INTERNET ADDICTIVITY

In today’s society, the office of adolescent health found that about 94% of teenagers actively use social media. With such a large portion of the population hooked on modern social media the question of addictivity is raised. Social media has shifted the form of popularity to an online oriented society.

Kids are being assessed on their popularity based on how many followers they have or the amount of likes they receive on their photos. This phenomenon encourages young adolescents to constantly be viewing their social media’s. They become so engaged and obsessed with popularity that they begin to depend on reactions from their peers to find happiness or joy.

Malcolm R Parks and Kory Floyd, two psychologists, researched this issue. They came to the conclusion that the lack of social cues and the potential for feedback delays leads to higher uncertainty in friendships. This increased uncertainty “should prevent, or at least retard, the development of personal relationships.” During the study the two psychologists found a growing desire for social media users to receive feedback on their latest posts.

This desire leads to adictivity. People will post a picture and check the same picture four or five times within a minute to see the progress. Along with the desire for feedback, social media users become sensitive to their posts. The popularity factor leads to teenagers deleting their posts if it does not reach the certain level of intention from other users, in the form of likes or comments.

With these two huge issues, social media has become an addictive and discouraging society. The emotional toll that can come from these standards can be heavy for a lot of young adults. In this sense, social media needs to be altered so that this endless cycle comes to an end.

One solution to this issue is to release new forms of social media. Visco is a new platform of social media that takes away the importance of others commenting and liking posts. The website is focused around users having a more enjoyable experience and not be faced with the stress of like totals. The new website has seen a spike in popularity but is still outclassed by the larger social media corporations. Visco is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to perfect the social media experience.