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Social Network and Addiction
Article in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics · February 2009
DOI: 10.3389/conf.neuro.14.2009.06.054 · Source: PubMed
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Social Network and Addiction
Daniele LA BARBERAa,1, Filippo LA PAGLIAa and Rosaria VALSAVOIAa
a
Section of Psychiatry, Dpt of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Palermo, Italy
Abstract. In recent decades, the rapid development of innovative Internet-based
communication technologies created a new field of academic study among
scholars. Particularly, the attention of researchers is focusing on new ways to form
relationship-thought social web. Social Network sites constitute a new form of
web communities, where people meet and share interests and activities. Due to
exponential growth of these sites, an increasing number of scholars are beginning
to study the emergent phenomena in order to identify any psychopathological risk
related to use of social web, such as addiction. This article examines the recent
literature about this issue.
Keywords. Social Network, Addiction, Personality
Introduction
Social Network Sites (SNSs), such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr, are
emergent social phenomena that are increasingly attracting the attention of academic
research. SNSs are web-based services and are new way to communicate and share
information. There are hundreds of SNSs that are regularly used by million of people
around the world. A social network service is an online community where everyone
can meet and interact with other people based on common interests, hobbies, job,
political, religious, sexual views, and/or other activities [1].
SNSs allow individuals to construct a public profile, more or less visible according
to default of site and user discretion, create a list of other users with who they interact
and view list of contacts made by other users within the site [2].
On SNSs, each user can describe themselves, entering information about their
background (e.g. high school), demographics (e.g. gender, age) and cultural tastes (e.g.
favorite books, movies, television shows); users can choose photos and also write about
themselves on their profiles, making self-promotion [3,4].
The increased use of SNSs has led scholars to study the psychological impact of
social network services. Indeed, most users have integrated the use of social web into
their daily practices, spending long time on Internet in order to create and/or maintain
their social capital. Academic researches have begun to investigate the psychological
and psychopathological aspects about use of SNSs, investigating their role in identity
construction and expression, building and maintenance of social capital and concerns
about privacy, focusing on the related risks.
1
Corresponding Author: U.O. di Psichiatria, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico “P.
Giaccone”, via La Loggia, 1, 90129 Palermo, Italy; E-mail: labadan@unipa.it.
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1. Method
In this review we evaluate the recent literature about the studies, exploring the impact
of Social Network Sites on individuals and on their way to build social relationships.
We begin to define the features of SNSs and to examine the link between use of these
sites and traits of personality. Following this, we focus on psychological aspects
relating to use of SNSs. In particular, we examine the recent articles that have
investigated the risk of addictive behavior linked to use of SNSs.
We conducted a search on pubmed, psycinfo and google using the key words, such
as Social Network, Addiction, Personality.
2. Results
Recently, Social Network Sites are proliferating and have attracted millions of users.
The three most visited SNSs are Facebook, MySpace and Frindster. Until April 2007,
the most popular SNSs was MySpace. At the moment, Facebook holds supremacy, but
there are hundreds of social web daily visited by users [5].
The rise of SNSs could mean a shift in the organization and in the aim of online
communities. Unlike web-communities, SNSs are organized around individual and are
structured as personal network (ego-centric network). Each user is at the center of their
community. Moreover, the main feature of SNSs is not to allow individuals to meet
strangers, but to maintain pre-existing relationships, making visible the social network.
On social web, meetings are often between users who share some offline, called “latent
ties” [6].
These characteristics may be related to specific personality traits of the new
generation. A recent research shows that students (Generation Y) are more narcissistic
and self-absorbed than any previous generation. Technology allows the ability to
express themselves quickly and easily and SNSs permit more self-promotion than
traditional media [7].
