research question for social media addiction

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Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis

Alfonso pellegrino.

1 Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Alessandro Stasi

2 Business Administration Division, Mahidol University International College, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand

Veera Bhatiasevi

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Despite their increasing ubiquity in people's lives and incredible advantages in instantly interacting with others, social media's impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays in mental health. Much research has discovered how habitual social media use may lead to addiction and negatively affect adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. The present study was conducted to review the extant literature in the domain of social media and analyze global research productivity during 2013–2022. Bibliometric analysis was conducted on 501 articles that were extracted from the Scopus database using the keywords social media addiction and problematic social media use. The data were then uploaded to VOSviewer software to analyze citations, co-citations, and keyword co-occurrences. Volume, growth trajectory, geographic distribution of the literature, influential authors, intellectual structure of the literature, and the most prolific publishing sources were analyzed. The bibliometric analysis presented in this paper shows that the US, the UK, and Turkey accounted for 47% of the publications in this field. Most of the studies used quantitative methods in analyzing data and therefore aimed at testing relationships between variables. In addition, the findings in this study show that most analysis were cross-sectional. Studies were performed on undergraduate students between the ages of 19–25 on the use of two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. Limitations as well as research directions for future studies are also discussed.

Introduction

Social media generally refers to third-party internet-based platforms that mainly focus on social interactions, community-based inputs, and content sharing among its community of users and only feature content created by their users and not that licensed from third parties ( 1 ). Social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are prominent examples of social media that allow people to stay connected in an online world regardless of geographical distance or other obstacles ( 2 , 3 ). Recent evidence suggests that social networking sites have become increasingly popular among adolescents following the strict policies implemented by many countries to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, including social distancing, “lockdowns,” and quarantine measures ( 4 ). In this new context, social media have become an essential part of everyday life, especially for children and adolescents ( 5 ). For them such media are a means of socialization that connect people together. Interestingly, social media are not only used for social communication and entertainment purposes but also for sharing opinions, learning new things, building business networks, and initiate collaborative projects ( 6 ).

Among the 7.91 billion people in the world as of 2022, 4.62 billion active social media users, and the average time individuals spent using the internet was 6 h 58 min per day with an average use of social media platforms of 2 h and 27 min ( 7 ). Despite their increasing ubiquity in people's lives and the incredible advantages they offer to instantly interact with people, an increasing number of studies have linked social media use to negative mental health consequences, such as suicidality, loneliness, and anxiety ( 8 ). Numerous sources have expressed widespread concern about the effects of social media on mental health. A 2011 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) identifies a phenomenon known as Facebook depression which may be triggered “when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression” ( 9 ). Similarly, the UK's Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) claims that there is a clear evidence of the relationship between social media use and mental health issues based on a survey of nearly 1,500 people between the ages of 14–24 ( 10 ). According to some authors, the increase in usage frequency of social media significantly increases the risks of clinical disorders described (and diagnosed) as “Facebook depression,” “fear of missing out” (FOMO), and “social comparison orientation” (SCO) ( 11 ). Other risks include sexting ( 12 ), social media stalking ( 13 ), cyber-bullying ( 14 ), privacy breaches ( 15 ), and improper use of technology. Therefore, social media's impact on subjective well-being is a source of concern worldwide and calls for up-to-date investigations of the role social media plays with regard to mental health ( 8 ). Many studies have found that habitual social media use may lead to addiction and thus negatively affect adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships ( 16 – 18 ). As a result of addiction, the user becomes highly engaged with online activities motivated by an uncontrollable desire to browse through social media pages and “devoting so much time and effort to it that it impairs other important life areas” ( 19 ).

Given these considerations, the present study was conducted to review the extant literature in the domain of social media and analyze global research productivity during 2013–2022. The study presents a bibliometric overview of the leading trends with particular regard to “social media addiction” and “problematic social media use.” This is valuable as it allows for a comprehensive overview of the current state of this field of research, as well as identifies any patterns or trends that may be present. Additionally, it provides information on the geographical distribution and prolific authors in this area, which may help to inform future research endeavors.

In terms of bibliometric analysis of social media addiction research, few studies have attempted to review the existing literature in the domain extensively. Most previous bibliometric studies on social media addiction and problematic use have focused mainly on one type of screen time activity such as digital gaming or texting ( 20 ) and have been conducted with a focus on a single platform such as Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat ( 21 , 22 ). The present study adopts a more comprehensive approach by including all social media platforms and all types of screen time activities in its analysis.

Additionally, this review aims to highlight the major themes around which the research has evolved to date and draws some guidance for future research directions. In order to meet these objectives, this work is oriented toward answering the following research questions:

• (1) What is the current status of research focusing on social media addiction?
• (2) What are the key thematic areas in social media addiction and problematic use research?
• (3) What is the intellectual structure of social media addiction as represented in the academic literature?
• (4) What are the key findings of social media addiction and problematic social media research?
• (5) What possible future research gaps can be identified in the field of social media addiction?

These research questions will be answered using bibliometric analysis of the literature on social media addiction and problematic use. This will allow for an overview of the research that has been conducted in this area, including information on the most influential authors, journals, countries of publication, and subject areas of study. Part 2 of the study will provide an examination of the intellectual structure of the extant literature in social media addiction while Part 3 will discuss the research methodology of the paper. Part 4 will discuss the findings of the study followed by a discussion under Part 5 of the paper. Finally, in Part 7, gaps in current knowledge about this field of research will be identified.

Literature review

Social media addiction research context.

Previous studies on behavioral addictions have looked at a lot of different factors that affect social media addiction focusing on personality traits. Although there is some inconsistency in the literature, numerous studies have focused on three main personality traits that may be associated with social media addiction, namely anxiety, depression, and extraversion ( 23 , 24 ).

It has been found that extraversion scores are strongly associated with increased use of social media and addiction to it ( 25 , 26 ). People with social anxiety as well as people who have psychiatric disorders often find online interactions extremely appealing ( 27 ). The available literature also reveals that the use of social media is positively associated with being female, single, and having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), or anxiety ( 28 ).

In a study by Seidman ( 29 ), the Big Five personality traits were assessed using Saucier's ( 30 ) Mini-Markers Scale. Results indicated that neurotic individuals use social media as a safe place for expressing their personality and meet belongingness needs. People affected by neurosis tend to use online social media to stay in touch with other people and feel better about their social lives ( 31 ). Narcissism is another factor that has been examined extensively when it comes to social media, and it has been found that people who are narcissistic are more likely to become addicted to social media ( 32 ). In this case users want to be seen and get “likes” from lots of other users. Longstreet and Brooks ( 33 ) did a study on how life satisfaction depends on how much money people make. Life satisfaction was found to be negatively linked to social media addiction, according to the results. When social media addiction decreases, the level of life satisfaction rises. But results show that in lieu of true-life satisfaction people use social media as a substitute (for temporary pleasure vs. longer term happiness).

Researchers have discovered similar patterns in students who tend to rank high in shyness: they find it easier to express themselves online rather than in person ( 34 , 35 ). With the use of social media, shy individuals have the opportunity to foster better quality relationships since many of their anxiety-related concerns (e.g., social avoidance and fear of social devaluation) are significantly reduced ( 36 , 37 ).

Problematic use of social media

The amount of research on problematic use of social media has dramatically increased since the last decade. But using social media in an unhealthy manner may not be considered an addiction or a disorder as this behavior has not yet been formally categorized as such ( 38 ). Although research has shown that people who use social media in a negative way often report negative health-related conditions, most of the data that have led to such results and conclusions comprise self-reported data ( 39 ). The dimensions of excessive social media usage are not exactly known because there are not enough diagnostic criteria and not enough high-quality long-term studies available yet. This is what Zendle and Bowden-Jones ( 40 ) noted in their own research. And this is why terms like “problematic social media use” have been used to describe people who use social media in a negative way. Furthermore, if a lot of time is spent on social media, it can be hard to figure out just when it is being used in a harmful way. For instance, people easily compare their appearance to what they see on social media, and this might lead to low self-esteem if they feel they do not look as good as the people they are following. According to research in this domain, the extent to which an individual engages in photo-related activities (e.g., taking selfies, editing photos, checking other people's photos) on social media is associated with negative body image concerns. Through curated online images of peers, adolescents face challenges to their self-esteem and sense of self-worth and are increasingly isolated from face-to-face interaction.

To address this problem the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) has been used by some scholars ( 41 , 42 ). These scholars have used criteria from the DSM-V to describe one problematic social media use, internet gaming disorder, but such criteria could also be used to describe other types of social media disorders. Franchina et al. ( 43 ) and Scott and Woods ( 44 ), for example, focus their attention on individual-level factors (like fear of missing out) and family-level factors (like childhood abuse) that have been used to explain why people use social media in a harmful way. Friends-level factors have also been explored as a social well-being measurement to explain why people use social media in a malevolent way and demonstrated significant positive correlations with lower levels of friend support ( 45 ). Macro-level factors have also been suggested, such as the normalization of surveillance ( 46 ) and the ability to see what people are doing online ( 47 ). Gender and age seem to be highly associated to the ways people use social media negatively. Particularly among girls, social media use is consistently associated with mental health issues ( 41 , 48 , 49 ), an association more common among older girls than younger girls ( 46 , 48 ).

Most studies have looked at the connection between social media use and its effects (such as social media addiction) and a number of different psychosomatic disorders. In a recent study conducted by Vannucci and Ohannessian ( 50 ), the use of social media appears to have a variety of effects “on psychosocial adjustment during early adolescence, with high social media use being the most problematic.” It has been found that people who use social media in a harmful way are more likely to be depressed, anxious, have low self-esteem, be more socially isolated, have poorer sleep quality, and have more body image dissatisfaction. Furthermore, harmful social media use has been associated with unhealthy lifestyle patterns (for example, not getting enough exercise or having trouble managing daily obligations) as well as life threatening behaviors such as illicit drug use, excessive alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual practices ( 51 , 52 ).

A growing body of research investigating social media use has revealed that the extensive use of social media platforms is correlated with a reduced performance on cognitive tasks and in mental effort ( 53 ). Overall, it appears that individuals who have a problematic relationship with social media or those who use social media more frequently are more likely to develop negative health conditions.

Social media addiction and problematic use systematic reviews

Previous studies have revealed the detrimental impacts of social media addiction on users' health. A systematic review by Khan and Khan ( 20 ) has pointed out that social media addiction has a negative impact on users' mental health. For example, social media addiction can lead to stress levels rise, loneliness, and sadness ( 54 ). Anxiety is another common mental health problem associated with social media addiction. Studies have found that young adolescents who are addicted to social media are more likely to suffer from anxiety than people who are not addicted to social media ( 55 ). In addition, social media addiction can also lead to physical health problems, such as obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome a result of spending too much time on the computer ( 22 ).

Apart from the negative impacts of social media addiction on users' mental and physical health, social media addiction can also lead to other problems. For example, social media addiction can lead to financial problems. A study by Sharif and Yeoh ( 56 ) has found that people who are addicted to social media tend to spend more money than those who are not addicted to social media. In addition, social media addiction can also lead to a decline in academic performance. Students who are addicted to social media are more likely to have lower grades than those who are not addicted to social media ( 57 ).

Research methodology

Bibliometric analysis.

Merigo et al. ( 58 ) use bibliometric analysis to examine, organize, and analyze a large body of literature from a quantitative, objective perspective in order to assess patterns of research and emerging trends in a certain field. A bibliometric methodology is used to identify the current state of the academic literature, advance research. and find objective information ( 59 ). This technique allows the researchers to examine previous scientific work, comprehend advancements in prior knowledge, and identify future study opportunities.

To achieve this objective and identify the research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use, this study employs two bibliometric methodologies: performance analysis and science mapping. Performance analysis uses a series of bibliometric indicators (e.g., number of annual publications, document type, source type, journal impact factor, languages, subject area, h-index, and countries) and aims at evaluating groups of scientific actors on a particular topic of research. VOSviewer software ( 60 ) was used to carry out the science mapping. The software is used to visualize a particular body of literature and map the bibliographic material using the co-occurrence analysis of author, index keywords, nations, and fields of publication ( 61 , 62 ).

Data collection

After picking keywords, designing the search strings, and building up a database, the authors conducted a bibliometric literature search. Scopus was utilized to gather exploration data since it is a widely used database that contains the most comprehensive view of the world's research output and provides one of the most effective search engines. If the research was to be performed using other database such as Web Of Science or Google Scholar the authors may have obtained larger number of articles however they may not have been all particularly relevant as Scopus is known to have the most widest and most relevant scholar search engine in marketing and social science. A keyword search for “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” yielded 553 papers, which were downloaded from Scopus. The information was gathered in March 2022, and because the Scopus database is updated on a regular basis, the results may change in the future. Next, the authors examined the titles and abstracts to see whether they were relevant to the topics treated. There were two common grounds for document exclusion. First, while several documents emphasized the negative effects of addiction in relation to the internet and digital media, they did not focus on social networking sites specifically. Similarly, addiction and problematic consumption habits were discussed in relation to social media in several studies, although only in broad terms. This left a total of 511 documents. Articles were then limited only to journal articles, conference papers, reviews, books, and only those published in English. This process excluded 10 additional documents. Then, the relevance of the remaining articles was finally checked by reading the titles, abstracts, and keywords. Documents were excluded if social networking sites were only mentioned as a background topic or very generally. This resulted in a final selection of 501 research papers, which were then subjected to bibliometric analysis (see Figure 1 ).

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) flowchart showing the search procedures used in the review.

After identifying 501 Scopus files, bibliographic data related to these documents were imported into an Excel sheet where the authors' names, their affiliations, document titles, keywords, abstracts, and citation figures were analyzed. These were subsequently uploaded into VOSViewer software version 1.6.8 to begin the bibliometric review. Descriptive statistics were created to define the whole body of knowledge about social media addiction and problematic social media use. VOSViewer was used to analyze citation, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrences. According to Zupic and Cater ( 63 ), co-citation analysis measures the influence of documents, authors, and journals heavily cited and thus considered influential. Co-citation analysis has the objective of building similarities between authors, journals, and documents and is generally defined as the frequency with which two units are cited together within the reference list of a third article.

