How long does it take to get online when I go online?

Researchers are trying to find evidence to answer the question of "whether social addiction is the cause of a mental disorder".

People often use lines that describe "a social addicts" as a joke on social networks like Twitter or Instagram. On LinkedIn, they also use the description line to draw attention from social companies looking for people who are knowledgeable about digital space. But maybe, in a day not far away, it will no longer be a joke, but will become a symptom of true mental problems. Because there is a study to help answer the question "should we put the use of social networks unreasonably on the list of symptoms of mental disorders" .

Icons of social networks are used by many people.

Currently in the world there are two organizations specializing in the classification of mental disorders: World Health Organization (WHO) and American Psychiatric Association (APS). To include a trait in the behavioral list of mental illness, that trait must be consistent with certain standards, and the only way to prove it is based on a large number of studies. Perhaps this is why until January this year, the new video game addiction was listed by WHO as a behavioral list of mental disorders.

Interestingly, one of the people who helped to prove the truth is currently a person who spends a long time researching issues such as gambling addiction, Internet addiction and excessive use of social networking. . Expert Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University believes that being too passionate about using social networks is the first sign of addiction.

In his studies, Griffiths found that technology coercions, including addiction to social networks, all share signs of chemical addiction including smoking addiction or alcoholism. These addictions to cause a change in personality, alienation from the community, easy anger and recidivism.

But the key factor in each study is that it is different in each person.

Griffiths explains: "For example, when I studied video game addiction, I saw many gamers spend too much time but I could not find negative effects on the game. While playing video games for a long time can cause obesity or other sedentary problems, it is difficult to confirm in terms of addiction. "

This also means, as long as the playing of video games does not affect the work or personal relationships of the player, it is not a concern. Setting limits on real social networking time "does not solve the core of the problem. Even though two different people do the same thing, there will be big differences if a person has a job. career, partner and children while the other is not ".

This indicates that the time users look at the screen is not an accurate measurement to prove that they are using the platform they prefer negatively. This fact is also reflected in a small survey conducted by BBC Future's Twitter account.

Being too passionate about using social networks is the first sign of addiction.

According to the survey results, about 40% of 554 participants said that spending more time from 2-3 hours per day is too much, but there is a fact that most people know that most of us Spend at least two hours a day to use social networking or to text. At the same time, most Internet users do not have a pathological relationship with social networks, which is equivalent to 2-3 hours a day not too much. There is a statistic that one-third of people aged 15 in the UK spend at least six hours a day using the Internet and most of that time is for social networking. Even with such a large frequency of use, that does not mean that these young people are having psychological problems. Therefore, time factor is just one of many other factors that we need to consider.

So, if not because of the amount of time it takes to use the Internet, what defines social addiction or what will help us better understand the group of people at risk?

In 2011, Griffiths and his colleagues published their first research report on social addiction. At that time, there were only 3 studies with the same target. They realized that extroverts using social networks were to reinforce community relationships, while introverts used them to cover the gaps in the social networks they were missing. The two researchers also realized that those who spend more and more time on social networks tend to reduce the amount of time involved in real-life activities. In 2014, in another report, they noted that the use of social networking would give users "emotional rewards" ; and to reduce unpleasant emotions, they continue to use social networks, which sometimes leads to dependency psychology.

And a large-scale report published in 2017 shows that people who often exhibit the behavior of social addiction problems will most likely fall into young and single women. . This group of people is usually those who tend to enjoy lower education, income and self-esteem.

The explanation for this, Griffiths said: "The problem of using social networks is that it is social behavior . Because of gender differences, typical female groups tend to be more social. is typical male group ".

The time users look at the screen is not an accurate measurement to prove that they are using the platform they prefer negatively.

According to Griffiths, the underlying factor associated with social addiction lies in the content and context of use, not the number of clock hours used. However, in his speech at a social and mental health event, he concluded that the underlying cause of social addiction is still unknown. This may be due to FOMO syndrome (Fear of missing out) , the syndrome is afraid of missing something. Smart phone addiction can also be part of it, and is known as nomophobia syndrome , fear syndrome by not carrying your phone with you. But it is worth mentioning that the data collected from the two researchers' research is mainly aimed at Facebook rather than image sharing platforms like Instagram or Snapchat.

This shows that social addiction is one of the main stages towards the final consequences of mental disorder. The social network psychologist at Oxford University, Amy Oben, said that, until now, she was still a little reserved to claim that addiction to social networking was a symptom of addiction in the true sense."We do not have much evidence to clarify whether the impact of social networking is good or bad. We also need to make sure that we are not exaggerating the usual behavior."

Although it cannot be classified as harmful or beneficial, we are sure that there are still negative aspects when using social networking platforms. There have been studies showing that young people tend to spend more than two hours a day using social networks will be more prone to psychological problems than other groups. If you are a Instagram photo social user, you will find dozens of filters that seem "soulful" to choose from but the truth is that these filters are what makes many users feel life. I'm not as perfect as someone else. And it was also a bit unexpected that Instagram was voted as the social networking platform that is not suitable for the psychological health of young people in a survey in the UK. But in contrast to those surveys are the miraculous growth in the number of participants using Instagram; Currently over 800 million people worldwide are using this social network.

We understand that there is always a direct link between social network use and autism, but there are other studies that show that the use of social networks does not necessarily bring only the effects. negative action. In a report published in 2017, the researchers found that the correlation between the length of use of social networks and the user's happiness is in the form of an inverted U-shaped symbol. They call it the Goldilocks Hypothesis : the more time a smartphone or tablet is used, the more positive it will be on happiness, but that's just a short trend of the chart. And then when the usage time increases, the level of happiness will decrease. This is shown in the chart below with the vertical axis being the degree of mental happiness and the horizontal axis being the duration of use.

This group of researchers found that the amount of time it would be used would be "absolutely harmless, which could be the advantages we should take advantage of in today's connected world." Another author from Oxford University told BBC Future: "If we don't connect or there is no limit to the amount of time we spend in the family, it's the same family or the children themselves. become different ".

He added: "If there is a good level, it will be a good part of the life of that child, but until that number gradually becomes five, six or seven hours a day, that is problem".

When someone spends too much time on the Internet, there is a simple solution that uses reminder messages. Griffiths said: "This notification method is designed by us to make sure that notices to users are not judgmental or frustrating. What you need to do is give them informative information. so often they can compare their behavior with others, such announcements will not confirm whether the level of use is good or bad. "

Encouraging people to become self-aware through this method may be the new direction for using social networks. These community comparisons will help individuals understand whether their usage level is too different from their peers. An adolescent boy who uses a few hours a day for the Internet may be acceptable, but when an announcement comes at three o'clock in the morning with the content: "3% of your age groups are online right away." Now, " you will find that it is not good to spend too much time on the Internet.

But if the social addiction is listed as a mental disorder, the ability to become aware of the danger of social networks will become delayed. At that time, what we need most is setting limits for ourselves.