Facebook addiction linked with neuroticism
As America’s youth, we’re both young and impressionable. It’s only logical that we have age restrictions on cigarettes and alcohol and companies like Dove to remind us that we’re beautiful. But all this work from scientists, advertisers and lawmakers doesn’t save us from ourselves, or, specifically, our profiles.
I think it’s safe to say that if you’re a member of this university you’re aware of Facebook, Twitter and a multitude of other social media websites. They’re useful tools that can be used to speak your mind, stay connected with long distance friends and network, all from the palm of your hand. However, as these sites have a growing prevalence in our minds, our emotions are becoming dangerously intertwined with these impersonal websites that, in the end, don’t give as much back as they’re taking away.
Dr. Cecilie Andraessen and her colleagues at the University of Bergen in Norway have deemed Facebook Addiction a new psychological state and created a short survey of six questions, -answered with a number from one to five and then added together, to show how addicted a person is. The higher the score the greater the addiction.
The numbers in the score were also correlated with certain personality traits. Higher numbers were linked with extroversion and neuroticism while lower numbers were often linked with conscientiousness.
Andraessen also found that “people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face.”
In comparison to other addictions like hard drugs or alcohol, Facebook seems laughably harmless. Obviously Facebook doesn’t cause bodily harm when used, but its impact on the psyche may be just as bad.
It can cause changes in mood, feelings of loneliness or jealousy, and has decreased our social skills and abilities to interact. Once you know someone’s first and last name, their life is your oyster. You now know all the towns in which they’ve lived, where they work, if they’re dating or not and even their likes and dislikes laid out, right in front of you. Our Facebook pages have almost become an infallible synopsis of who we are as a whole, our entire character in a snapshot that people can choose to take or leave.
This addiction scares me more than others. It seems as if unbiased first impressions and judgement-free zones are becoming artifacts of an ancient society. Facebook isn’t just consuming people’s attention when it’s in front of them, it’s always in the back of people’s minds while they plan out statuses or take posed pictures. People are trying to create and control an alternate version of themselves in which they get to post and delete to their liking, but the reality is these websites are just controlling them. While drugs and alcohol may kill brain cells, Facebook is killing our real connections.