More recent studies have investigated identity performance in less anonymous
online settings, such as Facebook. The findings suggest that the Facebook selves
appear to be highly socially desirable identities individuals aspire to have offline:
Facebook users may exaggerate the part of their possible selves that are socially
desirable but not emphasized in brief offline relationships, such as one’s character,
intelligence, and other important inner qualities. Concurrently, they may seek to hide
the part of themselves they regard as socially undesirable, such as shyness, overweight,
or stuttering [8].
Another research on two competing hypotheses from the literature shows that users
more extroverted and with higher self-esteem support the “Social Enhancement”
hypothesis, being more popular both offline and on Facebook, while users less popular
offline support the “Social Compensation” hypotheses, because they are more
introverted, have lower self-esteem and strive more to look popular on Facebook [9].
Furthermore, interesting researches examine the romantic communication over
SNSs, focusing on several psychological variables. A study on MySpace users found
that low self-esteem encourages young adults to engage in romantic communication
while higher emotional intelligence discourages such activity. The study also suggested
that those who have higher self-image, such as thinking themselves attractive and
happy with their appearance, tend to engage in romantic communication [10].
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One study examined same psychosocial variables in New MySpace.com users.
Findings show that intending bloggers scored higher on psychological distress, self-
blame, and venting and scored lower on social integration and satisfation with number
of online and offline friends. Likely, intending bloggers may view this this activity as a
potential mechanism for coping with distress in situations in wich they feel
inadequately linked with social support [11].
Several studies inquired the modalities in which individuals create the profiles that
reflect their identity. Researches reveal that females tend to turn to others for validation
in contrast to males, who are more apt to maintain their individuality and whose
relationships are more of an extension of their already-complete selves. In particular,
Magnuson, in a recent study on MySpace profiles, found that the manifest identity
formation consistent with traditional gender roles in which females are dependent on
others for their sense of self [12-14].
Other research found further gender differences, examining the characteristics of
users. On the one hand, women and men are equally likely to have accounts at a friend-
networking site, on the other hand a sex difference occurs with the number of friends
linked to the account, with men having significantly more friends linked to their
accounts than women [15]. Moreover, men appear to have greater risk taking attitudes
than women, e.g. men easily post information about themselves on the social network
profiles, such as a phone number and instant messenger address. Instead, the women
have greater privacy concerns and less identity information disclosure than men [16,
17].
Further, women are more likely to engage in online communication to maintain
personal connections with family, friends and co-workers, while men use web sites for
pursuing sexual interest and romance [18].
Another study shows that extraversion, one dimension of Big Five Personality
Model, including energy, positive emotions, and the tendency to seek stimulation and
the company of others, plays an important role in the formation of web-network ties
[19].
Accordingly, the results of new research suggest that use of SNSs might provide
greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction [20].
However, some scholars show concerns about potential abuse of social web: one
speaks of “friendship addiction”, a new addictive process causing insecurity in users,
particularly women [21].
Moreover, recent reports reveal that thirty per cent of teenagers spend long time on
SNSs, neglecting school and family. It seems that young becoming addicted to social
networking sites. Signs of possible social networking addiction included frequently
visiting the site for long time, experiencing negative psychological or physical effects
when the activity wasn't available, and scheduling other activities around online time.
Studies show that typical addicts were more likely to be university students or people
new to the workforce, people who had ready access to computers. According to
scholars, addiction occurs when people go on web-site without a goal and it becomes
part of their habit [22].
3. Conclusion
The exponential growth of Social Network Sites appears to respond to two opposing
tendencies in modern society. On the one hand, social web meet the need of contact,
35
facilitating relationships and psychological wellbeing, on the other hand SNSs appear
to accentuate individualism and self absorption, characteristics of modernity. Users
self-centered, more vulnerable, particularly young people, could be absorbed by the
web and develop addictive behaviors. To date, the question of potential risk related to
use of social web remains largely underexploited. We believe that health care
professionals, psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and communication
professionals should focus their future researches on this issue, in order to identify
signs of possible psychopathological behaviors related of abuse of SNSs.
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