The implementation of social media addiction performance analysis was conducted according to the models recently introduced by Karjalainen et al. ( 64 ) and Pattnaik ( 65 ). Throughout the manuscript there are operational definitions of relevant terms and indicators following a standardized bibliometric approach. The cumulative academic impact (CAI) of the documents was measured by the number of times they have been cited in other scholarly works while the fine-grained academic impact (FIA) was computed according to the authors citation analysis and authors co-citation analysis within the reference lists of documents that have been specifically focused on social media addiction and problematic social media use.

Results of the study presented here include the findings on social media addiction and social media problematic use. The results are presented by the foci outlined in the study questions.

Volume, growth trajectory, and geographic distribution of the literature

After performing the Scopus-based investigation of the current literature regarding social media addiction and problematic use of social media, the authors obtained a knowledge base consisting of 501 documents comprising 455 journal articles, 27 conference papers, 15 articles reviews, 3 books and 1 conference review. The included literature was very recent. As shown in Figure 2 , publication rates started very slowly in 2013 but really took off in 2018, after which publications dramatically increased each year until a peak was reached in 2021 with 195 publications. Analyzing the literature published during the past decade reveals an exponential increase in scholarly production on social addiction and its problematic use. This might be due to the increasingly widespread introduction of social media sites in everyday life and the ubiquitous diffusion of mobile devices that have fundamentally impacted human behavior. The dip in the number of publications in 2022 is explained by the fact that by the time the review was carried out the year was not finished yet and therefore there are many articles still in press.

Annual volume of social media addiction or social media problematic use ( n = 501).

The geographical distribution trends of scholarly publications on social media addiction or problematic use of social media are highlighted in Figure 3 . The articles were assigned to a certain country according to the nationality of the university with whom the first author was affiliated with. The figure shows that the most productive countries are the USA (92), the U.K. (79), and Turkey ( 63 ), which combined produced 236 articles, equal to 47% of the entire scholarly production examined in this bibliometric analysis. Turkey has slowly evolved in various ways with the growth of the internet and social media. Anglo-American scholarly publications on problematic social media consumer behavior represent the largest research output. Yet it is interesting to observe that social networking sites studies are attracting many researchers in Asian countries, particularly China. For many Chinese people, social networking sites are a valuable opportunity to involve people in political activism in addition to simply making purchases ( 66 ).

Global dispersion of social networking sites in relation to social media addiction or social media problematic use.

Analysis of influential authors

This section analyses the high-impact authors in the Scopus-indexed knowledge base on social networking sites in relation to social media addiction or problematic use of social media. It provides valuable insights for establishing patterns of knowledge generation and dissemination of literature about social networking sites relating to addiction and problematic use.

Table 1 acknowledges the top 10 most highly cited authors with the highest total citations in the database.

Highly cited authors on social media addiction and problematic use ( n = 501).

a Total link strength indicates the number of publications in which an author occurs.

Table 1 shows that MD Griffiths (sixty-five articles), CY Lin (twenty articles), and AH Pakpour (eighteen articles) are the most productive scholars according to the number of Scopus documents examined in the area of social media addiction and its problematic use . If the criteria are changed and authors ranked according to the overall number of citations received in order to determine high-impact authors, the same three authors turn out to be the most highly cited authors. It should be noted that these highly cited authors tend to enlist several disciplines in examining social media addiction and problematic use. Griffiths, for example, focuses on behavioral addiction stemming from not only digital media usage but also from gambling and video games. Lin, on the other hand, focuses on the negative effects that the internet and digital media can have on users' mental health, and Pakpour approaches the issue from a behavioral medicine perspective.

Intellectual structure of the literature

In this part of the paper, the authors illustrate the “intellectual structure” of the social media addiction and the problematic use of social media's literature. An author co-citation analysis (ACA) was performed which is displayed as a figure that depicts the relations between highly co-cited authors. The study of co-citation assumes that strongly co-cited authors carry some form of intellectual similarity ( 67 ). Figure 4 shows the author co-citation map. Nodes represent units of analysis (in this case scholars) and network ties represent similarity connections. Nodes are sized according to the number of co-citations received—the bigger the node, the more co-citations it has. Adjacent nodes are considered intellectually similar.

Two clusters, representing the intellectual structure of the social media and its problematic use literature.

Scholars belonging to the green cluster (Mental Health and Digital Media Addiction) have extensively published on medical analysis tools and how these can be used to heal users suffering from addiction to digital media, which can range from gambling, to internet, to videogame addictions. Scholars in this school of thought focus on the negative effects on users' mental health, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disturbances. Such studies focus also on the role of screen use in the development of mental health problems and the increasing use of medical treatments to address addiction to digital media. They argue that addiction to digital media should be considered a mental health disorder and treatment options should be made available to users.

In contrast, scholars within the red cluster (Social Media Effects on Well Being and Cyberpsychology) have focused their attention on the effects of social media toward users' well-being and how social media change users' behavior, focusing particular attention on the human-machine interaction and how methods and models can help protect users' well-being. Two hundred and two authors belong to this group, the top co-cited being Andreassen (667 co-citations), Pallasen (555 co-citations), and Valkenburg (215 co-citations). These authors have extensively studied the development of addiction to social media, problem gambling, and internet addiction. They have also focused on the measurement of addiction to social media, cyberbullying, and the dark side of social media.

Most influential source title in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use

To find the preferred periodicals in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use, the authors have selected 501 articles published in 263 journals. Table 2 gives a ranked list of the top 10 journals that constitute the core publishing sources in the field of social media addiction research. In doing so, the authors analyzed the journal's impact factor, Scopus Cite Score, h-index, quartile ranking, and number of publications per year.

Top 10 most cited and more frequently mentioned documents in the field of social media addiction.

The journal Addictive Behaviors topped the list, with 700 citations and 22 publications (4.3%), followed by Computers in Human Behaviors , with 577 citations and 13 publications (2.5%), Journal of Behavioral Addictions , with 562 citations and 17 publications (3.3%), and International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction , with 502 citations and 26 publications (5.1%). Five of the 10 most productive journals in the field of social media addiction research are published by Elsevier (all Q1 rankings) while Springer and Frontiers Media published one journal each.

Documents citation analysis identified the most influential and most frequently mentioned documents in a certain scientific field. Andreassen has received the most citations among the 10 most significant papers on social media addiction, with 405 ( Table 2 ). The main objective of this type of studies was to identify the associations and the roles of different variables as predictors of social media addiction (e.g., ( 19 , 68 , 69 )). According to general addiction models, the excessive and problematic use of digital technologies is described as “being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable motivation to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas” ( 27 , 70 ). Furthermore, the purpose of several highly cited studies ( 31 , 71 ) was to analyse the connections between young adults' sleep quality and psychological discomfort, depression, self-esteem, and life satisfaction and the severity of internet and problematic social media use, since the health of younger generations and teenagers is of great interest this may help explain the popularity of such papers. Despite being the most recent publication Lin et al.'s work garnered more citations annually. The desire to quantify social media addiction in individuals can also help explain the popularity of studies which try to develop measurement scales ( 42 , 72 ). Some of the highest-ranked publications are devoted to either the presentation of case studies or testing relationships among psychological constructs ( 73 ).

Keyword co-occurrence analysis

The research question, “What are the key thematic areas in social media addiction literature?” was answered using keyword co-occurrence analysis. Keyword co-occurrence analysis is conducted to identify research themes and discover keywords. It mainly examines the relationships between co-occurrence keywords in a wide variety of literature ( 74 ). In this approach, the idea is to explore the frequency of specific keywords being mentioned together.

Utilizing VOSviewer, the authors conducted a keyword co-occurrence analysis to characterize and review the developing trends in the field of social media addiction. The top 10 most frequent keywords are presented in Table 3 . The results indicate that “social media addiction” is the most frequent keyword (178 occurrences), followed by “problematic social media use” (74 occurrences), “internet addiction” (51 occurrences), and “depression” (46 occurrences). As shown in the co-occurrence network ( Figure 5 ), the keywords can be grouped into two major clusters. “Problematic social media use” can be identified as the core theme of the green cluster. In the red cluster, keywords mainly identify a specific aspect of problematic social media use: social media addiction.

Frequency of occurrence of top 10 keywords.

Keywords co-occurrence map. Threshold: 5 co-occurrences.

The results of the keyword co-occurrence analysis for journal articles provide valuable perspectives and tools for understanding concepts discussed in past studies of social media usage ( 75 ). More precisely, it can be noted that there has been a large body of research on social media addiction together with other types of technological addictions, such as compulsive web surfing, internet gaming disorder, video game addiction and compulsive online shopping ( 76 – 78 ). This field of research has mainly been directed toward teenagers, middle school students, and college students and university students in order to understand the relationship between social media addiction and mental health issues such as depression, disruptions in self-perceptions, impairment of social and emotional activity, anxiety, neuroticism, and stress ( 79 – 81 ).

The findings presented in this paper show that there has been an exponential increase in scholarly publications—from two publications in 2013 to 195 publications in 2021. There were 45 publications in 2022 at the time this study was conducted. It was interesting to observe that the US, the UK, and Turkey accounted for 47% of the publications in this field even though none of these countries are in the top 15 countries in terms of active social media penetration ( 82 ) although the US has the third highest number of social media users ( 83 ). Even though China and India have the highest number of social media users ( 83 ), first and second respectively, they rank fifth and tenth in terms of publications on social media addiction or problematic use of social media. In fact, the US has almost double the number of publications in this field compared to China and almost five times compared to India. Even though East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia make up the top three regions in terms of worldwide social media users ( 84 ), except for China and India there have been only a limited number of publications on social media addiction or problematic use. An explanation for that could be that there is still a lack of awareness on the negative consequences of the use of social media and the impact it has on the mental well-being of users. More research in these regions should perhaps be conducted in order to understand the problematic use and addiction of social media so preventive measures can be undertaken.

From the bibliometric analysis, it was found that most of the studies examined used quantitative methods in analyzing data and therefore aimed at testing relationships between variables. In addition, many studies were empirical, aimed at testing relationships based on direct or indirect observations of social media use. Very few studies used theories and for the most part if they did they used the technology acceptance model and social comparison theories. The findings presented in this paper show that none of the studies attempted to create or test new theories in this field, perhaps due to the lack of maturity of the literature. Moreover, neither have very many qualitative studies been conducted in this field. More qualitative research in this field should perhaps be conducted as it could explore the motivations and rationales from which certain users' behavior may arise.

The authors found that almost all the publications on social media addiction or problematic use relied on samples of undergraduate students between the ages of 19–25. The average daily time spent by users worldwide on social media applications was highest for users between the ages of 40–44, at 59.85 min per day, followed by those between the ages of 35–39, at 59.28 min per day, and those between the ages of 45–49, at 59.23 per day ( 85 ). Therefore, more studies should be conducted exploring different age groups, as users between the ages of 19–25 do not represent the entire population of social media users. Conducting studies on different age groups may yield interesting and valuable insights to the field of social media addiction. For example, it would be interesting to measure the impacts of social media use among older users aged 50 years or older who spend almost the same amount of time on social media as other groups of users (56.43 min per day) ( 85 ).

A majority of the studies tested social media addiction or problematic use based on only two social media platforms: Facebook and Instagram. Although Facebook and Instagram are ranked first and fourth in terms of most popular social networks by number of monthly users, it would be interesting to study other platforms such as YouTube, which is ranked second, and WhatsApp, which is ranked third ( 86 ). Furthermore, TikTok would also be an interesting platform to study as it has grown in popularity in recent years, evident from it being the most downloaded application in 2021, with 656 million downloads ( 87 ), and is ranked second in Q1 of 2022 ( 88 ). Moreover, most of the studies focused only on one social media platform. Comparing different social media platforms would yield interesting results because each platform is different in terms of features, algorithms, as well as recommendation engines. The purpose as well as the user behavior for using each platform is also different, therefore why users are addicted to these platforms could provide a meaningful insight into social media addiction and problematic social media use.

Lastly, most studies were cross-sectional, and not longitudinal, aiming at describing results over a certain point in time and not over a long period of time. A longitudinal study could better describe the long-term effects of social media use.

This study was conducted to review the extant literature in the field of social media and analyze the global research productivity during the period ranging from 2013 to 2022. The study presents a bibliometric overview of the leading trends with particular regard to “social media addiction” and “problematic social media use.” The authors applied science mapping to lay out a knowledge base on social media addiction and its problematic use. This represents the first large-scale analysis in this area of study.

A keyword search of “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” yielded 553 papers, which were downloaded from Scopus. After performing the Scopus-based investigation of the current literature regarding social media addiction and problematic use, the authors ended up with a knowledge base consisting of 501 documents comprising 455 journal articles, 27 conference papers, 15 articles reviews, 3 books, and 1 conference review.

The geographical distribution trends of scholarly publications on social media addiction or problematic use indicate that the most productive countries were the USA (92), the U.K. (79), and Turkey ( 63 ), which together produced 236 articles. Griffiths (sixty-five articles), Lin (twenty articles), and Pakpour (eighteen articles) were the most productive scholars according to the number of Scopus documents examined in the area of social media addiction and its problematic use. An author co-citation analysis (ACA) was conducted which generated a layout of social media effects on well-being and cyber psychology as well as mental health and digital media addiction in the form of two research literature clusters representing the intellectual structure of social media and its problematic use.

The preferred periodicals in the field of social media addiction and its problematic use were Addictive Behaviors , with 700 citations and 22 publications, followed by Computers in Human Behavior , with 577 citations and 13 publications, and Journal of Behavioral Addictions , with 562 citations and 17 publications. Keyword co-occurrence analysis was used to investigate the key thematic areas in the social media literature, as represented by the top three keyword phrases in terms of their frequency of occurrence, namely, “social media addiction,” “problematic social media use,” and “social media addiction.”

This research has a few limitations. The authors used science mapping to improve the comprehension of the literature base in this review. First and foremost, the authors want to emphasize that science mapping should not be utilized in place of established review procedures, but rather as a supplement. As a result, this review can be considered the initial stage, followed by substantive research syntheses that examine findings from recent research. Another constraint stems from how 'social media addiction' is defined. The authors overcame this limitation by inserting the phrase “social media addiction” OR “problematic social media use” in the search string. The exclusive focus on SCOPUS-indexed papers creates a third constraint. The SCOPUS database has a larger number of papers than does Web of Science although it does not contain all the publications in a given field.

