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How much time have you spent on social media today? The pervasive nature of social media in modern life is a fact of life, but what role does social media have in addiction?
Over 90% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 50 watch YouTube, and over 70% are active on Facebook and Instagram. It’s also not just about posting pics and videos. Finding a job on LinkedIn, learning to code on YouTube, or meeting the love of your life on X is the reality of millions of individuals.
Platforms facilitate social connections, which is a great feature, but it can also open the door for risky behaviors, such as substance abuse.
The Concept of Addiction: A Brief Overview
One of the major breakthroughs in understanding addiction is that it’s not a problem of moral weakness or lack of willpower. Addiction is a behavioral pattern influenced by social dynamics like poverty, peers, and mental health–that change the brain and create a compulsion to use a substance or engage in a certain behavior.
Addictions are a lot like other medical conditions because of how they impact your health. If left unattended, an addiction can destroy a person’s life and may end in death.
Here, we will explore how social media can act as a catalyst for various addictions.
Normalization of Addictive Behaviors
Is social media a slice of life? Yes and no. People share parts of their daily lives, usually their high points and occasionally their losses. In either case, social media activity is usually stylized in a way that presents the user as the protagonist of a compelling story.
However, the performance component of social media may be damaging as it can destigmatize or glamorize addictive substances or behaviors. Up to 65% of social media users see posts about substances in their feeds. Most of the time, alcohol or drugs are portrayed positively, associating substance use with fun and a part of everyday life. These posts promote the consumption of drugs as a way for adults to relieve stress or to simply party.
When a person sees how others nonchalantly share drug or alcohol posts, this content desensitizes them. Viewers are encouraged to believe these behaviors are normal components of life.
Social Proof and Peer Pressure
Individuals who are unhappy with their social lives may find that social media platforms, like Instagram, are vehicles for them to form new connections or revisit older ones.
When you see someone on social media, like a high school friend who always seems happy, you might start comparing yourself to that individual. This, in turn, can incentivize you to seek new behaviors to mimic that seemingly happier lifestyle. Specifically, seeing “everyone” else on social media smoking, drinking, or doing drugs, can influence a user to engage in addictive behaviors to fit in or gain social approval.
What others think of you often contributes to how you feel about yourself. Peer pressure through social media can be a powerful catalyst for substance abuse if a person wants to be liked by a group.
Accessibility to Addictive Substances or Services
Social media platforms can facilitate access to drugs, gambling, or other addictive products. Drug dealers employ social media’s encrypted communication capabilities to connect with potential buyers. Individual users can become acquainted with dealers through social media, thereby increasing accessibility for purchasing substances.
Transactions can be done digitally, so there’s a lesser-perceived risk of going out to a physical location to buy drugs. The thought of meeting a dealer on a street corner can cause hesitation, but online venues allow users to buy drugs from the privacy and security of their own homes. Drugs become more accessible than ever.
Gambling addictions also spread the same way. Gambling is gaining widespread accessibility as more and more states legalize it. The digital alternatives to betting appear endless, profitable, and habit forming.
Triggering Addictive Behaviors
People rely on social media to feel less alone when they’re experiencing negative emotions. This means they’re often online precisely when they’re at their most vulnerable. As such, seeing content that depicts substance users having fun and being happy through drugs can influence them to try drugs.
Specific content or platforms can trigger cravings or relapse for vulnerable individuals struggling with addiction. Studies show that people who are battling alcohol abuse and see images of alcoholic beverages experience stronger cravings.
Similarly, for people who are battling gambling addictions, gambling platforms can spike a relapse. These platforms often have a default feature that allows for the capacity for continuous play. Once they start betting, the platform encourages them to keep going, with no checks on them to stop.
Substance Abuse
It’s a mistake to dismiss the role of social media in promoting or facilitating drug and alcohol use.
Illicit drug sellers promote drugs through advertising on social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X. These ads target young individuals who, according to studies, are the demographic group most influenced by social media to engage in drug consumption.
Individuals with problematic social media use have higher levels of substance abuse, according to the World Health Organization. For instance, young people have a greater chance of using cannabis if they are continuously exposed to advertisements featuring marijuana.
Gambling Addiction
Online gambling platforms can be more damaging than traditional casinos, as people spend more time online than in physical locations. In part, this is because loneliness influences gambling. People seek companionship on social media and meet like-minded persons who are also engaging in risky gambling. This results in environments that promote more gambling.
