Complete the Social Media Disorder scale. How did you score? What do you think about the items in the scale? Why do you think that different patterns are found across the world?

During the past year, have you …

1. regularly found that you can’t think of anything else but the moment that you will be able to use social media again? NO
2. regularly felt dissatisfied because you wanted to spend more time on social media? NO
3. often felt bad when you could not use social media? NO
4. tried to spend less time on social media, but failed? NO
5. regularly neglected other activities (e.g. hobbies, sport) because you wanted to use social media?NO
6. regularly had arguments with others because of your social media use? NO
7. regularly lied to your parents or friends about the amount of time you spend on social media? NO
8. often used social media to escape from negative feelings? YES
9. had serious conflict with your parents, brother(s) or sister(s) because of your social media use? NO

I scored 1/9 which is considered to be a norm for this scale. Anything between 2-5 would be risky and anything between 6-9 is a definite sign for a social media disorder. I think that the items in the scale reflect on a lot of potential issues someone could have if they used social media too often or for the wrong reasons. It is essentially an addiction to social media, however, I myself do not feel this way. The nature of the questions seem to be as if someone would rather do nothing other than be on social media and have access to it. The only question that I personally answered yes for was have I used social media to escape negative feeling within the past year. This is true for me to an extent because watching funny videos or something comedic helps me feel in a lighter mood when I’m feeling down. I wouldn’t say it is the only thing that helps though, so there is a difference there. I believe that the results are different throughout the world because of people’s cultures and exposures to social media. Some parts of the world have had access to it for a longer period of time, while others are still somewhat new to it. Some children have grown up on social media, while other children were not allowed to have access to it. All of these differences in cultures would create different patterns of results from this scale.