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Almost Half of British Teens Feel Addicted To Social Media, Study Says (theguardian.com) 44

Posted by BeauHD from the screen-time dept.
According to new findings from the Millennium Cohort study, almost half of British teenagers say they feel addicted to social media. The Guardian reports: The latest research, by Dr Amy Orben's team at the University of Cambridge, used data from the Millennium Cohort study which is tracking the lives of about 19,000 people born in 2000-2002 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. When the cohort were aged 16-18 they were asked, for the first time, about social media use. Of the 7,000 people who responded, 48% said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "I think I am addicted to social media." A higher proportion of girls (57%) agreed compared to boys (37%), according to the data shared with the Guardian.

Scientists said this did not mean that these people are actually suffering from a clinical addiction, but that expressing a perceived lack of control suggests a problematic relationship. "We're not saying the people who say they feel addicted are addicted," said Georgia Turner, a graduate student leading the analysis. "Self-perceived social media addiction is not [necessarily] the same as drug addiction. But it's not a nice feeling to feel you don't have agency over your own behavior. It's quite striking that so many people feel like that and it can't it be that good."

"Social media research has largely assumed that [so-called] social media addiction is going to follow the same framework as drug addiction," said Turner. Orben's team and others argue that this is likely to be oversimplistic and are investigating whether the teenagers cluster into groups whose behavioral can be predicted by other personality traits. It could be that, for some, their relationship is akin to a behavioral addiction, but for others their use could be driven by compulsive checking, others may be relying on it to cope with negative life experiences, and others may simply be responding to negative social perceptions about "wasting time" on social media.
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Almost Half of British Teens Feel Addicted To Social Media, Study Says More

Almost Half of British Teens Feel Addicted To Social Media, Study Says

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  • They are addictive by design (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Engineer_Calvin ( 3476293 ) on Wednesday January 03, 2024 @05:29AM (#64127163)

    The idea is to get you on the site and keep you there as long as possible. To maximise the exposure to advertising. To that end, it should not be surprising that many users report sensing they are addicted to it.

    • The idea is to get you on the site and keep you there as long as possible. To maximise the exposure to advertising. To that end, it should not be surprising that many users report sensing they are addicted to it.

      I'm glad I grew up waaaay before social media (or the internet really), and didn't join up in the early days.

      I still see no reason to be on FB, X, Instagram and whatever else is out there.

      If I were raising a kid today, not sure how I'd treat this....I'd prefer NOT to even give a young kid a cell

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by GoJays ( 1793832 )
        My daughter is 12 and I won't give her a cell phone, most parents look at me like I am bat shit crazy. Most kids at her school have already had a cellphone since they were 9. It's insane.

        • My daughter is 12 and I won't give her a cell phone, most parents look at me like I am bat shit crazy. Most kids at her school have already had a cellphone since they were 9. It's insane.

          It's interesting in your post with the comments on "other parents".

          I mean...it isn't necessary.

          I grew up just fine BEFORE there even were cell phones.

          Hell, my parents both worked...and during the summers as a pre-teen and teen, I would leave the house on bike or skateboard and hang with my friends, roam all over all day

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by e3m4n ( 947977 )
            Its not anything like that now. Theres almost 2x as many people on the planet as we had in the 70/80s. Some cities has had a much larger growth rate since then. Despite that, kids are more isolated than ever. Those apps that put a dot for every address on the sex offender registry make parents want to keep their kids indoor and plant them in front of screens. The days of sending your kids outside to play till the street lights came on are long gone. Even if you did it, your kid would have noone to play with

            • The days of sending your kids outside to play till the street lights came on are long gone. Even if you did it, your kid would have noone to play with.

              If true..that's sad.

              I would think possibly true if you live in a very dense urban city....but more regular US cities, suburbs, and the like, shouldn't be that bad?

              I mean, I see kids out in my neighborhood...I know my immediate neighbors.

              I'm just thinking parents are more paranoid about things today.

              I know things happened back in my day, but I'm thinking

          • I have an 11 year old and he does not have a phone. However one main difference between my youth and now was that every family in the 80s and 90s had a land line. I could call my friends to see if they were home or make plans. Now the land line is all but extinct in most households with children. I have to coordinate with my son's friend's parents.

            It will still be a few years before I get him his own phone but I have let him take my personal cell a few times so he could call my work cell if there w

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Malc ( 1751 )

          Our son won't get one until he's 11 and going to secondary school. He'll need it to navigate his London public transport commute between home and school, as well be able to communicate if he gets in trouble.

        • The trend I'm seeing here is giving kids dumb phones with only basic features and no data.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by e3m4n ( 947977 )
          I got my kid an iphoneSE, sometime around 12, so I could track his movements walking home from school. I use the screentime app to lock everything down. I set the times on game apps to 1min so he is forced to request time every time he wants to use it. Some apps like calculator, desmos, educational utilities are whitelisted. For example TuboScan is whitelisted. We had a problem with missing assignments where he insisted he did them. Sometimes he didnt, sometimes his lazy ass didnt put his name on it. So he

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by _xeno_ ( 155264 )

        I still see no reason to be on FB, X, Instagram and whatever else is out there.

        It's the "blue bubble" problem: remember all those stories about kids being bullied and ostracized for having "having green bubbles and not blue bubbles" in iMessage? Know how it really doesn't make any sense, because there are plenty of other, arguably better messaging services to use other than the basic messaging service that comes with the phone?

