If addiction to social media is suspected, seek professional help to build healthier online behaviors. Social media platforms provide anonymity that can be used to intentionally harm others, leading to severe mental health consequences, including suicide. Reports indicate that 10% to 72% of youths have experienced cyberbullying globally. When it comes to identifying the causes of social media addiction, there is no single known cause.

Porn Addiction: Negative Effects of Excessive Pornography

No matter how long compulsive social media use has been interfering with your daily activities or causing distress, it’s never too late to stop. Therapy is a non-judgmental space where you can learn to deal with other issues and improve how you cope. But for someone with a social media addiction, their relationship with these apps goes beyond healthy use. Their connectedness through social media isn’t merely periodical or frequent – it is constant.

Risk Factors for Social Media Addiction

1. Doing so may weaken offline connections over time and increase a person’s reliance on social media as a way to cope with offline stressors or to validate self-worth.
2. Social media overuse can cause a sedentary lifestyle, leading to health risks such as obesity and cardiovascular problems.
3. In our social media-driven world, it’s hard to imagine a life without Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
4. However, experiences like cyberbullying and social comparison can worsen the symptoms.

The constant barrage of perfectly filtered photos that appear on social network sites can also cause low self-esteem and disordered eating in young adults. Though many teens know that their peers share only their best pictures and moments on social media, it’s very difficult to avoid making comparisons. The ongoing exposure to unrealistic beauty standards through social networking sites can affect how teenagers perceive their own bodies. One study from the University of Pittsburgh found a correlation between time spent scrolling through social media apps and negative body image feedback. Those who had spent more time on social media had 2.2 times the risk of reporting eating and body image concerns when compared to their peers who spent less time on social media. Everything from physical appearance to life circumstances to perceived successes are scrutinized and processed by users.

Find Treatment For Social Media Addiction Today

Social media addiction can lead to low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, increased loneliness, sleep deprivation, and health problems linked to reduced physical activity. People who overuse social media may be at higher risk for using illicit drugs, or developing a harmful relationship with drugs or alcohol. This type of psychological withdrawal is similar to that seen with other types of behavioral addictions, such as gambling addiction or internet addiction. Through limited research, experts have identified a number of signs and symptoms of social media overuse that could resemble an addiction. But a whole month is more typically the minimum amount of time we need away from our drug of choice, whether it’s heroin or Instagram, to reset our dopamine reward pathways. A monthlong dopamine fast will decrease the anxiety and depression that social media can induce, and enhance our ability to enjoy other, more modest rewards again.

If you’re a rebuilding your life after addiction heavy social media user, it’s wise to think about the negative impacts of social media on you and your peers. Researchers have suggested that those who experience trouble with empathy and therefore may have less social competence may rely on social media more heavily instead of in-person contact for their social interactions. For example, they may have drastic and unpleasant emotional and behavioral problems (like getting anxious and severely restless) when social media use is stopped. Yes, social media can be toxic and addictive due to its constant stimulation, leading users to compare themselves with others, potential cyberbullying and reinforcement of addictive behaviors through likes and notifications.

Addiction Resource does not favor or support any specific recovery center, nor do we claim to ensure the quality, validity, or effectiveness of any particular treatment center. No one should assume the information provided on Addiction Resource as authoritative and should always defer to the advice and care provided by a medical doctor. Yes, social media addiction can harm mental health by increasing anxiety, depression, and loneliness while decreasing self-esteem and sleep quality, often due to comparison, cyberbullying and excessive screen time. Their excessive social media use isn’t necessarily about staying connected to others, either – though it can start that way. In this article, we will explore some of these risk factors, along with the harmful impact of social media overuse and how to identify and overcome it. Research has shown that there is an undeniable link between social media use, negative mental health, and low self-esteem.

Research is still ongoing but many studies suggest social media platforms can cause the same brain chemistry activity that is found in other goodbye addiction letter behavioral addictions. Read here to learn more about social media addiction, the risk factors, digital detox, and other treatment options. Checking and scrolling through social media has become an increasingly popular activity over the last decade. Although the majority of peoples’ use of social media is non-problematic, there is a small percentage of users that become addicted to social networking sites and engage in excessive or compulsive use.

Some experts estimate up to 10 percent of people in the United States have social media addiction. Still, it is hard to put an approximate alcohol yellow eyes figure as so many of us regularly engage with social platforms. When a person receives certain social media notifications, such as a like, retweet, or comment, the brain may increase dopamine levels. This could cause a person to experience a pleasurable feeling, positively reinforcing additional social media use.

Despite the fact that users are interacting with each other on these platforms, many of the these types of interactions don’t necessarily translate well to the real world. Studies have found that these individuals have worsened social anxiety in groups, higher rates of depression, negative body-image, and lowered levels of empathy and compassion toward others when surveyed. Social media use becomes problematic when someone views social networking sites as an important coping mechanism to relieve stress, loneliness, or depression. Social media use provides these individuals with continuous rewards that they’re not receiving in real life, so they end up engaging in the activity more and more. This then causes people to engage in the social networking behavior even more as a way of relieving dysphoric mood states.

Social Media Addiction Treatment

When social network users repeat this cyclical pattern of relieving undesirable moods with social media use, the level of psychological dependency on social media increases. Recent studies have found that frequent social network users believe that other users are happier and more successful than they are, especially when they do not know them very well in real life. Excessive social media use can not only cause unhappiness and a general dissatisfaction with life in users but also increase the risk of developing mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Constantly comparing oneself to others can lead to feelings of self-consciousness or a need for perfectionism and order, which often manifests as social anxiety disorder. According to some surveys from 2020, Americans are spending as much as 17 hours per day looking at a screen, and a good portion of this time is spent on social media.

While social media platforms have their benefits, using them too frequently can make people feel increasingly unhappy and isolated. These negative emotional reactions are not only produced due to the social pressure of sharing things with others but also the comparison of material things and lifestyles that these sites promote. One of the hallmark signs of addiction is continuing to use something even after it has clearly had negative impacts on your physical or mental health, relationships, work, or other vital areas of life. More and more people are reporting that heavy social media use negatively impacts their relationships and self-esteem and makes them less productive at work or school, which is a red flag that may indicate addiction. While not an official diagnosis, social media addiction can contribute to serious consequences for a person’s physical and mental health.

Furthermore, according to the same study, four other psychological factors can serve as predictors of social media addiction—stress, empathy, self-esteem, and depression. It is characterized by excessive and compulsive social media use and an uncontrollable urge to log on and use social media. This use is enough to disrupt one’s life, ruin one’s relationships, and negatively affect one’s overall well-being.

While it is possible to try to limit social media use without medical intervention, in some cases, professional help may be necessary. Additionally, a recent study of adolescents found that higher levels of social media use had links to visits to the doctor. Social media platforms ignite the same reaction in the brain as gambling and recreational drugs do. Thus, as the feel-good dopamine wears off, you’ll go back to the source (in this case, social media) for more.

If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please contact at We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Further, our brains aren’t equipped to process the millions of comparisons the virtual world demands. We can become overwhelmed by our inability to measure up to these “perfect” people who exist only in the Matrix. We give up trying and sink into depression, or what neuroscientists called “learned helplessness.”

For this reason, social media use becomes an activity you want to repeat, especially as the positive feelings are only temporary. This is how positive reinforcement occurs within the brain, the same as other addictions. This constant exposure to social media can be damaging both mentally and physically.