Although the total body of literature on social media addiction is larger than what is covered in this review, the use of co-citation analyses helped to mitigate this limitation. This form of bibliometric study looks at all the publications listed in the reference list of the extracted SCOPUS database documents. As a result, a far larger dataset than the one extracted from SCOPUS initially has been analyzed.

The interpretation of co-citation maps should be mentioned as a last constraint. The reason is that the procedure is not always clear, so scholars must have a thorough comprehension of the knowledge base in order to make sense of the result of the analysis ( 63 ). This issue was addressed by the authors' expertise, but it remains somewhat subjective.

Implications

The findings of this study have implications mainly for government entities and parents. The need for regulation of social media addiction is evident when considering the various risks associated with habitual social media use. Social media addiction may lead to negative consequences for adolescents' school performance, social behavior, and interpersonal relationships. In addition, social media addiction may also lead to other risks such as sexting, social media stalking, cyber-bullying, privacy breaches, and improper use of technology. Given the seriousness of these risks, it is important to have regulations in place to protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction.

Regulation of social media platforms

One way that regulation could help protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction is by limiting their access to certain websites or platforms. For example, governments could restrict adolescents' access to certain websites or platforms during specific hours of the day. This would help ensure that they are not spending too much time on social media and are instead focusing on their schoolwork or other important activities.

Another way that regulation could help protect adolescents from the harms of social media addiction is by requiring companies to put warning labels on their websites or apps. These labels would warn adolescents about the potential risks associated with excessive use of social media.

Finally, regulation could also require companies to provide information about how much time each day is recommended for using their website or app. This would help adolescents make informed decisions about how much time they want to spend on social media each day. These proposed regulations would help to protect children from the dangers of social media, while also ensuring that social media companies are more transparent and accountable to their users.

Parental involvement in adolescents' social media use

Parents should be involved in their children's social media use to ensure that they are using these platforms safely and responsibly. Parents can monitor their children's online activity, set time limits for social media use, and talk to their children about the risks associated with social media addiction.

Education on responsible social media use

Adolescents need to be educated about responsible social media use so that they can enjoy the benefits of these platforms while avoiding the risks associated with addiction. Education on responsible social media use could include topics such as cyber-bullying, sexting, and privacy breaches.

Research directions for future studies

A content analysis was conducted to answer the fifth research questions “What are the potential research directions for addressing social media addiction in the future?” The study reveals that there is a lack of screening instruments and diagnostic criteria to assess social media addiction. Validated DSM-V-based instruments could shed light on the factors behind social media use disorder. Diagnostic research may be useful in order to understand social media behavioral addiction and gain deeper insights into the factors responsible for psychological stress and psychiatric disorders. In addition to cross-sectional studies, researchers should also conduct longitudinal studies and experiments to assess changes in users' behavior over time ( 20 ).

Another important area to examine is the role of engagement-based ranking and recommendation algorithms in online habit formation. More research is required to ascertain how algorithms determine which content type generates higher user engagement. A clear understanding of the way social media platforms gather content from users and amplify their preferences would lead to the development of a standardized conceptualization of social media usage patterns ( 89 ). This may provide a clearer picture of the factors that lead to problematic social media use and addiction. It has been noted that “misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent” in material reshared by users and promoted by social media algorithms ( 90 ).

Additionally, an understanding of engagement-based ranking models and recommendation algorithms is essential in order to implement appropriate public policy measures. To address the specific behavioral concerns created by social media, legislatures must craft appropriate statutes. Thus, future qualitative research to assess engagement based ranking frameworks is extremely necessary in order to provide a broader perspective on social media use and tackle key regulatory gaps. Particular emphasis must be placed on consumer awareness, algorithm bias, privacy issues, ethical platform design, and extraction and monetization of personal data ( 91 ).

From a geographical perspective, the authors have identified some main gaps in the existing knowledge base that uncover the need for further research in certain regions of the world. Accordingly, the authors suggest encouraging more studies on internet and social media addiction in underrepresented regions with high social media penetration rates such as Southeast Asia and South America. In order to draw more contributions from these countries, journals with high impact factors could also make specific calls. This would contribute to educating social media users about platform usage and implement policy changes that support the development of healthy social media practices.

The authors hope that the findings gathered here will serve to fuel interest in this topic and encourage other scholars to investigate social media addiction in other contexts on newer platforms and among wide ranges of sample populations. In light of the rising numbers of people experiencing mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, food disorders, and substance addiction) in recent years, it is likely that the number of papers related to social media addiction and the range of countries covered will rise even further.

Data availability statement

Author contributions.

AP took care of bibliometric analysis and drafting the paper. VB took care of proofreading and adding value to the paper. AS took care of the interpretation of the findings. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Are you addicted to social media? Six questions

Yes, you spend a lot of time on social media. You might even check your phone every few minutes to see how many people have liked your latest Facebook post. But are you addicted? And even if you are, what's the big deal?

"Our devotion to technology and social media has changed how we interact with others, and that's not necessarily a good thing," said James Roberts, Ph.D., The Ben H. Williams Professor of Marketing in Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business. "Yes, there are advantages to technology. But our obsession with smartphones and the lives we live via our social media channels can come at a cost to our real-life relationships."

Roberts is known internationally for his research on smartphone addiction and how technology (smartphones, specifically) affects relationships and stress levels. He is the author of the book "Too Much of a Good Thing: Are you Addicted to your Smartphone?"

Roberts explained that substance and behavioral addictions have six core components: salience, euphoria, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal symptoms and relapse. He provides six questions and statements people can use to gauge each of those components and help them understand whether their attachment to social media could be an addiction.

1. Salience: Is your social media use deeply integrated into your daily life?

I use social media like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Pinterest throughout the entire day.

2. Euphoria: Do you depend on social media use for excitement throughout the day?

I use social media when I am bored or alone.

3. Tolerance: Do you need to spend more time to get a "buzz" from social media?

I find myself using social media more and more.

4. Withdrawal symptoms: Do you get nervous when you are not on social media?

I'm afraid of missing out on something important when I am not on social media.

5. Conflict: Does your use of social media cause you trouble?

My social media use has caused conflict with my friends, distracted me in class or while at work.

6. Relapse: have you tried to cut-back on your use of social media but failed?

I have tried to cut back on my time on social media, but it didn't last very long.

"If you've answered 'yes' to three or more of these questions, you might need to reconsider your use of social media," Roberts said. "But don't worry too much, though. There's still hope."

Roberts said the trick to loosening social media's grip on your life is to find a "digital sweet spot" where you are still connected but you have carved out time for the things that really matter.

"You, your relationships and community are the bedrocks of living a happy and meaningful life," he said. "They are also the first things that suffer when our lives get out of balance."

• Social Psychology
• Relationships
• Learning Disorders
• Social cognition
• Public health
• Social psychology
• Microeconomics
• Social inclusion

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Materials provided by Baylor University . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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Social Media Addiction in High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study Examining Its Relationship with Sleep Quality and Psychological Problems

• Published: 03 August 2021
• Volume 14 , pages 2265–2283, ( 2021 )

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• Adem Sümen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8876-400X 1 &
• Derya Evgin 2  

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The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of social media addiction with sleep quality and psychological problems in high school students. The study is a cross-sectional, correlational type. The study was conducted with 1,274 students receiving education in a district located in the western region of Turkey. For the collection of the data, a Descriptive Information Form, the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SMASA), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Sleep Quality Scale (SQS) and the Sleep Variables Questionnaire (SVQ) were used. Among the high school students who participated in the research, 49.3% stated that they had been using social media for 1–3 years, 53.9% reported that they spent 1–3 h per day on social media, and 42.8% stated that they placed their telephone under their pillow or beside their bed while sleeping. Students’ mean scores were 16.59 ± 6.79 (range: 9–45) for the SMASA, 16.54 ± 4.27 (range: 0–40) for total difficulties, and 14.18 ± 1.56 (range: 7–21) for the SQS, while their sleep efficiency value was 97.9%. According to the research model, difficulties experienced by high school students increase their social media addiction, while they decrease prosocial behaviours. Social media addiction in high school students decreases students’ sleep efficiency (p < 0.05). It is considered important to conduct further public health studies for children and adolescents related to the risks caused by the excessive use of technology, the consequences of social media addiction, measures to protect psychological health, sleep programmes and the importance of sleep quality.

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Assessment of Sleep Quality and its Relationship to Social Media Use Among Medical Students

Sleep patterns, mobile phone use and psychological symptoms among adolescents in coastal developed city of China: an exploratory cross-sectional study

General health of students of medical sciences and its relation to sleep quality, cell phone overuse, social networks and internet addiction

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Together with the very rapid digitalization in our age, the use of social media is increasing in our country and in the world (Ersöz & Kahraman, 2020 ; Singh et al., 2020 ). According to the Digital 2021: Global Overview Report, the time spent on social media has increased 1.5 times in the last 5 years. The most widely used social networks are listed as: Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Instagram, WeChat, TikTok and QQ (DataReportal, 2021a ). As for Turkey, the use of social media has increased by 11.1% in the past year, and YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and FB Messenger are the most frequently used social networks (DataReportal, 2021b ). When the way of dealing with social media addiction is examined, it can be said that nowadays, social media addiction has ceased to be an ordinary problem and become a disease associated with a global epidemic. People all over the world can show excessive interest in social media and spend a great deal of time using social media. For this reason, social media has a negative effect on the lives of millions of people in the world (Andreassen, 2015 ; Singh et al., 2020 ).

In a study by Drahošová and Balco ( 2017 ), in which they investigated the advantages and disadvantages of social media use, 97.7% of participants stated that the advantages of using social media were communication and the exchange of information, while 72.2% stated that the biggest disadvantage was internet addiction. It is known that among users, especially the younger age group faces the risk of addiction. Although social media is regarded as a new area of socialization and that this situation is an advantage (Savcı & Aysan, 2017 ), it is also reported that social media has a negative effect on interpersonal relationships (Çalışır, 2015 ), psychological health (Chen et al., 2020 ) and private life (Acılar & Mersin, 2015 ), increases levels of depression (Haand & Shuwang, 2020 ), and leads to social media addiction. Indeed, it has been determined that in the case of adolescent users, excessive levels of use are associated with paranoid thoughts, phobic anxiety and feelings of anger and hostility (Bilgin, 2018 ). Moreover, an increase in periods of social media use can cause a reduction in sleep quality (Eroğlu & Yıldırım, 2017 ). Poor sleep quality can lead to daytime sleepiness in students and to negative effects on their performance, school achievement, activities and energy (Güneş et al., 2018 ).

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the switch to the distance education process was made in line with the restrictions implemented for protecting public health. The extension of periods spent at home by adolescents has led to long periods of exposure to screens, a restriction of outdoor activities, a reduction in peer interactions, unhealthy sleep patterns, and increases in stress and anxiety levels (Liu et al., 2021 ; Wang et al., 2020 ). Based on this, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship of social media addiction with sleep quality and psychological problems in high school students.

2.1 Study Design

This is a cross-sectional, correlational type of research. In this study, which was conducted in order to determine the relationship of social media addiction with sleep quality and psychological problems in high school students, a path analysis study was made in line with the examined literature and the aim, and the theoretical model is shown in Fig.  1 . The model consists of four hypotheses, and the correlations between the variables in these hypotheses are included in the model.

H 1 : Difficulties experienced by high school students (emotional problems, conduct problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity, and peer problems) increase social media addiction.

H 2 : Prosocial behaviours in high school students decrease social media addiction.

H 3 : Social media addiction in high school students increases poor sleep quality.

H 4 : Social media addiction in high school students decreases sleep efficiency.

Path diagram of the research model. SMASA: Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents, SQS: Sleep Quality Scale

2.2 Participants

The study was conducted in 15 high schools affiliated to a District National Education Directorate in the south of Turkey. A total of 4,602 students are registered at these high schools in the 2020–2021 academic year. Since education at the schools is carried out in the form of distance education within the scope of the COVID-19 measures, the research was carried out online via the District National Education Directorate and the school principals. The study was completed between 01–30 December 2020 with a total of 1,274 people with the aim of reaching all students. Students registered at high school and volunteering to participate in the study were included in the research. A 99% error rate and 3.07% confidence interval originating from the sample number of the research were found.

2.3 Data Collection Tools

A Descriptive Information Form prepared by the researchers by examining the literature, the Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Sleep Quality Scale, and the Sleep Variables Questionnaire were used for data collection.

Descriptive Information Form

This was prepared in line with the literature, and consists of questions related to adolescents’ socio-demographic characteristics, school achievement, family, friend relationships, sleep status, and extent of using social media. School achievement and relationship levels were classified as “good”, “average” or “poor” depending on the students’ own statements.

Social Media Addiction Scale for Adolescents (SMASA)

This scale was developed by Özgenel et al. ( 2019 ) with the aim of determining adolescents’ levels of social media addiction. The scale consists of a single factor and includes nine items. The highest score that can be obtained from the five-point Likert-type scale is 45, while the lowest score is 9. It can be said that adolescents’ social media addiction is greater as scores obtained in the scale increase, while as scores decrease, their level of addiction is lower. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale is 0.904. In this study, however, the Cronbach alpha value was found to be 0.880.

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

Developed by Goodman ( 1997 ), this scale is extensively used all over the world to examine children’s and adolescents’ psychological and behavioural problems. The scale was adapted to Turkish by Güvenir et al. ( 2008 ). Consisting of a total of 25 questions, the scale is scored with a three-point Likert-type rating, and the questions are scored as “0”, “1” and “2” according to their degree of accuracy. The scale includes subscales of emotional problems, conduct problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity, peer problems, and prosocial behaviours, each containing five questions. Although each subscale can be evaluated in itself, the total of the first four subscales gives a total difficulty score. While high scores for prosocial behaviours reflect an individual’s strengths in the social domain, high scores in the other four domains indicate that the problem areas are severe. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale is 0.73, while in this study, the Cronbach alpha value was found to be 0.776.

