The world is changing and with the popularization of social networks, we have identified a diversity of new behaviors in societies and their individuals. In the field of health, we are already talking about a new kind of “addiction”. Examples include social media addiction. networks, virtual sex, or the Internet in general.
In fact, in 2012, the types of behaviors related to the use of Internet resources were analyzed to consider their inclusion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a reference publication for psychiatrists and psychologists in their practice. . Finally, Internet addiction was brazen.
Social media addiction is a problem that especially affects young people as a new form of addiction.
The term drug addiction generally refers to the overuse of chemical and invasive elements for the body. For example, excessive use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs is the term “chemical addictions. “But there are also non-chemical or psychological addictions associated with behaviors related to play, diet, sex or work, among others that are practiced atypically.
Any normal pleasant behavior can become psychologically addictive behavior; in fact, the behavior may be abnormal due to the intensity, frequency and degree of interference in the family, social and professional relationships of the individuals involved. -Dependent disorders are loss of control and dependence.
The main difference between psychological dependence and drug dependence is that substance treatment involves the abandonment of the substance, while in the first is not implied the abandonment of addictive behavior, the reason is that to cure a psychological addiction you have to learn to control impulses. Moderate the hours you spend at work if there’s a work addiction, the amount of sex if there’s a sex addiction, or control the hours you spend using the network if addiction is the Internet.
“Addiction can be a disease of the mind” – Osamu Dazai-
Social networks like Twitter or Facebook have changed the way we communicate and in some cases have influenced our behavior, each person uses social networks for a purpose: to publicize their work, their business, sell products and services or contact old friends. The way they are used has an impact on the individual.
Since its inception numerous studies have been conducted to know how they affect our behavior and how we value ourselves, the results have shown that excessive use of social networks contributes, on the one hand, to the increase of stress and feelings of loneliness and, on the other hand, to the decrease of the feeling of happiness.
Some studies have even linked addiction to social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with low self-esteem. Results backed by the presence of depressive symptoms and lack of social skills. The reason is that, in front of so many publications about life. of others, the addict makes continuous comparisons and ends up thinking that his life is boring, miserable and empty, without realizing that he is wasting the time he could spend enriching it.
On the other hand, self-esteem is also negatively affected when, to impress others, someone invents a life that does not have to receive more likes or comments, because despite experiencing this intense but brief sense of pleasure when something is published, later on, it will not strengthen their own personal evaluation. One may end up becoming a slave to the opinions and judgments of others.
Social media often acts as a showcase to expose almost exclusively everything related to happiness, behaviors that, in an ad hoc way, do not indicate anything, but that, in excess, help in the creation of a character or a mask. Basically, dependence on social media indicates a need that is not covered, a void that is filled with visiting other people’s profiles or inventing a life of its own.
Social media is neither bad nor dangerous, but our use of them can be, so it is very important to consider the extent to which they are a priority in our lives, never anything to do with the outside. will produce the happiness we really want and need, because it is accessible only from the inside.