        You can't see it because you're an adult. You don't have the social pressure to be on these services.

        Kids, and especially teenagers, do. Which means that Apple

  • They designed software with the aim of pulling you back in. And the means to access it is in everyone's pocket...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ls671 ( 1122017 )

      They designed software with the aim of pulling you back in. And the means to access it is in everyone's pocket...

      Things change I guess, back in the days, teens were addicted to drugs although the means to access it was also in their pockets as long as their parents gave them an allowance or they were delivering newspaper, lawn mowing or something like that.

      • But you gotta admit it's easier for a kid to pull out their phone during dinner and check their socials than getting money, calling a dealer, head outside, meet the dealer to score, then head back home and continue with dinner :]

    • They designed software with the aim of pulling you back in. And the means to access it is in everyone's pocket...

      It's fairly easy to cancel your account (I'm guessing you can ask them to delete your data?)....and remove the app from your phones, tablets and computers, no?

  • "I think I'm addicted" I think I'm a squirrel? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gavron ( 1300111 ) on Wednesday January 03, 2024 @05:41AM (#64127181)

    A study that asks people to self-report "thinking" they are addicted without examining actually whether they are showing signs of addictive behavior is worth just as much as any self-reporting study.

    You can think what you like, and you can even read webMD and self-diagnose. At the end of the day this study is about children who self-diagnose with the caveat of "I THINK I'm addicted." Well, which is it? Addicted? Or not.

    Don't self-diagnose. Don't go around "thinking" you're addicted. Get help or don't, but tell crazy ass "researchers" to shove their pseudo-study-babble at the media. Oh wait, they did.

    • You make a good point.

      I would add that raising awareness of the issue and getting an idea of the prevalence of the problem can be one step of getting / giving help.

    • I see you didn't even make it to the second paragraph in the summary before you rushed in her and hit reply. Let me help you with that.

      Scientists said this did not mean that these people are actually suffering from a clinical addiction, but that expressing a perceived lack of control suggests a problematic relationship.

    • They probably didn't include counter statements, e.g. "In moments of boredom, I often decide to do X, Y, or Z rather than check my phone." or "The same statement inverted (reworded negatively) to control for misinterpretation or non-conscientious (poorly considered) responses. So yeah, & probably not even representative of respondents sentiments at the time either.

      They can state all the caveats they like in the report but most people will come away saying half of British teens are addicted to social

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        Do we really need to use a universal standard of clinical addiction though?

        Isnt the 'perceived lack of control' reason enough to be concerned in some instances. There may be some benefit to using social media. There almost certainly is little or zero benefit to the individual to be compulsively checking it every few min.

        Just feeling like they need to/should do/ and being preoccupied by desire to do so while otherwise engaged suggests they have problem. Maybe not a serious one, maybe not one they need prof

        • That's why we typically do both: self-disclosure AND observation of their behaviour. It's a good way to identify discrepancies between self-image/self-efficacy & actual behaviour that may indicate compulsive or addictive issues.

          BTW, we all have them. They only become "clinical" when experts give diagnoses because they require intervention for the patient to function in society without help.
    • I imagine they have been shamed into thinking what they are doing is wrong. They conflate the guilt with addiction.

  • Are fooling themselves?

  • just doesn't feel anything anymore.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The thing is, the social media companies have the data & the analytical tools. If the MCS researchers had access to them... ?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      to these idiots means pretty much any website with a comments section, which is now most of the internet.

      which it undoubtedly is at some level. anyway, "these idiots" are doing a cohort study "tracking the lives of about 19,000 people born in 2000-2002 across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland" which is worst case a very unique window to social behavior, perceptions and trends, even with all caveats and limitations. both of your narrow arguments completely fail to recognize what this study is about in the first place.

      now guess who actually managed to look like a complete idiot on social media! cheer

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by znrt ( 2424692 )

          the internet being full of comments sections?

          yes, breaking news: forums are social media.

          or every website counting as social media?

          nobody said that.

          i mean youre the one making a cludged retort that im having to clarify here with you now, but yea

          sorry to annoy you but this is bound to happen when you don't really reflect on what you read (or don't even read) and post knee jerk incoherent rants which completely ignore the subject. which is totally cool by me, i reserve my right to do the same on social media (pun intended), just go nuts, but ...

          im having to clarify here with you now

          lol. aren't you a stiff one? yeah i guess the social media machine absolutely had to know that you're ab-so-lu-te-ly right. chatgpt (or some descen

  • I am not addicted. I can stop whenever I like. No... really!
  • Are in denial about it.

  • Recognizing and accepting that there is a problem with you. (Not others. Suffice it to say to our little ego trippers out there.)

  • Go camping without your electronics. It is like going through withdrawal.

  • This phenomenon has been well-researched since 2012. Social media in particular creates an information seeking loop. The only solution is to quit social media entirely.

    Unfortunately, this creates withdrawal symptoms remarkably similar to opiate withdrawal because the information seeking loop messes with your dopamine system.

    I've made a couple of videos about this.

    https://youtu.be/au0S65dafQY?s... [youtu.be]

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The difference is, or at least should be, that addiction is physiological, whilst dependence is (merely) psychological. If you're addicted to tobacco or alcohol, withdrawal will mean that your bodily chemistry will be going wrong. If it's a psychological dependence, it's just your brain being unhappy. How much difference this actually makes is unclear.

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