Sleep Quality Scale and Sleep Variables Questionnaire (SQS-SVQ)

This scale was developed by Meijer and van den Wittenboer ( 2004 ), and the Turkish validity and reliability study was carried out by Önder et al. ( 2016 ). Seven scale items that measure sleep quality and eight questionnaire items that identify parental control, total sleep time, midpoint of sleep, and sleep efficiency are included in the SQS-SVQ. Each of the SQS items have three categories scored from 1 to 3. Scores that can be obtained from the scale range between 7 and 21. A high score obtained from the scale indicates poor sleep quality, while a low score indicates good sleep quality. Among the SVQ items, however, only sleep efficiency was calculated and used. The Cronbach alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale is 0.72. In this study, however, the Cronbach alpha value was calculated as 0.714.

2.4 Data Collection

The data were collected by using an online web-based questionnaire via Google Forms. The questionnaire was sent to the students through social media networks via the District National Education Directorate and the school principals. Before beginning the study, the study aim and method were explained to the students and their families, and it was stated that the data would be used only for scientific purposes, that the data would be kept confidential, that the study would be conducted based on the principle of voluntariness, and that participants were free to take part in the research or not. After the students who agreed to take part in the study had confirmed that they were volunteers in an electronic environment, they began to reply to the questions. It took an average of 15–20 min to respond to the questionnaires. A total of 1,366 students filled in the form. When the forms were examined after the study, 92 forms were not evaluated due to missing data. Therefore, the data collection process was completed with 1,274 students.

2.5 Data Evaluation

The statistical analyses of the data were made using the SPSS Statistics Base V 23 version of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and AMOS 21.0 software. For evaluating the data of the study, descriptive statistical methods (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) were used; to test the differences between groups, t-test for independent variables and one-way variance analysis were performed; for comparisons between groups, the post-hoc Bonferroni and Tukey tests for multiple comparisons were utilised. In the research, the path analysis method was applied to test the hypotheses of the model created to determine the relationship of social media addiction with psychological problems and sleep quality. The results were evaluated at a 95% confidence interval and at p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001 significance levels.

2.6 Ethical Aspect of the Research

To be able to conduct the research, institutional permission was obtained from Antalya Provincial Directorate of Education (date: 25/09.2020, No: E.13536854), while ethical approval was obtained from Akdeniz University Clinical Research Ethics Committee (date: 19/02/2020, No: KAEK-174). Meetings were held with school principals of all the schools, and the research aim, content and method were explained to them. Participants’ consent was obtained by making an announcement about the study on the first page of the online link of the data collection tools.

Among the high school students participating in the research, 70.0% were girls, and their average age was 15.36 ± 1.22. Approximately half of the students were studying in first grade (45.4%), while over half of them (61.9%) stated that their school achievement level was average. The majority of students reported that they had good relationships with their mothers (85.2%), fathers (77.1%), siblings (72.2%) and friends (77.5%). It was revealed that 75.1% of students decided when to go to bed themselves, 65.6% did not turn off their telephones while sleeping, 44.6% kept their telephones away from the bed, and 42.8% placed their telephones under their pillow or beside their bed. The majority of students stated that they had been using social media for 1–3 years (49.3%), and that they spent 1–3 h per day on social media (53.9%), while 35.9% checked their social media as soon as a notification came. 10.3% of students considered themselves to be social media addicts, while 72.7% believed that society was addicted to social media (Table 1 ).

The high school students’ mean SMASA score was determined to be 16.59 ± 6.79. For the SDQ, their mean score for total difficulties was calculated as 16.54 ± 4.27. Among the SDQ subscales, the highest mean score was for prosocial behaviours with 7.94 ± 1.88, while the lowest was for conduct problems with 2.23 ± 1.49. The total SQS mean score was calculated as 14.18 ± 1.56, while the sleep efficiency value was calculated as 97.9% (Fig.  2 ).

Participants’ SMASA, SQS-SVQ and SDQ total and subscale mean scores (n: 1274)

Mean SMASA scores of female students (p < 0.001), students with poor school achievement (p < 0.001), students who had poor relationships with their mothers (p < 0.001), fathers (p < 0.001), siblings (p < 0.001) and friends (p < 0.05), whose parents decided on their bedtime (p < 0.05), who did not turn off their telephones while sleeping (p < 0.001), who had been using social media for more than seven years (p < 0.001), who spent more than seven hours on social media per day (p < 0.001), who checked their social media notifications at every spare moment (p < 0.001), and who considered themselves (p < 0.001) and society (p < 0.001) to be social media addicts were found to be higher. Female students (p < 0.05), students who had poor relationships with their mothers (p < 0.01) and siblings (p < 0.05), and those who did not turn off their telephones while sleeping (p < 0.01) were determined to have higher mean SQS scores. It was revealed that female students (p < 0.001), students with poor school achievement (p < 0.001), students who had poor relationships with their mothers (p < 0.001), fathers (p < 0.001), siblings (p < 0.001) and friends (p < 0.001), who had used social media for more than seven years (p < 0.005), who spent more than seven hours on social media per day (p < 0.001), who checked their social media notifications at every spare moment (p < 0.001), and who considered themselves (p < 0.001) and society (p < 0.001) to be social media addicts had higher mean SDQ scores (Table 1 ).

In the study, a positive correlation of students’ mean SMASA scores with SDQ-conduct problems, SDQ-attention deficit, SDQ-emotional problems, SDQ-peer problems, SDQ-total difficulties index and total SQS mean scores was found, while a negative correlation was found with SDQ-prosocial behaviours and SVQ-sleep efficiency mean scores (p < 0.01) (Table 2 ).

The standardised estimates related to the research model drawn within the scope of the study are given in Table 3 . According to the research model, difficulties experienced by high school students have a positive effect on social media addiction (β = 0.293), while prosocial behaviours have a negative effect on social media addiction (β = -0.159) (p < 0.05). Social media addiction in high school students has a negative effect on sleep efficiency (β = -0.094, p < 0.05). As a result of the path analysis, it was determined that the goodness-of-fit indices of the model had acceptable values and that model-data fit was achieved (İlhan & Çetin, 2014 ; Kline, 2011 ). Accordingly, hypotheses H 1 , H 2 ve H 4 relating to the model were accepted, while hypothesis H 3 was not accepted (Table 3 ).

4 Discussion

Social media use by individuals has steadily increased in recent years (Dong et al., 2020 ; Fernandes et al., 2020 ; Kashif & Aziz-Ur-Rehman, 2020 ; Lemenager et al., 2021 ). Especially young people increasingly use social media and the internet, which is an easily and rapidly accessible means of mass communication, frequently for academic and other purposes. These tools are not merely a source of information, their use is also sought for other purposes such as social interaction, games and entertainment (Singh & Barmola, 2015 ). The decrease seen in individuals’ interaction in social life and the increase in the time they spend at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic have increased the use of online communication tools (Benke et al., 2020 ; King et al., 2020 ; Oliviero et al., 2021 ). The steady increase in internet and social media addiction among young people in recent years has already been reported (Fernandes et al., 2020 ; Kashif & Aziz-Ur-Rehman, 2020 ; Orben et al., 2020 ; Scott et al., 2019 ). However, in this study, it was seen that high school students’ mean social media addiction scores (16.59 ± 6.79) were below average.

In the Addiction Prevention Training Programme of Turkey implemented by Green Crescent ( 2017 ), certain criteria were defined concerning the case of whether or not high school students’ are addicted to social media. Accordingly, it is stated that if social media is the first choice that comes to mind in cases of boredom, if it takes precedence over real life, if it leads to disruption of daily life and negligence of responsibilities, if it takes up an excessive amount of time and creates anxiety when it cannot be accessed, if the need is felt to constantly share things, then adolescents may be addicted to social media. The majority of students included in the scope of the study stated that they had been using social media for 1–3 years (49.3%), and that they spent 1–3 h on social media per day (53.9%), while 35.9% checked their social media whenever a notification came. Therefore, it can be said that students taking part in the study were at risk of social media use disorder. However, another important finding of the study is that while one in ten students regarded themselves as social media addicts, around three-quarters of them considered that society was addicted to social media. This situation in fact shows that the students had awareness regarding social media addiction, but that they did not accept addiction for themselves. In a study conducted by Fernandes et al. ( 2020 ) on adolescents in India, Malaysia, Mexico and Great Britain, it was found that during the pandemic, periods of social media use, playing online games, and watching video content increased significantly compared to before the pandemic. In other conducted studies, it is also seen that the period spent on social media has increased during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic (71.4%) (Lemenager et al., 2021 ), and that people frequently spend their free time on social media during the pandemic (67%) (Kashif & Aziz-Ur-Rehman, 2020 ).

In the study, it was revealed that social media addiction scores were higher in students who had poor relationships with their mothers, fathers, siblings and friends. Social media prevents adolescents from forming close personal relationships with their families and immediate environment. Social media use disorder also causes weak family and friend relationships in adolescents (Moreno & Uhls, 2019 ). Numerous problems emerge due to the misuse of social media. In the study, it was determined that mean SQS scores were higher in students who had poor relationships with their mothers and siblings, and those who did not switch off their telephones while sleeping. It has been found that adolescents with high levels of problematic internet use and of social media use suffer from depression, loneliness, lower sleep quality and high anxiety levels (Bányai et al., 2017 ; Alonzo et al., 2020 ; Fernandes et al., 2020 ; Orben et al., 2020 ). In some studies, a statistically significant correlation between social media use and adolescent sleep patterns, especially delayed sleep onset, has been determined (Alimoradi et al., 2019 ; Gradisar et al., 2013 ; Scott et al., 2019 ). In the study, students’ total sleep quality mean score (14.18 ± 1.56) was revealed to be poor, and their sleep efficiency value was calculated as 97.9%. This shows that the adolescents included in the sample were unable to sleep efficiently and that their sleep quality was low. This situation may be the result of changes in sleep habits of adolescents due to remaining at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Similarly, in a study carried out in Italy, it was determined that as a result of the isolation measures taken against the coronavirus, a big delay in children’ sleeping/waking schedules and an increase in sleep disorders occurred in all age groups (Oliviero et al., 2021 ). In another study, it was revealed that problems occurred in adolescents during the pandemic, such as delay in falling asleep, reduction in length of sleep, respiratory impairment during sleep, and sleepiness during the day, and that sleep routines were disrupted (Becker & Gregory, 2020 ). The problem of lack of sleep is very common in adolescents, and is an important public health problem that needs intervention in several aspects, such as mental health, obesity and academic performance (Owens, 2014 ; Sampasa-Kanyinga et al., 2020 ).

In the study, the high school students’ mean total difficulties score in the SDQ was calculated as medium level (16.54 ± 4.27). Among the SDQ subscales, the highest mean score was found to be for prosocial behaviours, while the lowest was for conduct problems. The high level of prosocial behaviours and low level of conduct problems in the sample group indicates that the research group were able to cope with difficulties. A negative correlation was found between SDQ-prosocial behaviours and SVQ-sleep efficiency mean scores in the study. This situation can be interpreted to say that social media use can lead to lack of sleep in students, and that students’ prosocial behaviours can decrease. Pandemic adolescents showed higher levels of other problems and a more problematic social media usage than peers before the pandemic (Muzi et al., 2021 ). Moreover, significant increases are seen in individuals’ rates of problematic internet use and of social media use due to the pandemic, and it is stated that this situation creates negative effects in terms of individuals’ psychological health (Baltacı et al., 2021 ; Oliviero et al., 2021 ). In a qualitative study conducted by Baltacı et al., ( 2020 ), it was stated that students experienced difficulties in controlling their internet use during the pandemic, and that since they were unable to control this, they experienced negative emotions and regarded themselves as internet addicts due to this situation.

Evidence suggests that problematic use of gaming, the internet, and social media among adolescents is on the rise, affecting multiple psycho-emotional domains. Moreover, excessive use of digital activities and smartphones may result in multiple mental and physical problems, such as behavioural addiction, cognitive impairment, and emotional distress (Ophir et al., 2020 ). It was found that as students’ mean social media scores increased, their mean scores for attention deficit, conduct problems, emotional problems, peer problems and total difficulties index also increased. In addition, it has been determined that the difficulties experienced by high school students (emotional problems, conduct problems, attention deficit and hyperactivity, and peer problems) increase social media addiction (H 1 ). It is emphasized that spending a long time on the Internet increases the possibility of exposure to risks and pathological tendencies, and that the time spent using social media is harmful to mental health (Alonzo et al., 2020 ; Coyne et al., 2020 ; Stockdale & Coyne, 2020 ; Twigg et al., 2020 ). It is known that during the pandemic, missing the daily routines that school brings and absence of time spent with peers causes adolescents to experience a great number of problems. These problems can be listed as increase in monotonous time spent at home, disrupted sleep habits, increased exposure to screens, intensive internet use, increased eating habits, decreased physical activity, increased attention and concentration problems, loss of academic achievement due to reduced motivation, increased domestic conflicts, inability to cope with negative emotions such as aggression, boredom, anger and anxiety, increased emotional activity, and deterioration of emotion regulation skills (Ghosh et al., 2020 ; Lee, 2020 ; Oliviero et al., 2021 ). In support of the literature, in this study, too, it was seen that especially during these difficult times that we have been going through, the high school students’ social relationships were weakened, their school achievement decreased, the frequency and length of their social media use increased, and there was an increase in the psychological problems and social media addiction that they experienced. This situation reveals that adolescents are at risk biopsychosocially in terms of healthy development and acquiring identity, and with regard to other risks (cyber violence, obesity, loneliness, depression, anxiety, etc.) that the digital environment will bring (Orben et al., 2020 ). Especially the greater amount of time that adolescents spend using social media has increased the negative effects on adolescents’ general health and wellbeing, including sleep (Dong et al., 2020 ).

