Behavioral Disorders: Teen Social Media Addiction

Social Media Addiction “Teen Social Media Addiction is a behavioral disorder in which teens become so preoccupied and obsessed with social media that it distracts them from engaging in the real world, and in turn, causes harmful effects on multiple aspects of their lives.” (Teen Social Media Addiction). Social media does have an effect on people’s mental health, and their lives surrounding them. There are multiple reasons to why this disorder occurs, from YouTube’s addictive aspects, to FOMO. However, social media addiction can be treated. But let’s start at the beginning, the source of this disorder.

“The addictive aspect is associated with FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out.” (Elgan). Everyone is on some sort of social media, Facebook, Twitter,

Symptoms of the addiction: restlessness, anger or irritability, difficulty concentrating, sleep problems, and craving access to the smartphone or other device (Smartphone). Another symptom is checking social immediately after you wake up in the morning, and right before you go to bed (Lee). If your family has asked you stop, but you can’t, is also a symptom (Lee). If the addiction is not treated, the addicted person could experience significant social problems

And affect the addicted, and those around them greatly. To help treat the addiction, the first step would be to reduce the amount of time spent on social media (Teen Social Media Addiction). If the addicted does not want to seek professional or others help, there are self-help tips. Recognize the triggers, understand the difference between interacting in-person and online, strengthen your support network, build up coping skills, and recognize any underlying problems that may support the compulsive behavior (Smartphone). But if the addicted wishes to seek professional or others help, there are therapists, counselors, or support groups to help (Smartphone). Therapists want to help gain an awareness to make the connections between all different areas of their lives, that could be blocked by the addiction (Teen Social Media Addiction). But anyone can help someone with the addiction, by being a role model, monitoring the addicted, having phone-free zones, encouraging other interests/activities, talking to the addicted, and by getting help from others (Smartphones). By having the treatments done, the likely of the effects can be reduced greatly. However, there is another side to this story.

On the other hand, social media is a great tool. People can use it to create new relationships, and strengthen existing ones (Nelson). Also, use it to develop contacts with similar organizations in order to create