- Regularly found that you can’t think of anything else but the moment that you will be able to use social media again?
- No
- Regularly felt dissatisfied because you wanted to spend more time on social media?
- No
- Often felt bad when you could not use social media?
- No
- Tried to spend less time on social media, but failed?
- Yes
- Regularly neglected other activities (e.g. hobbies, sport) because you wanted to use social media?
- No
- Regularly had arguments with others because of your social media use?
- No
- Regularly lied to your parents or friends about the amount of time you spend on social media
- No
- Often used social media to escape from negative feelings?
- Yes
- Had serious conflict with your parents, brother(s) or sister(s) because of your social media use?
- No
I scored a 2/9 on the Social Media Disorder (SMD) scale. The scale asks good questions to help diagnose social media addiction. It also requires the person answering questions to be completely honest with themselves. But some of the questions feel repetitive such as “Arguments with others” and “serious conflict with your family” feel like they could be grouped into the same category.
Different patterns around the world stem from cultural and accessibility differences. Other countries have placed less cultural importance on social media use, and it leads to way less usage. Other countries also lack the accessibility that countries like the United States have. There is not Wi-Fi in every building and hundreds of overlapping cell phone towers that allow you to have internet and social media access everywhere you go.