Another important result of the study is the finding that prosocial behaviors reduce social media addiction in high school students (H 2 ). Some studies showed that there were short comings in social skills associated with social interactions and internet and social media addiction (Chua et al., 2020 ; Dalvi-Esfahani et al., 2021 ). While the effective use of the internet creates an opportunity for the adolescent, its excessive use may negatively affect the adolescent's physical, psychological, social and cognitive development (Hou et al., 2019 ). A study found that depression, bullying, loneliness, and sleep quality are among the most common health problems that arise from social media use (Royal Society for Public Health, 2020 ). Kurulan araştırma modelinde, sosyal medya bağımlılığının lise öğrencilerinde kötü uyku kalitesini etkilemediği (H 3 ) fakat uyku verimliliğini (H 4 ) azalttığı sonucuna varılmıştır. There are studies showing that social media addiction is positively associated with poor sleep quality (Alfaya et al., 2021 ; Ho, 2021 ; Tandon et al., 2020 ; Wong et al., 2020 ). According to Garett et al. ( 2018 ), using social media for longer periods of time and spending more time with social media causes the quality of sleep of users to decrease. Wong et al. ( 2020 ) determined that both the severity of internet gaming disorder and social media addiction were positively related to psychological distress and sleep disorder. In a study on social media use, sleep quality, and well-being in 467 adolescents, it was found that social media use was associated with poor sleep, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. Poor sleep was most strongly associated with nighttime social media use (Woods & Scott, 2016 ). It is important for the development of a healthy generation to educate adolescents about conscious social media and smart phone use and to emphasize the importance of sleep habits (Gıca, 2020 ).

5 Conclusions

According to the results obtained in the study, the students’ scores for social media addiction and psychological problems were found to be below average, while their sleep quality scores were negatively above. Although it is known that sleep is very important for adolescent health, it was determined that increased social media addiction in the students in the sample group increased the potential for the emergence of health and sleep problems. It should be borne in mind that the social distancing, recommendations to stay at home, and distance education implemented due to the pandemic can lead to greater flexibility in sleeping and waking times, and can cause an increase in the use of technology for long periods and in social media addiction. It was seen that social media addiction in students was positively correlated with conduct and emotional problems, attention deficit/hyperactivity, peer problems and poor sleep quality, and negatively correlated with prosocial behaviours and sleep efficiency. Based on this, school health nurses should plan and implement appropriate intervention methods in collaboration with other healthcare personnel (psychologists, school counsellors, social workers, etc.). Enabling high school students’ access to the correct information sources, open and transparent sharing of information, planning daily routines at home such as meals, sleep and homework, increasing physical activities, expanding intelligent internet use that will support personal and social development, enabling adolescents’ return to the peer and school environment by creating safe school environments in as short a time as possible, creating alternative means and support groups for peer interaction by reducing isolation and loneliness, and appropriate therapeutic interventions such as sleep education and interventions can be listed among these measures and precautions.

Data Availability

The data that support the fndings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Sümen, A., Evgin, D. Social Media Addiction in High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study Examining Its Relationship with Sleep Quality and Psychological Problems. Child Ind Res 14 , 2265–2283 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09838-9

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Is Social Media Addictive? Here’s What the Science Says.

A major lawsuit against Meta has placed a spotlight on our fraught relationship with online social information.

By Matt Richtel

A group of 41 states and the District of Columbia filed suit on Tuesday against Meta , the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, contending that the company knowingly used features on its platforms to cause children to use them compulsively, even as the company said that its social media sites were safe for young people.

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The accusations in the lawsuit raise a deeper question about behavior: Are young people becoming addicted to social media and the internet? Here’s what the research has found.

What Makes Social Media So Compelling?

Experts who study internet use say that the magnetic allure of social media arises from the way the content plays to our neurological impulses and wiring, such that consumers find it hard to turn away from the incoming stream of information.

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Meta responded to the lawsuit by saying that it had taken many steps to support families and teenagers. “We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” the company said in a statement.

Does Compulsion Equal Addiction?

For many years, the scientific community typically defined addiction in relation to substances, such as drugs, and not behaviors, such as gambling or internet use. That has gradually changed. In 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official reference for mental health conditions, introduced the idea of internet gaming addiction but said that more study was warranted before the condition could be formally declared.

A subsequent stud y explored broadening the definition to “internet addiction.” The author suggested further exploring diagnostic criteria and the language, noting, for instance, that terms like “problematic use” and even the word “internet” were open to broad interpretation, given the many forms the information and its delivery can take.

Dr. Michael Rich, the director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, said he discouraged the use of the word “addiction” because the internet, if used effectively and with limits, was not merely useful but also essential to everyday life. “I prefer the term ‘Problematic Internet Media Use,” he said, a term that has gained currency in recent years.

Dr. Greenfield agreed that there clearly are valuable uses for the internet and that the definition of how much is too much can vary. But he said there also were clearly cases where excessive use interferes with school, sleep and other vital aspects of a healthy life. Too many young consumers “can’t put it down,” he said. “The internet is a giant hypodermic, and the content, including social media like Meta, are the psychoactive drugs.”

Matt Richtel is a health and science reporter for The Times, based in Boulder, Colo. More about Matt Richtel

• Open access
• Published: 15 April 2024

Social media addiction: associations with attachment style, mental distress, and personality

• Christiane Eichenberg 1 ,
• Raphaela Schneider 1 &
• Helena Rumpl 1  

BMC Psychiatry volume  24 , Article number:  278 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Social media bring not only benefits but also downsides, such as addictive behavior. While an ambivalent closed insecure attachment style has been prominently linked with internet and smartphone addiction, a similar analysis for social media addiction is still pending. This study aims to explore social media addiction, focusing on variations in attachment style, mental distress, and personality between students with and without problematic social media use. Additionally, it investigates whether a specific attachment style is connected to social media addiction.

Data were collected from 571 college students (mean age = 23.61, SD  = 5.00, 65.5% female; response rate = 20.06%) via an online survey administered to all enrolled students of Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversity Vienna. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) differentiated between students addicted and not addicted to social media. Attachment style was gauged using the Bielefeld Partnership Expectations Questionnaire (BFPE), mental distress by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18), and personality by the Big Five Inventory (BFI-10).

Of the total sample, 22.7% of students were identified as addicted to social media. For personality, it was demonstrated that socially media addicted (SMA) students reported significantly higher values on the neuroticism dimension compared to not socially media addicted (NSMA) students. SMA also scored higher across all mental health dimensions—depressiveness, anxiety, and somatization. SMA more frequently exhibited an insecure attachment style than NSMA, specifically, an ambivalent closed attachment style. A two-step cluster analysis validated the initial findings, uncovering three clusters: (1) secure attachment, primarily linked with fewer occurrences of social media addiction and a lower incidence of mental health problems; (2) ambivalent closed attachment, generally associated with a higher rate of social media addiction and increased levels of mental health problems; and (3) ambivalent clingy attachment, manifesting a medium prevalence of social media addiction and a relatively equitable mental health profile.

Conclusions

The outcomes are aligned with previous research on internet and smartphone addiction, pointing out the relevance of an ambivalent closed attachment style in all three contexts. Therapeutic interventions for social media addiction should be developed and implemented considering these findings.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Digital media have become ubiquitous. As of April 2023, 5.18 billion people worldwide use the Internet [ 1 ]. On average, global Internet users spend 6 h and 43 min online daily [ 2 ]. In 2023, social media platforms engage 4.8 billion users worldwide, a significant rise from 2.46 billion in 2017 [ 1 , 2 ]. These users spend an average of 2 h and 25 min on social networks each day and have, on average, 8.9 social media accounts [ 2 ]. Smartphones, now an essential device for many, are especially popular among the youth. Specifically, teenagers aged 14 to 24 access their phones approximately 214 times daily [ 3 ]. While social media networks have grown in importance, they also introduce challenges. Issues such as social media fatigue manifest in negative emotional responses like burnout, exhaustion, and frustration during social network activities [ 4 ]. Another possible negative consequence of social media activity is addictive behavior that is reported prior in the context of internet addiction.

Classification and definition of social media addiction

Digital media addictions, with a particular emphasis on social media addictions, are increasingly prevalent in psychotherapy, especially among younger demographics [ 5 , 6 ]. The concern for social media addiction is heightened among females, who show a higher propensity towards this addiction [ 7 , 8 ]. Despite its growing prevalence, social media addiction is yet to be fully acknowledged in diagnostic classification systems. The term “addiction” is therefore only used in this context for the sake of simplicity, as it is not yet officially recognized. The concept of ‘behavioral addiction,’ which characterizes excessive, rewarding behaviors leading to psychological addiction symptoms [ 9 ], is applicable here, though social media addiction still lacks distinct recognition in diagnostic manuals like the ICD and DSM. This gap highlights the need for more comprehensive research and understanding.

Prior research conforms mainly to differentiate between generalized and specific internet addictions [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. The first means a multidimensional misuse of the internet using multiple internet functions, whereas the ladder aims a sole specific internet function (e.g., gaming, gambling, social media etc.) [ 13 , 14 ]. Social Media Addiction, encompassing variants like Facebook addiction and general addictive use of social networking sites (SNSs), is characterized as a maladaptive psychological dependency on SNSs, leading to behavioral addiction symptoms [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Currently, Social Media Addiction assessment relies on questionnaires like the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS [ 18 ]),, which is momentarily the most widely used tool and applies criteria such as salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse [ 19 ] to evaluate addictive behaviors [ 10 ].

Prevalence rates and mental stress correlations of social media addiction

Data regarding the prevalence of social media addiction indicate a range between 1% and 18.7% [ 20 ]. However, the accuracy of these rates is debated. Cheng et al. [ 21 ] suggest that estimates of social media addiction are often either under- or overestimated. Their recent meta-analysis revealed prevalence rates ranging from 0 to 82%, a wide disparity stemming from differing theoretical frameworks and measurement instruments. Depending on the strictness of the classification system used, the researchers identified three mean prevalence benchmarks: 5%, 13%, and 25%. Frequently, individuals with problematic social media use also grapple with other mental health issues. Depression [ 20 , 22 ] and social anxiety [ 23 ] are commonly co-occurring disorders, as are challenges related to self-esteem (ibid.). Particularly, young women often feel dissatisfied with their bodies due to social media engagement. The frequent exposure to manipulated and idealized images of models or influencers fuels a comparison culture. As a result, many young women develop a desire to alter their appearance [ 24 ]. The number of “likes” they receive on platforms becomes a proxy for their self-worth, heavily influencing their self-esteem [ 25 ]. Several studies highlight that young adults spending over two hours daily on social media tend to exhibit higher rates of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances.

Personality traits and social media addiction

The personality trait neuroticism, and the “fear of missing out” or FOMO [ 26 ], have been identified as predictors of Social Media Addiction [ 27 ]. Conversely, extraversion’s link to social media use is debated. While some evidence suggests extraversion is not a significant factor [ 28 ], other research indicates extraverted individuals are more prone to social media use and potential addiction. Kuss & Griffiths [ 29 ] offer a more nuanced view in their literature review. According to them, extraverted individuals might use social media to augment their social interactions, i.e. they use social media in a positive manner to expand opportunities to interact with others in more ways. Introverted users, on the other hand, use social media to compensate for a perceived social deficit. For them, using social media is a way to connect with others in a way that they feel is not sufficiently possible in real life.

Attachment styles and social media addiction

Extensive research has been conducted on the association between insecure attachment and substance addictions [ 30 , 31 ]. The attachment system, which comprises secure, insecure, and disorganized categories, is a biologically and evolutionarily rooted motivational and behavioral system that operates through attachment figures [ 32 ]. Schuhler et al. [ 33 ] proposed a model elucidating the link between internet addiction and attachment, suggesting that addictive behaviors may arise as a means to compensate for attachment issues. From this perspective, digital addiction represents a flawed attempt to address early attachment deficiencies [ 33 , 34 ]. In a related vein, Brisch [ 35 ] introduced a model that positions the ‘reference object’ as central to the understanding of addictions. According to this model, the primary function of social media addiction isn’t to escape negative emotions, as is often the case with substance addictions. Instead, it’s seen as an excessive digitally-mediated social behavior aiming to substitute for insecure attachments. Supporting this, Eichenberg et al. [ 34 ] showed that insecure attachment style is correlated with problematic smartphone usage and problematic internet usage [ 36 ]. Notably, an ambivalently attached style was identified as particularly relevant in both contexts. A plethora of studies showed a link between social media addiction and attachment in general [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. But the question arises whether the specific attachment style as has shown relevant for internet and smartphone addiction will also be prominent for social media addiction.

Research objectives and questions

The primary objective of this study is to explore whether an insecure attachment style correlates with addictive social media use, and to pinpoint which specific style is most relevant. While research has identified an ambivalent closed insecure attachment style as being significant in the context of internet and smartphone addiction, a detailed examination specific to social media addiction remains lacking.

Moreover, this study seeks to gather further information regarding the still emerging psychopathology, specifically focusing on the personality traits neuroticism and extraversion, as well as mental stress.

Mental health

The research questions will be, whether social media addicted students report higher levels of depression, anxiety, and somatization.

• Personality

Further, it will be explored whether neuroticism and extraversion influence an individual’s susceptibility to social media addiction.

Recruitment

A comprehensive survey ( N  = 2846, response rate = 20.06%) was created with the SoSci Survey online survey tool [ 44 ] and was conducted among students at the Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität in Vienna, Austria. The data collection took place from January to March 2021, resulting in a final sample of 571 respondents. To distribute the online questionnaire, the Study Service Centers from the faculties of psychology, psychotherapy, law, and medicine were approached. They were requested to email the link to the questionnaire, accompanied by a pre-written invitation text, to all actively enrolled students at the Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität Vienna. Once the participants provided informed consent and completed the survey, they were redirected to a debriefing page. This page detailed the study’s objectives and offered the contact information of the researchers, in case the participants sought support related to the survey topics or had additional inquiries. The survey received approval from the Ethics Commission of the Faculty of Psychotherapy Science and the Faculty of Psychology of the Sigμund Freud University PrivatVienna. Recognizing the sensitive nature of the topic, paramount emphasis was placed on safeguarding the confidentiality of participants’ responses. Furthermore, participants had the liberty to opt out of the study at any juncture. Should they wish to have their data expunged, they could simply reach out to a researcher via email, referencing an unique anonymized code. This would enable the researcher to identify and delete the participant’s anonymized data.

Survey structure

The survey, created using Sosci-Survey, began with a brief that outlined the research rationale and the survey’s objectives. Participants affirmed their agreement with the study’s privacy policy through a checkbox.