Gambling websites extend their reach through pop-up ads and other solicitations that target users, even when they’re on other websites. Social media advertising continually incites individuals with new exciting games to try their luck.
Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are not a type of addictive disorder but are distinct conditions. However, they may co-occur with addiction disorders and thus shape how both the addiction and the eating disorder are treated.
Social media contributes to body image issues that can fuel eating disorders. Eating disorders are particularly susceptible to behavioral influences that are shaped by how we perceive ourselves and others.
Social media platforms are inundated by people presenting idealized versions of themselves— often employing digital software to modify their appearance. Despite the digital manipulation, it’s natural for viewers to start comparing themselves to these images.
Studies show that the more people use social media, the more they struggle with their own body images as they fail to live up to these unrealistic ideals. Content that encourages certain body types or damaging behaviors, like purging, puts people with eating disorders at risk because they try to capture an impossible body type.
Shopping Addiction
Social platforms fuel compulsive buying behavior because of the techniques advertisers employ online. This includes the use of algorithms in targeted advertising and the use of social media influences to promote products.
The desire to present yourself as “successful” is a common motivation for participating in social platforms. Buying stuff is often a sign of success and a way to flaunt wealth. The need for approval may contribute to spending money on expensive items to exhibit on social media posts.
The Impact on Vulnerable Populations
Teenagers
Half of all American teenagers spend more than four daily hours on screens, and 95% of high school-aged youths are active on social media.
More than three hours a day on social media doubled teens’ risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. These co-occurring conditions are heavily correlated with substance abuse.
Teenagers’ brains are still in a stage of development and are more susceptible to peer pressure. Feeling the need to live up to peer expectations can elevate their risk of an addiction.
Mental Health
There’s a strong correlation between social media use, mental health conditions, and addiction.
The time spent on social media depletes mental energy and affects self-control while disrupting the capacity to concentrate on other activities, like healthy relationships. Users have a higher chance of experiencing an increased chance of mental health challenges or aggravating any existing conditions like mood and anxiety disorders that tend to co-occur with addiction.
Isolated Individuals
Social media can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and isolation, elevating the risk of addictive behaviors. Comparing oneself to others or being desperate for a personal connection can put people at risk of making bad choices.
Social media provides isolated individuals the chance to fulfill the basic human need for connection, but if they associate with groups who are engaged in substance abuse or can’t fit in with their online peers, this need for belonging can lead them to utilize drugs as a coping mechanism.
Mitigation and Prevention
Digital Literacy
People with better digital literacy skills for navigating social media tend to experience fewer cyberbullying and negative behaviors.
Here are a few tips to reduce the risk of harm:
- Learn to establish online privacy settings to prevent you from seeing certain advertising or trigger words (like “alcohol”).
- Recognize that companies use your personal experiences for product recommendations.
- Mute “party lifestyle” content to reduce the normalization of substance use.
- Block accounts that promote substance use.
- Understand how late-night social media use can trigger risky behaviors.
Parental Controls
Parents are responsible for monitoring and limiting their children’s social media use. They must learn that social platforms can influence their children, and all family members should acquire basic tech skills to have more informed conversations about the risks, limits, and safety measures.
If you suspect your child is at risk, talk to them. Suggest they take breaks if they’re experiencing negative emotions. Evaluate if their online time affects school responsibilities and set limits. Learn what groups they belong to and implement safety measures like blocking accounts and turning on privacy settings.
Industry Responsibility
Social media platforms have ethical and legal obligations to protect users from harmful content and addictive features in their products.
As the body of research on the relationship between addictions and online activity grows, governments are imposing stricter controls on social platforms, even banning their access through legislation.
More companies are becoming legally required to implement safety measures that guarantee age restriction, analyze the health impact of their product to create resources to minimize damage, and safeguard how data is used to prevent dangerous targeting. Ads for alcohol can be blocked by individuals who are in recovery for example.
Support and Treatment
Social media’s pervasive role in daily life means it’s critical to include online behavior as part of any comprehensive addiction treatment program.
Some strategies that work include:
- Learning to recognize social media content that contributes to negative emotions and thought patterns and may trigger substance misuse
- Helping people in recovery curate feeds to show recovery success stories to build hope and motivation
- Creating social media boundaries to protect individuals in vulnerable phases like early recovery or during a crisis
- Muting accounts that show substance use to minimize cravings.
Social media is a part of modern life. Ignoring its power will limit the effectiveness of recovery from addiction.
