In scoring myself on the Social Media Disorder scale, I was confidently able to answer no to all the questions as presented. Approximately one year ago, I would not have been able to say the same. Since I have been involved in Cybersecurity, I have been increasingly cognizant of my cyber footprint, and have decided to completely remove myself from social media.

I find many of the questions asked in the scale interesting because they all present questions that most people would not otherwise think to ask themselves. They provide an opportunity to take an insightful approach to reality, which may act as a wakeup call to many. Specifically, the questions surrounding fear of confrontation or propensity to argue of social media use. These characteristics are the hallmark signs of addiction, which social media effectively is. All the questions as presented can be reworded to reflect smoking, alcoholism, or other similar addictions.

Different patterns of social media use around the world exist because people are different around the world. Differing societal norms, expectations, financial situations, etc. all play a part in social media use, just as they do in any other addiction. One of the largest causes of social media abuse is found in access. In countries where internet and technology access is minimal, clearly the social media use within that country will reflect this.