Section 1 asked about socio-demographic factors, including age, gender, and study subject. Subsequently, it touched upon matters related to social media:

Services most used : Participants identified which social media services they frequently use, answered dichotomously (yes/no).

Usage frequency : Choices ranged from “less than 30 minutes” to “more than four hours per day” on a seven-point scale.

Social Media Importance : Participants rated from “very significant” to “not significant” on a four-point scale.

Purposes of Use : Employing a five-point scale, respondents indicated frequency, ranging from 1 (“never”) to 5 (“several times a day”).

Perceived downsides : Participants assessed their sentiments on a five-point scale from 1 (“not true at all”) to 5 (“completely true”).

In light of evidence suggesting a discrepancy between objective and self-reported usage time—where users often overestimate their screen time [ 45 ]—the survey did not deploy open-ended questions concerning usage duration. Instead, participants were presented with predefined categories to streamline their responses.

Section 2 incorporated standardized questionnaires to examine further social media addiction, mental distress, personality traits, and attachment styles.

Bergen social media addiction scale BSMAS [ 18 ]

The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) [ 18 ] categorizes users into two groups: those addicted to social media and those not addicted. All six items pertain to one’s experience with social media over the past 12 months. It employs a five-point scale, ranging from 1 (“very rarely”) to 5 (“very often”). The scale asks at the beginning of each item “How often during the last year have you…” and continues with “…spent a lot of time thinking about social media or planned use of social media?” (i.e., salience) or “…become restless or troubled if you have been prohibited from using social media?” (i.e., withdrawal). A higher BSMAS score indicates a heightened risk of social media addiction. As suggested by a substantial Hungarian study involving 6000 adolescents [ 20 ], a cutoff score of 19 out of 30 was adopted. The scale was repeatedly reported with high internal consistency, e.g., α = 0.97 [ 46 ] and α = 0.82 (at baseline) plus α = 0.86 (at follow-up) [ 10 ]. Chen et al. [ 10 ] confirm the single-factor structure of the scale, report only medium correlations with scales close to the construct (SABAS/smartphone addiction, IGDS-SF9/internet gaming disorder, r  =.06 and 0.42), and showed invariance across three months among young adults. They presented a good test–retest reliability after three months ( ICC  = 0.86, p  <.001).

Brief symptom inventory BSI-18 [ 47 ]

The BSI-18 is a brief, reliable instrument for assessing mental stress. It contains the three subscales somatization, depression, and anxiety, comprising 6 items, as well as the Global Severity Index (GSI) including all 18 items. Response format of the 18 items is a five-point scale (0=”not at all” to 4=”very strong”). The scale asks at the beginning of a symptoms list: “How much have you had within the past 7 days…”. Examples for the symptoms on this list are “Nausea or upset stomach” for somatization, “Feelings of worthlessness” for depression”, and “Spells of terror or panic” for anxiety. The BSI-18 is the newest and shortest of the multidimensional versions of the Symptom Checklist 90-R. The BSI-18 assesses validly mental stress in both normal population [ 48 ] and clinical populations [ 49 ]. Confirmatory analyses confirm the three-factor structure [ 48 ]. Franke et al. [ 49 ] report good internal consistencies of the scales fear of rejection (BSI-18 (α (somatization) = 0,79, α (depression) = 0,84, α (anxiety) = 0,84, α (GSI) = 0,91).

Big five inventory BFI-10 [ 50 ]

The questionnaire is based on the Big Five personality traits model, also called OCEAN model that is the most widely used model for describing overall personality [ 51 ]. Theoretical background is the sedimentation hypothesis that assumes that every personality trait must be represented in language and, therefore, factor analyses were used to find universal personality dimensions [ 52 ]. Multiple analyses by various researchers resulted repeatedly in the OCEAN model, which consists of the five dimensions agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and extraversion. The BFI-10 [ 50 ] contains 10 items, two for each of the five dimensions. The scale asks, “How well do the following statements describe your personality?” and starts a list of attitudes with “I see myself as someone who…“. Example answers are: “…does a thorough job” (i.e., conscientiousness) or “…is outgoing, sociable” (i.e., extraversion). Respondents answered a five-point rating scale from “does not apply at all” (1) to “applies completely” (5) for each item. Rammstedt und John [ 50 ] report moderate test–retest reliability after 6 weeks in a student sample (agreeableness: rtt  = 0.58, neuroticism: rtt  = 0.74, conscientiousness: rtt  = 0.77, openness to experience: rtt  = 0.72, extraversion: rtt  = 0.84). In a representative sample, however, the retest coefficients are lower overall ranging from ( rtt  =.62) for openness to experience to ( rtt  =.49) for neuroticism [ 51 ]. Rammstedt et al. [ 51 ] report sufficient construct validity correlating the BFI-10 with the NEO-PI-R and factorial validity by conducting principal component analyses on a representative sample.

Bielefeld questionnaire on partnership expectations BFPE [ 53 ]

The BFPE operationalizes attachment styles of adults by recording self-reports on three scales: conscious need for care (8 items), fear of rejection (11 items), and readiness for self-disclosure (11 items) [ 53 ]. Example items are: “Knowing myself as I do, I can hardly imagine that my partner will appreciate me” (i.e., fear of rejection), “I prefer to talk with my partner about facts rather than about feelings” (i.e., readiness for self- disclosure), and “It’s important for me that my partner thinks of me often, even when we are not together” (i.e., conscious need for care). The first of the 31 items serves as an icebreaker item and is not evaluated. The degree of expression of each item is indicated on a 5-point scale (1= “does not apply at all” to 5 = “applies exactly”). From the aggregate scores of these scales, one of five attachment styles can be determined: secure, two variations of ambivalent/anxious (closed and clinging), and two variations of the avoidant style (closed and conditionally secure). For simplification purposes, these styles can be dichotomized into two primary categories: secure (which includes both secure and conditionally secure types) and insecure (encompassing avoidant-closed, ambivalent-clingy, and ambivalent-closed types). These distinct attachment styles emerged originally from cluster analysis research [ 53 ]. Höger and Buschkämper [ 53 ] report good internal consistencies of the scales fear of rejection (Cronbach’s α = 0.88), readiness for self-disclosure (Cronbach’s α = 0.89), and conscious need for care (Cronbach’s α = 0.77). The split-half reliabilities calculated according to Guttman and Spearman-Brown are also similarly good for the three scales (fear of rejection = 0.91, readiness for self-disclosure = 0.89, and conscious need for care = 0.77). A validation is based on a German translation of the “Adult Attachment Scale” (AAS [ 54 ]),.

Statistical analysis

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Program (SPSS version 27) was used for data input, processing, and statistical analyses. The participants were divided into social media addicted (SMA) and not addicted (NSMA) using the cut-off score according to Bányai et al. [ 20 ]. Additionally, the percentage of social media dependent students has been calculated. To evaluate differences between SMA and NSMA in social media usage, Mann-Whitney U tests for two independent samples were analyzed for differences in downsides of social media and usage purposes, and chi-square tests for differences in social media services, usage frequency, and social media importance, as the corresponding data were not normally distributed. Based on the data obtained with the BFPE, participants were allocated (see above) to the five attachment styles “secure,” “conditionally secure,” “ambivalent clingy,” “ambivalent closed,” and “avoidant closed.” Subsequently, the five attachment styles were dichotomized into the variables “secure” and “insecure” attachment styles. Subsequently, the five attachment styles were dichotomized into the variables “secure” and “insecure” attachment styles. Finally, using the chi-square tests, attachment styles and social media addiction were tested for significance differences. While chi-square tests provide valuable insights into individual associations, a two-step cluster analysis was conducted to gain a comprehensive understanding of how these variables collectively group participants. Two-step cluster analysis was chosen due to its capacity to handle both continuous and categorical variables. The number of clusters was determined based on the Schwarz Bayesian Criterion (BIC), and the selected model was further validated by examining the silhouette measure of cohesion and separation. Since gender and age are variables that could influence social media addiction, they were included in the cluster analysis to investigate their distribution over the resulting clusters. To maintain robustness of analyses, the non-binary gender category was omitted due to very small case number.

The total sample ( N  = 571) consisted of 65.5% female students ( n  = 374) 33.3% male students ( n  = 190), and 1.2% those who did not wish to be defined by these two genders ( n  = 7). Participants were between 18 and 60 years old ( M  = 23.61 years, SD  = 5.00, median = 23, modus = 22). The distribution of study subject was the following: medicine ( n  = 344, 59.7%), psychology ( n  = 121, 21.0%), psychotherapy ( n  = 79, 13.7%), and law ( n  = 32, 5.6%) (some students studied two subjects).

• Social media addiction

A total of 131 people (22.7% of the total sample) could be classified as addicted to social media. In addition, it was also relevant how genders were distributed between the two groups. Of the total number of participants classified as addicted participants ( N  = 131), 79.39% were female, 19.08% male, and 1.53% non-binary. These values are to be contrasted with the group of not addicted ( N  = 440), in which 61.36% were female, 37.5% male, and 1.14% non-binary.

Social media usage

Among the various social media platforms, “WhatsApp” was the predominant choice with 99.1% usage. It was trailed by “YouTube” at 91.2%, “Instagram” at 82.1%, “Facebook” at 66.9%, “Snapchat” at 63.7%, “Facebook Messenger” at 35.6%, “Pinterest” at 32.9%, and “Twitter” at 10.5%. In addressing frequency of use, a significant 91% indicated they access social media multiple times per day. Delving into the duration of daily usage: 12.8% were on for less than an hour, 25.6% used it for around an hour, 32.7% for two hours, 16.8% for three hours, and 12.1% devoted more than three hours. When participants were asked about the significance of social media, 8.9% viewed it as very important, 55.1% as important, 31.3% as less important, and a mere 4.7% as not important. Participants predominantly engaged with social media for “entertainment” ( M  = 4.17, SD  = 1.05), staying “up to date” ( M  = 4.12, SD  = 1.03), combating “boredom” ( M  = 3.94, SD  = 1.22), maintaining “contact with family” ( M  = 3.86, SD  = 1.2), and for “music” ( M  = 3.55, SD  = 1.4). They also sought “inspiration (e.g., fashion, interior)” with a mean score of ( M  = 3.35, SD  = 1.29). However, not all experiences were positive. Downsides associated with social media usage were led by “comparison with others” ( M  = 3.19, SD  = 1.3), followed by “dissatisfaction with own body” ( M  = 2.55, SD  = 1.38), “negative self-esteem in contact with influencers” ( M  = 2.23, SD  = 1.32), and encountering “insults, intrusive behavior” ( M  = 1.88, SD  = 1.3). Distinguishing between SMA and NSMA users, differences emerged in their consumption patterns (see for details Table  1 ). SMA users predominantly gravitated towards image-centric platforms such as “Instagram” (93.1% SMA vs. 78.9% NSMA) and “Pinterest” (46.6% SMA vs. 28.9% NSMA). Remarkably, SMA users expressed heightened concerns regarding the downsides “comparison with others” ( M  = 4.06, SD  = 1.03 for SMA vs. M  = 2.94, SD  = 1.26 for NSMA), “dissatisfaction with own body (when viewing idealized bodies online)” (M = 3.45, SD = 1.34 for SMA vs. M  = 2.28, SD  = 1.28 for NSMA), and “negative self-esteem in contact with influencers” ( M  = 3.16, SD  = 1.34 for SMA vs. M  = 1.95, SD  = 1.18 for NSMA). It became evident that SMA users faced enhanced negative repercussions, especially in terms of body perception when comparing themselves with images of others. In addition, SMA use social media as tool for more purposes than NSMA. Not addicted report here, to use social media only for contact with family and music equally often.

Attachment style

Since 12 participants did not completely fill in the BFPE, the number of participants regarding attachment is 559. Frequencies and percentages of each attachment style can be seen in Table  2 . A small part of the student population was securely bound ( n  = 88, 15.7%) with the biggest part being insecurely bound ( n  = 471, 84.3%). Secure attachment style (corrected residuals: 3.1) is related to a disproportionately higher number of NSMA and insecure attachment style (corrected residuals: 3.1) is related to a disproportionately higher number of SMA, χ² (1) = 9.28, p = .002, C  = 0.13 (see Fig.  1 , see Table  3 ). The five individual attachment styles differ in the frequency distribution of social media addiction, χ² (4) = 30.75, p < .001, C  = 0.24, with avoidant closed (corrected residuals:3.2) having disproportionately more NSMA, ambivalent closed (corrected residuals: 4.8) having disproportionately more SMA, and conditionally secure (corrected residuals: 2.4) having disproportionately more NSMA (see Fig.  2 ). So, findings show that participants with social media addiction had a significant higher likelihood to have an ambivalent closed attachment style.

Relationship between attachment style and social media addiction. This stacked bar chart depicts the proportion of participants with ‘secure’ and ‘insecure’ attachment styles as determined by the Bielefeld Questionnaire on Partnership Expectations (BFPE). Attachment styles are defined by responses to three scales: conscious need for care, fear of rejection, and readiness for self-disclosure. These styles are subsequently dichotomized into ‘secure’ (including secure and conditionally secure styles) and ‘insecure’ (including avoidant-closed, ambivalent-clingy, and ambivalent-closed styles). Dark gray bars represent participants not addicted to social media, while light gray bars represent those with a self-reported addiction determined by the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). The numbers within the bars indicate the count of participants in each category

Distribution of five attachment styles and social media addiction. This bar chart visualizes the proportion of participants classified into five distinct attachment styles according to the Bielefeld Questionnaire on Partnership Expectations (BFPE) alongside their social media addiction status, as measured by the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). The attachment styles represented are ‘avoidant closed’, ‘conditionally secure’, ‘secure’, ‘ambivalent clingy’, and ‘ambivalent closed’. Dark gray bars indicate participants not identified as addicted to social media, while light gray bars represent those who meet the criteria for addiction according to the BSMAS. The numbers within the bars denote the count of participants corresponding to each category

Regarding extraversion, the total sample ( M  = 3.58, SD  = 0.92, modus = 5, Md  = 3.5) is slightly but significantly less open-minded than a norm sample having same age and education ( M  = 3.93, SD  = 0.83, Rammstedt et al. 2012) ( t (570)=-9.23, p < .001) and regarding neuroticism, the sample ( M  = 3.09, SD  = 0.87, modus = 2.5, Md  = 3) is significantly more neurotic than a comparable norm sample ( M  = 2.25, SD  = 0.69, Rammstedt et al. 2012) ( t (570) = 23.15, p < .001). Further, it was found that SMA ( M  = 3.40, SD  = 0.85) scored significantly higher than NSMA ( M  = 3.00, SD  = 0.85) on the dimension of neuroticism and thus could be classified as more emotionally unstable ( U  = 20636.50, Z = -5.02, p < .001). However, on the dimension of extraversion, SMA ( M  = 3.56, SD  = 0.85) did not differ from NSMA ( M  = 3.58, SD  = 0.94) ( U  = 28408.5, Z  = − 0.25, p = .801).

