There is now a strong consensus among addiction professionals and specialists that social media is having a significant negative effect on the people who engage with it. This is especially true for adolescents. Even those who stand to financially profit most are aware of the dangers of social media. An example is the late Steve Jobs reportedly denying his children the use of smartphones. Another example is Elon Musk stating, “I think there should be regulations on social media to the degree that it negatively affects the public good.” These anecdotes encapsulate why privileges to social media for your daughter should be both limited and regulated.

Understanding Online Process Addictions

Before understanding online and social media addictions, it can be helpful to understand what process addictions are. Essentially, process addictions are addictions that are focused more on behaviors rather than substances. True to their namesake, they are about a “process” that a person is compulsively drawn to repeat.

Traditional examples of process addictions include gambling addiction, shopping addiction, sex addiction, and exercise addiction. Moreover, eating disorders and disordered eating are perhaps the most well-known process addictions.

Additionally, since the internet appeared in the late twentieth century, there has been a continual rise in online process addictions. These addictions include internet addiction (a variation of this is known as “doom scrolling”), online shopping addiction, gaming addiction, online pornography addiction, and, perhaps the most prevalent, social media addiction.

Understanding Social Media Addiction

Social media has come to dominate the online communication landscape. According to a 2020 journal article published in Frontiers in Psychology, “Currently, nearly four billion people all over the world use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WeChat or TikTok.” Since then, that number is only rising.

Social media addiction is driven in part by “FOMO,” which stands for “fear of missing out.” This phenomenon is especially prevalent in young women. Today’s tweens and teens see all of their friends engaging with social media, and, of course, they desperately want to be included. These girls also witness a majority of celebrities promoting themselves on social media accounts.

Social media addiction is also particularly difficult to manage because so many people use it as their primary form of engagement. This fact is often used as a rationale for heavy social media use, even when it is becoming detrimental.

Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms of Social Media Addiction

One aspect of social media addiction that makes it hard to recognize is that most other people are engaged with social media as well. Excessive use of social media is both normalized and celebrated in our current cultural landscape.

However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some very recognizable universal signs that your daughter may be struggling with social media addiction. The following are some of those signs and symptoms:

  • Going on social media platforms regardless of responsibilities
  • Ignoring friends and family to go online
  • Losing interest in activities they once enjoyed
  • Showing a decline in academic performance
  • Staying up late and allowing social media to disrupt their sleep patterns
  • Having multiple social media accounts associated with the same platforms
  • Showing anxiety and/or depression when they don’t have access to their social media accounts
  • Starting to imitate toxic behaviors that they see on social media, such as substance use and overly sexualized conduct

Using the Internet as a Replacement for Substances and Cutting off Access Privileges to Social Media

Now, when these types of warning signs appear, it’s probably a pretty good idea to cut off some access privileges or restrict social media use. This is an especially good idea if your daughter is already in recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD).

It is not uncommon for people to try to replace one addiction with another. This often happens when people replace a substance addiction with a process addiction. In young people, the process addiction replacement is often social media. This substitute is dangerous because it not only threatens to introduce a new addiction, but many people, places, and things on social media can be very triggering and could lead to a relapse. Substituting one’s substance addiction with social media can also lead to toxic social media misuse.

The Dangers of Returning Access Privileges to Social Media

While your daughter is in recovery, it is important to keep her focused on that recovery. This is especially true in early sobriety when girls return home from treatment.

Allowing access to social media platforms may very well subvert that focus. The key to early recovery is to keep moving forward, never backward, and to avoid getting stuck. With social media, there’s a good chance that they will get stuck back in a vicious toxic cycle that promotes bad behaviors instead of good recovery values.

Our Primary Purpose of Long-Term Recovery at Clearview

Here at Clearview, we understand the reality of an online world. We know that eventually, a balance is going to have to be struck between being online and being more present in the physical world. This balance will come.

Still, for now, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of life-saving recovery versus mind-numbing scrolling. We find that, in the end, recovery wins out every time.

External factors like friend group forums and social media sites can greatly influence the way people interact with addictive substances. This is especially true for adolescents. That is why parents need to know what negative influences to watch for online, specifically on social media. The good news is that there are many apps and resources available to help parents stay informed about their child’s potentially negative social media usage. If you feel like your daughter may be struggling with social media addiction or any other type of process or substance addiction, we can help. For more information on how to better handle social media misuse, please reach out to Clearview Horizon today at 866-584-4788.