Week 5: Addiction to Social Media

An American study has concluded that 62 percent of adults in America are plugged into social media networks, and the reason why? for fear of missing out (Halverson, 2012). Human beings love to feel acknowledged, connected and to keep up with current affairs within our community (Sethi, 2012). Social media has enabled us to do so but on a global scale (Sethi, 2012). Social media has drastically transformed the way people communicate to one another so much that we have would prefer checking in before having the urge to have a cigarette (Halverson, 2012). A study by Smith (2012) says that some users feel incomplete without checking their notifications even for a few hours.

Smith (2012) continues to argue his point in saying that 40 per cent of people surveyed said that they would give up the following things before giving up their social media:

• Do their taxes
• Give up an hour of sleep each night for a year
• Run a marathon
• Sit in traffic for four hours
• Get a root canal
• Spend a night in jail
• Give up their air conditioner/heater

Social media has now become so accessible through computers, tablets, smartphones, smart tvs or ipods that it has become so hard to not surround yourself with such technology (sethi, 2012). In comparison to purchasing cigarettes or alcohol, members of such social networks feel as if using social media does not "cost" them anything in consideration to monetary or long term effects (Halverson, 2012). However many do not ask the question whether there are long term effects to the actions we take today? What if social media changed the way we communicate forever?

References:

Halverson, Nic. "Social Media More Addictive than Tobacco." ABC Science. N.p., 7 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2012. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/02/07/3424150.htm.

Sethi, Nidhi. "Why Social Media Is a Strong Addiction." Deccan Chronicle. N.p., 9 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2012. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/teens/why-social-media-strong-addiction-498.

Smith, Ned. "Social Media Addiction Based on Fear of Missing Out." Yahoo! News. N.p., 02 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Aug. 2012. http://news.yahoo.com/social-media-addiction-based-fear-missing-143357943.html.

Annotation: All three references were incredibly useful. All three were based on academic studies so I know that the articles were well researched. The articles contained alot of information that was specific to what I wanted to know.