• Mental distress

The total sample showed in comparison with a norm sample high levels of each of the three dimensions of depression ( M  = 4.18; SD  = 4.52 vs. M norm =1.27; SD norm =2.5, Franke et al. 2017) ( t (570) = 15.40, p < .001), anxiety ( M  = 3.67; SD  = 4.30, vs. M norm =1.09; SD norm =2.1, ibd.) ( t (570) = 14.35, p < .001), and somatization ( M  = 2.23, SD  = 3.00, vs. M norm =0.70; SD norm =14.8, ibd.) ( t (570) = 12.18, p < .001). Moreover, SMA reported still higher scores on all three scales of the BSI-18: depression (SMA M  = 7.93, SD  = 5.25, NSMA M  = 3.06, SD  = 3.59) ( U  = 11,606, Z = -10.47, p < .001), anxiety (SMA M  = 6.18, SD  = 5.34, NSMA M  = 2.92, SD  = 3.61) ( U  = 16,841, Z = -7.31, p < .001), and somatization (SMA M  = 3.60, SD  = 4.02, NSMA M  = 1.82, SD  = 2.48) ( U  = 19,730, Z = -5.64, p < .001) than NSMA. Spitzer et al. (2011) reported BSI-18 patient scores relatively close to SMA scores for depression (mean scores ranging from 6.17 to 11.61) and anxiety (mean scores ranging from 6.26 to 9.51), but not for somatization (mean scores ranging from 6.47 to 6.90). It can therefore be assumed that students in this sample are generally more mentally stressed, with students who are addicted to social media being particularly mentally stressed. This finding could be explained due to the high distress and burden in the early phase of the COVID19 pandemic.

Two-step cluster analysis

The two-step cluster analysis suggested a three-cluster solution as the most appropriate fit. Evaluation of the centroids of continuous variables (Table  4 ) and frequencies of the categorical cluster composition (Table  5 ) result in the following clusters:

The Cluster ambivalent clingy attachment (ACA) ( N  = 178) is relatively balanced in terms of extraversion, neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and somatization. They are uniquely characterized by the ambivalent clingy attachment style with a balanced representation of social media dependence.

The Cluster secure attachment (SA) ( N  = 140) is characterized by individuals who are slightly extroverted, less neurotic, and show lower levels of depression, anxiety, and somatization. This cluster stands out due to its representation of secure and rather secure attachment styles and has the lowest proportion of individuals who are addicted to social media.

The Cluster ambivalent closed attachment (AVA) ( N  = 231) is slightly introverted, more neurotic, and exhibits higher levels of depression and anxiety. Participants of this cluster are exclusively of the ambivalent closed attachment style, and a significant portion seems more susceptible to social media addiction.

For the validation of the derived clustering solution, the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) was employed as a model selection criterion to identify the optimal number of clusters. The BIC is advantageous in balancing the goodness of fit of the model against its complexity, penalizing models with more parameters to avoid overfitting. Various numbers of clusters were considered, ranging from 1 to 15, and the corresponding BIC values were calculated for each cluster solution. Table  6 presents the BIC values obtained for different cluster solutions. The BIC drops substantially from 1 cluster to 2 clusters, indicated by a change of -1180.384. There is a smaller but still notable drop from 2 clusters to 3 clusters, with a change of -605.464. After 3 clusters, the BIC drops more slowly, with smaller changes for each additional cluster. Even if the ratio for the change from 2 to 3 clusters is 0.512, the ratio of distance measures that indicates how distinct the clusters are from each other is for the 3-cluster solution still 1.780, which suggests that the 3-cluster solution is equally well-defined compared to the 2-cluster solution. Given this information, we opt for the 3-cluster solution, since the BIC drops more slowly beyond this point, suggesting diminishing returns in terms of model fit as more clusters are added and the 3-cluster solution offers a sufficient granular segmentation. The distribution of age (Table  4 ) and gender (Table  5 ) was relatively even.

Principal results

This study aimed to examine social media addiction with a focus on differences in attachment style, mental distress, and personality between students with and without social media addiction. For personality, it was shown that SMA had significantly higher values on the neuroticism dimension than NSMA, but they did not differ in the extraversion dimension. Thus, SMA can be classified as more emotionally unstable in comparison with NSMA. Further, SMA scored significantly higher on all three levels—depressiveness, anxiety, and somatization—than the group of NSMA, i.e., social media addicted users are comparatively more mentally stressed. At least for attachment style, the assumption that SMA are more likely to show an insecure attachment was confirmed here. In more detail, most SMA displayed an ambivalent closed attachment style. Two-step cluster analysis yielded a holistic insight into the collective grouping of cases by these variables. It corroborated the findings of the univariate analyses, revealing three predominant clusters, chiefly characterized by three attachment styles and varying levels of social media addiction: (a) secure attachment, predominantly associated with fewer instances of social media addiction and lower prevalence of mental health problems; (b) ambivalent closed attachment, typically marked by a higher frequency of social media addiction and elevated levels of mental health problems; and (c) ambivalent clingy attachment, presenting a moderate incidence of social media addiction and a relatively balanced mental health profile.

Prevalence rate of social media addiction (22.8%) lies within the literature reported prevalence of the used instrument (BSMAS), since Chen et al. [ 10 ] specify < 10–40% for the BSMAS. SMA differ from NSMA in their usage of social media, exhibiting higher values in usage frequency, time spent, and perceived importance. Notably, SMA are more active on image-oriented services such as “Instagram” and “Pinterest”. They also report higher levels of “comparison with others”, “dissatisfaction with their own body (especially when exposed to idealized online images)”, and “negative self-esteem when interacting with influencers”. This suggests that SMA may experience heightened negative body awareness when comparing themselves to online images. Moreover, SMA use social media for a broader range of purposes compared to NSMA.

SMA scored significantly higher on the neuroticism dimension than NSMA, suggesting that they tend to be more emotionally unstable and easily irritable. Conversely, no difference was observed in the extraversion dimension. Previous research supports the idea that internet-related addictions are linked to higher scores on the neuroticism dimension. Blackwell et al. [ 27 ] demonstrated that neuroticism predicts social media use. Moreover, a study by Müller [ 55 ] suggests that Internet addiction correlates with increased neuroticism scores. Interestingly, individuals with elevated neuroticism scores associate Internet topics with significantly stronger positive arousal compared to a healthy control group [ 56 ]. Social media addiction has also been positively linked to neuroticism [ 27 , 28 ], and individuals scoring high on this trait are drawn to social networks as they offer recognition and validation [ 27 ]. Marengo et al. [ 28 ] align with our findings by not observing a relationship between social media addiction and extraversion. The contrasting findings presented by Kuss and Griffiths [ 29 ] relate extraversion more to older individuals and openness more to younger ones. Given our primary focus on younger participants, our results are consistent with these observations.

SMA display significantly higher values for depression, anxiety, and somatization compared to NSMA, even considering the evident distress in the overall sample. This suggests that SMA may be mentally more strained than NSMA. Consequently, further evidence for the connection between mental disorders and internet-related addictions in terms of comorbidity was found in the present study. This augments the extant research on depression, anxiety, and internet addiction. Kırcaburun [ 57 ] also identified a significant positive relationship between depressive symptoms, internet use, and social media addiction. In his study, the level of depression in adolescents was indirectly influenced by social media addiction; addicts spent more time online, amplifying the risk of depressive symptoms. Similarly, Wu et al. [ 58 ] found that internet addiction correlates with depression in adolescents, exerting direct, mediated, and moderating effects on depression levels. For anxiety, there’s also documented evidence of a positive association with problematic social media consumption. Baltaci [ 23 ] highlighted social anxiety as a predictor for social media addiction among university students. Other studies have shown a positive correlation between internet addiction and general anxiety levels in students [ 59 , 60 ]. As for somatization, there’s a documented positive correlation with internet addiction in adolescents [ 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Research on somatization and smartphone addiction is somewhat limited [ 63 ]. Results here confirm the positive correlation adding to this research corpus also heightened somatic symptomatology in social media addicted students.

Users with an insecure attachment style are significantly more likely to exhibit social media addiction than those with a secure attachment style. These findings align with a substantial body of research that establishes a connection between insecure attachment styles and internet-related addictions. A systematic review has provided evidence linking insecure attachment styles with both internet addiction in general and social media addiction in particular [ 64 ]. Moreover, certain studies suggest that difficulties in relational behavior or the presence of insecure attachment styles can act as risk factors for smartphone addiction. For instance, Baek et al. [ 65 ] identified a correlation between attachment behavior (specifically internalization problems) and smartphone usage. Other research [ 66 , 67 ] has indicated a mediating effect of attachment style on smartphone addiction. Anxiously attached individuals showed patterns of self-regulation that directly influenced their susceptibility to smartphone addiction. While a secure attachment style offered a protective effect, an anxious attachment style increased vulnerability to addiction. In contrast, an avoidant attachment style didn’t significantly influence addiction development.

For social media addiction, several studies have highlighted its relationship with attachment. For instance, Hart et al. [ 37 ] demonstrated a link between dysfunctional attachment qualities and problematic social media use. A study involving Turkish students revealed that insecure attachment styles might serve as risk factors for social media addiction [ 38 ]. Conversely, secure attachment and high self-esteem can act as protective factors against such addiction [ 38 ]. Numerous studies have established a connection between an anxious attachment style and both heavy social media use [ 39 , 40 , 41 ] and addiction to it [ 42 ]. Specifically, Yaakobi and Goldenberg [ 43 ] identified a positive correlation between an anxious attachment style and the amount of time spent on social media. This same study found that an anxious attachment style negatively predicts the number of online friends. Oldmeadow et al. [ 41 ] also discovered a relationship between anxious attachment and seeking comfort on Facebook, noting an increase in Facebook usage, especially during negative emotional states.

Currently, no studies explore the relationship between an ambivalent closed attachment style and social media addiction. However, the findings in this study indicate that an ambivalent closed attachment style is significantly associated with social media addiction more frequently. These results are consistent with previous data suggesting this style is prevalent for internet-related addictions, as observed in the context of both smartphone [ 34 ] and internet [ 36 ] addictions. According to Höger and Buschkämper [ 53 ], individuals with an ambivalent attachment style exhibit an increased need for attention and concurrently face heightened acceptance issues. This pattern suggests heightened anxiety and a secondary hyperactivating (ambivalent) strategy (ibid.). It’s plausible that the social-compensatory component is particularly influential in this context when it comes to social media [ 34 ]. Individuals with an ambivalent-closed attachment style might turn to online platforms, especially social media, to mitigate their interpersonal relationship deficits (ibid.). The anonymity afforded by the internet allows a new representation of the self to be created, helping this group to compensate for feared problems of acceptance (ibid.). Based on the data, it appears this new representation of the self is often facilitated through image-focused platforms like “Instagram” and “Pinterest”. However, this may inadvertently expose SMA users to the pitfalls of social media, such as body dissatisfaction and reduced self-esteem when interacting with influencers. This dynamic could exacerbate their acceptance issues, perpetuating a detrimental cycle.

The ambivalent clinging and closed attachment styles differ primarily in their perceived willingness to open up. The former demonstrates a moderate willingness, allowing for the expression of strong attachment needs associated with the hyperactivated attachment system, while the latter exhibits a notably low willingness to open [ 53 ]. The findings presented in this study indicate that the degree of openness (for attachment) may play a crucial role in determining the severity of problematic user behavior. Specifically, the more receptive a user is to attachment, the less likely they are to exhibit addictive behaviors. Cluster analysis supports this interpretation. It identified three clusters with varying susceptibilities to social media addiction: those with secure attachment exhibit the lowest likelihood, those with ambivalent clingy attachment have a medium likelihood, and those with ambivalent closed attachment display the highest likelihood. This potential correlation warrants further exploration in subsequent research. Moreover, given that a mediating effect of mentalization between attachment style and both emotion dysregulation [ 68 ] and psychopathology [ 69 ] has been demonstrated, future research should delve deeper into exploring the relationships between mentalization, attachment style, and internet-related addictions.

Limitations

It should be noted that the data are based on self-reporting in an online survey. Response rate is comparable with other online-survey studies [ 70 ]. So, possible self-selection processes could be of importance since online surveys are prone to an inherent selection bias. Social media users may find it appealing to participate for trying to relativize the negative image of social media addiction. Further, the sample is due to the narrow age distribution and educational level not representative. Even if cluster analysis shows no noteworthy age distribution for the clusters, future research should collect sufficient case number for each age group or limit age to a homogenous group. Female students contributed disproportionately here. Which in turn can affect the prevalence of social media addiction since there is evidence that women are more prone to social media addiction [ 8 ]. Though, this gender bias has been frequently observed in online surveys [ 71 ]. Cluster analysis did not reveal any conspicuous distribution for gender either. Altogether, future studies with a broader recruitment strategy may provide more representative data and confirm discussed results. Further, it could be discussed that the design of the study is cross-sectional. Since there is evidence for differences in age, at least for personality dimensions, comparison of two points in time or more can corroborate data or reduce it to differences in generation cohort. Furthermore, since mental health is a key variable, future studies should check psychiatric history of participants.

