to the total. Investing time online now appears more enticing than spending time in a pub with friends.
There is no known cure for social media addiction. Although we are beginning starting to become cognizant of the issue, there is no division of social media addiction as a mental disorder in the same way as substance misuse. If we wish this to happen, there requires to be a clearer definition of the symptoms and advancement over time. We will require to answer some key questions, for instance: does it run in families? Are there blood tests which can differentiate it from other mental disorders? And will it reply to drugs or psychological therapies? We still have more questions than answers.
Treatment for Social Media Addiction
At the Center for Internet Addiction and Recovery, those who have addicted to social media must pursue a few initial variations in their use.
Initially, they must confess that they have a problem. Treatment and recovery are not effective unless the addict is no longer in denial.
After that, they must turn off all notifications so they are not inclined to check for new posts and updates.
Next, they require to carefully hold off when they check social media. despite randomly checking for new likes or posts or updates, they can only connect it twice a day. This must be limited like a digital diet so that their intake is curbed much like a food addict that does not wish to eat as much.
The first step is minimizing how much time the application is used.
Ultimately, we require to assist the addict to find alternative ways of communicating, particularly using more face-to-face strategies. The addict requires to connect with friends using phone calls instead of text messaging and go out without taking selfies and get out with friends instead of being on social media
