Technology, new media, social media in particular has its good and bad influence on individuals. Whereas there are huge benefits that come with taking up social media platforms for marketing purposes, uncensored use can lead to addiction. True to this, social media addiction can be as pervasive as any addiction to substances or any compelling habit. But how does one qualify to be labelled an addict on social media?
It’s true that there are individuals who are compelled to check their Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram profiles with the passing of every second. For instance, a person who values machine interaction more than fellow human beings can be an outright case of social media addiction. If Instagram has become your priority over your family or friends, it could be that you are among the many personalities labelled as addicts on social media streets.
Addiction in Numerous Forms
Social media addiction presents itself in numerous forms. Some addicts turn out to be serial likers. They will have notifications for the smallest updates on Facebook or Twitter platforms. They are the proverbial ninjas with a compulsion syndrome that pushes them to react to social media activities round the clock. Surprisingly, majority of these addicts will stalk known and unknown persons for hours or days on end without specific objectives.
With social media, it’s difficult to tell when a browsing habit transcends the normal threshold and becomes an addiction. For instance, it’s tricky to determine whether an individual is addicted if they spend 2-3 hours on random tweets or updates from strangers. On the other hand, some users will exhibit a deranged tendency to scroll, like, subscribe social media counter at sharedcount.com and retweet all day. At such a point, these fanatics can be said to have crossed the line.
Arguably, not every social media addict will exhibit the same tendencies all through. Some are too deep into the habit while others are mild to light addicts. It’s easy to categorise social media addicts into numerous classes according to the severity and the nature of their obsession with these platforms.
Distinct Social Media Addict Personalities
Identifying social media addicts is easy given that it takes a close look at the patterns and habits they ascribe to. These individuals will get hooked on liking with a passion, avoid vowels, to outright bouts of anger and rage if the web or internet connectivity goes down.
The Constant Checker
Ever seen a person who keeps checking their phones every time and minute? This is an indication that the constant checker cannot live or breathe without feeding curiosity on these platforms. Many of them will have push notifications that alert them every time their posts have been liked, retweeted, or replied to. They will not mind the location or time and they will stop at nothing to satisfy their addiction. In the end, they will derail their schedule, run behind on tasks and they are alwaysdistracted
The Serial Liker
Individuals displaying the tendency to like posts of friends and strangers fall under this category. They are too lazy to type and they end up hitting the like button for every post. The obsession with the like button doesn’t allow them to type the shortest word to acknowledge, appreciate or congratulate their friends. With this category of addicts, the idea is to follow up activity on a given platform albeit passively.
The Vowel Hater
It’s not a surprise that these individuals will skip vowels when posting on social media. To the extreme there are addicts who will, over time, do it with compulsion. This addict will write the shortest and most bizarre posts or messages that are tricky to understand. For some reason, it might end up affecting their writing when called to do a formal write up. In actual sense, a significant number of them are compelled to skip vowels in an attempt to manage the number of allowed characters on some platforms.
Conclusion
Overall, it’s never too late for individuals who can’t breathe twice before checking the latest on Facebook or Instagram. To remedy the situation, these individuals can be weaned off on a diet that entails a balanced use of technology. Limiting the hours on social media isn’t easy at first but with time, it’s possible. Encouraging new hobbies offline will work same as breaking off the use of mobile devices.