This study enhances our understanding of how specific attachment problems could contribute to the development of social media addiction, reaffirming findings related to internet and smartphone addiction. It reveals that an avoidant closed attachment style, characterized by a pronounced need for attention, acceptance issues, and notably low openness for attachment, is frequently associated with this addiction. Such a deficit in openness may prompt compensatory behavior to satiate the intensive need for attention in the manageable environment of the digital world, where any conversation can be terminated with a click. This intense attention-seeking behavior seems to find satisfaction through image-centric services on social media, instigating negative comparative processes with others and potentially reinforcing acceptance issues in a self-perpetuating cycle, with mental stress being a substantial correlate.

To break this cycle, therapeutic interventions should consider these interrelations and specifically target critical areas. This could include conducting a thorough media anamnesis, educating about the effects of image-focused services and comparative processes, and establishing a robust and consistent therapeutic alliance—a cornerstone of successful addiction treatment [ 34 ]. The incorporation of attachment-oriented strategies is vital, as attachment-related aspects have yet to be integrated into existing internet addiction treatment protocols [ 34 , 36 ]. In addition, since research showed a good impact of whole school attachment-based interventions [ 72 ], prevention programs to combat digital addictions in schools and universities should also include content that promotes secure attachment behavior, especially to young people with a high need for attention, acceptance issues, and notably low openness for attachment. Beyond individual treatment, the implementation of these strategies has the potential to foster a healthier approach to digital media usage across society, thereby contributing to a more informed and mindful engagement with social media platforms, which can finally lead to a reduction in the prevalence and impact of social media addiction on a broader scale.

Data availability

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Abbreviations

Big Five Inventory

Bielefelder Fragebogen zu Partnerschaftserwartungen

Brief Symptom Inventory

Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale

Not Social Media Addicted

Social Media Addicted

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Eichenberg, C., Schneider, R. & Rumpl, H. Social media addiction: associations with attachment style, mental distress, and personality. BMC Psychiatry 24 , 278 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05709-z

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To better understand Americans’ use of social media, online platforms and messaging apps, Pew Research Center surveyed 1,502 U.S. adults from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, 2021, by cellphone and landline phone. The survey was conducted by interviewers under the direction of Abt Associates and is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, education and other categories. Here are the  questions used for this report , along with responses, and  its methodology .

Despite a string of controversies and the public’s relatively negative sentiments about aspects of social media, roughly seven-in-ten Americans say they ever use any kind of social media site – a share that has remained relatively stable over the past five years, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults.

Beyond the general question of overall social media use, the survey also covers use of individual sites and apps. YouTube and Facebook continue to dominate the online landscape, with 81% and 69%, respectively, reporting ever using these sites. And YouTube and Reddit were the only two platforms measured that saw statistically significant growth since 2019 , when the Center last polled on this topic via a phone survey.

When it comes to the other platforms in the survey, 40% of adults say they ever use Instagram and about three-in-ten report using Pinterest or LinkedIn. One-quarter say they use Snapchat, and similar shares report being users of Twitter or WhatsApp. TikTok – an app for sharing short videos – is used by 21% of Americans, while 13% say they use the neighborhood-focused platform Nextdoor.

Even as other platforms do not nearly match the overall reach of YouTube or Facebook, there are certain sites or apps, most notably Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, that have an especially strong following among young adults. In fact, a majority of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram (71%) or Snapchat (65%), while roughly half say the same for TikTok.

These findings come from a nationally representative survey of 1,502 U.S. adults conducted via telephone Jan. 25-Feb.8, 2021.

With the exception of YouTube and Reddit, most platforms show little growth since 2019

YouTube is the most commonly used online platform asked about in this survey, and there’s evidence that its reach is growing. Fully 81% of Americans say they ever use the video-sharing site, up from 73% in 2019. Reddit was the only other platform polled about that experienced statistically significant growth during this time period – increasing from 11% in 2019 to 18% today. 

Facebook’s growth has leveled off over the last five years, but it remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the United States: 69% of adults today say they ever use the site, equaling the share who said this two years prior.  

Similarly, the respective shares of Americans who report using Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter and WhatsApp are statistically unchanged since 2019 . This represents a broader trend that extends beyond the past two years in which the rapid adoption of most of these sites and apps seen in the last decade has slowed. (This was the first year the Center asked about TikTok via a phone poll and the first time it has surveyed about Nextdoor.)

Adults under 30 stand out for their use of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok

When asked about their social media use more broadly – rather than their use of specific platforms – 72% of Americans say they ever use social media sites.

In a pattern consistent with past Center studies on social media use, there are some stark age differences. Some 84% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they ever use any social media sites, which is similar to the share of those ages 30 to 49 who say this (81%). By comparison, a somewhat smaller share of those ages 50 to 64 (73%) say they use social media sites, while fewer than half of those 65 and older (45%) report doing this.

These age differences generally extend to use of specific platforms, with younger Americans being more likely than their older counterparts to use these sites – though the gaps between younger and older Americans vary across platforms.

Majorities of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use Instagram or Snapchat and about half say they use TikTok, with those on the younger end of this cohort – ages 18 to 24 – being especially likely to report using Instagram (76%), Snapchat (75%) or TikTok (55%). 1 These shares stand in stark contrast to those in older age groups. For instance, while 65% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they use Snapchat, just 2% of those 65 and older report using the app – a difference of 63 percentage points.

Additionally, a vast majority of adults under the age of 65 say they use YouTube. Fully 95% of those 18 to 29 say they use the platform, along with 91% of those 30 to 49 and 83% of adults 50 to 64. However, this share drops substantially – to 49% – among those 65 and older.

By comparison, age gaps between the youngest and oldest Americans are narrower for Facebook. Fully 70% of those ages 18 to 29 say they use the platform, and those shares are statistically the same for those ages 30 to 49 (77%) or ages 50 to 64 (73%). Half of those 65 and older say they use the site – making Facebook and YouTube the two most used platforms among this older population.

Other sites and apps stand out for their demographic differences:

• Instagram: About half of Hispanic (52%) and Black Americans (49%) say they use the platform, compared with smaller shares of White Americans (35%) who say the same. 2
• WhatsApp: Hispanic Americans (46%) are far more likely to say they use WhatsApp than Black (23%) or White Americans (16%). Hispanics also stood out for their WhatsApp use in the Center’s previous surveys on this topic.
• LinkedIn: Those with higher levels of education are again more likely than those with lower levels of educational attainment to report being LinkedIn users. Roughly half of adults who have a bachelor’s or advanced degree (51%) say they use LinkedIn, compared with smaller shares of those with some college experience (28%) and those with a high school diploma or less (10%).
• Pinterest: Women continue to be far more likely than men to say they use Pinterest when compared with male counterparts, by a difference of 30 points (46% vs. 16%).
• Nextdoor: There are large differences in use of this platform by community type. Adults living in urban (17%) or suburban (14%) areas are more likely to say they use Nextdoor. Just 2% of rural Americans report using the site.

A majority of Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram users say they visit these platforms on a daily basis

While there has been much written about Americans’ changing relationship with Facebook , its users remain quite active on the platform. Seven-in-ten Facebook users say they use the site daily, including 49% who say they use the site several times a day. (These figures are statistically unchanged from those reported in the Center’s 2019 survey about social media use.)  

Smaller shares – though still a majority – of Snapchat or Instagram users report visiting these respective platforms daily (59% for both). And being active on these sites is especially common for younger users. For instance, 71% of Snapchat users ages 18 to 29 say they use the app daily, including six-in-ten who say they do this multiple times a day. The pattern is similar for Instagram: 73% of 18- to 29-year-old Instagram users say they visit the site every day, with roughly half (53%) reporting they do so several times per day.

YouTube is used daily by 54% if its users, with 36% saying they visit the site several times a day. By comparison, Twitter is used less frequently, with fewer than half of its users (46%) saying they visit the site daily.

• Due to a limited sample size, figures for those ages 25 to 29 cannot be reported on separately. ↩
• There were not enough Asian American respondents in the sample to be broken out into a separate analysis. As always, their responses are incorporated into the general population figures throughout this report. ↩

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Social Media Addiction and Mental Health: The Growing Concern for Youth Well-Being

• May 20, 2024
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Kenta Minamitani, Stanford LLM 2024

The Growing Mental Health Crisis and Social Media

Mental health problems have become a major public health issue in the United States, affecting a significant portion of the population. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), nearly one in five U.S. adults is living with a mental illness, and the prevalence of mental health problems among youth is even more alarming (NIMH, 2023). The widespread use of social networking sites has been identified as a contributing factor to the growing mental health crisis, especially among younger generations.

The Link Between Social Media and Mental Health Issues

The link between social media and mental health issues has been well documented in numerous studies and research papers. A systematic review found that the use of social networking sites is associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress (Keles, et al., 2020). The associations, though not by itself proof of causation, at least some reason for concern. Additionally, this association is particularly strong in adolescents compared to younger children (Twenge & Campbell, 2018). Moreover, in the United States, the 12-month prevalence of major depressive episodes among adolescents increased from 8.7% in 2005 to 11.3% in 2014 (Mojtabai, et al., 2016). The new media screen activities have been suggested as one of the causes of the increase in adolescent depression and suicide (Twenge, et al., 2017).

Although research has not necessarily shown that the use of social media has a causal relationship with poorer mental health in young people, health professionals and policy makers are becoming increasingly wary of the use. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is calling for increased transparency and for companies to prioritize user wellbeing over revenue, as various studies have shown negative effects on social media use, especially on the mental health of youth. (Surgeon General, 2021). In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics warns that “media use and screen time are associated with increased risks for children and adolescents, such as attention deficits, increased aggression, low self-esteem, and depression” (American College of Pediatricians, 2020). The American Psychological Association (APA) also highlights the correlation between high social media use and poor mental health among adolescents (APA, 2024).

New York City’s Unprecedented Action

Recognizing the severity of the problem, New York City has taken the unprecedented step of classifying social networking sites as a public health threat (Ables, 2024). The City of New York, the New York Department of Education, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, Meta, Snap, and YouTube to hold the companies responsible for “fueling the nationwide youth mental health crisis” (Gold, 2024).

The lawsuit filed by New York City is a significant development in the ongoing debate about the responsibility of social media companies to address the negative impact of their platforms on mental health. The U.S. Surgeon General has called on these companies to improve the safety, health, and well-being of their users (Surgeon General, 2021). This includes implementing stricter moderation policies, providing resources for mental health support, and collaborating with researchers and health professionals to better understand the impact of social media on mental health.

A Multi-Faceted Approach to Addressing the Issue

However, addressing the complex relationship between social media and mental health requires a multifaceted approach that goes beyond the actions of social media companies. From a legal perspective, this could include government regulation and individual legal action. Policymakers could consider implementing stricter rules and guidelines for social media companies to follow, such as requiring them to prioritize user well-being and mental health over engagement and profits. This could include mandating regular mental health impact assessments, providing resources for mental health support, and implementing stricter content moderation policies to reduce the spread of harmful and toxic content. However, since strong opposition is expected from users and companies on human rights grounds, including violations of freedom of expression, it is crucial to organize the evidence to date and explain convincingly that the restriction is urgently needed for public health reasons and that there are no other measures that could be taken.

Mental health professionals must adapt to the changing landscape of technology and incorporate social media literacy into their treatment plans. The NIMH emphasizes the importance of teaching individuals how to maintain a healthy relationship with social media, including setting limits on use, engaging in offline activities, and seeking support when needed (NIMH, 2023).

Educational institutions also have a critical role to play in promoting digital literacy and responsible social media use among students. Schools should incorporate digital literacy education into their curricula and teach students how to navigate social media in a healthy and productive way. Parents and caregivers must also be involved in this process by setting appropriate boundaries and modeling responsible social media use, as parental media monitoring has protective effects on a variety of academic, social, and physical outcomes for children (Gentile, et al., 2014).

As individuals, we must take responsibility for our own mental health and well-being in the digital age. This means being mindful of the time we spend on social networking sites, curating our feeds to include positive and uplifting content, and prioritizing offline activities and relationships. In this case, we can use the guidelines or recommendations published by the professionals; for example, the APA has published “Social Media Recommendations” to advocate the appropriate use of social media based on scientific evidence (APA, 2023).

Looking Ahead

As we look to the future, it is clear that the issue of social networking and mental health will continue to be a pressing concern. As technology advances and new platforms emerge, it is critical that we remain vigilant and proactive in addressing the potential risks associated with these services. Increased research and collaboration among policymakers, legal experts, social media companies, mental health professionals, and educators is needed to address this growing issue and develop effective strategies to promote healthy social media use and mitigate its potential harms.

• Ables, K. (2024, January 25). New York City designates social media a public health hazard. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/25/nyc-social-media-health-hazard-toxin/
• American College of Pediatricians. (2020). Media Use and Screen Time – Its Impact on Children, Adolescents, and Families. https://acpeds.org/position-statements/media-use-and-screen-time-its-impact-on-children-adolescents-and-families
• American Psychological Association. (2024). Teens are spending nearly 5 hours daily on social media. Here are the mental health outcomes. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/04/teen-social-use-mental-health
• American Psychological Association. (2023). Social media brings benefits and risks to teens. Here’s how psychology can help identify a path forward. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/09/protecting-teens-on-social-media
• Gentile DA, et al. (2014) Protective Effects of Parental Monitoring of Children’s Media Use: A Prospective Study. JAMA Pediatr. 168(5):479–484. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.146
• Gold, A. (2024, February 14). New York City sues social media companies for negligence, public nuisance. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2024/02/14/new-york-city-sues-social-media-companies-for-negligence-public-nuisance
• Guernsey L (2014). Garbled in translation: Getting media research to the press and public. Journal of Children and Media, 8(1), 87–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2014.863486
• Keles, B., et al. (2020). A systematic review: The influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851
• Mojtabai R, et al. (2016). National trends in the prevalence and treatment of depression in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics, 138(6), e20161878. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1878
• National Institute of Mental Health. (2023). Mental illness. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
• Robinson JP, et al. (2002). The Internet and other uses of time. In Wellman B & Haythornthwaite C (Eds.), The Internet in Everyday Life (pp. 244–262). Blackwell.
• Surgeon General. (2021). Protecting youth mental health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-youth-mental-health-advisory.pdf
• Twenge JM, et al. (2017). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among US adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical Psychological Science, 6(1), 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376
• Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive medicine reports, 12, 271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003

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