How Your Thoughts Could Be Causing Social Media and Smartphone Addiction
And What You Can Do About It
We all know someone (or maybe are someone) who spends a lot of time on their phone. We’re not judging! In 2022, there’s a seemingly endless number of reasons to be scrolling through our devices (COVID-19, forest fires, elections, and international conflict to name just a few). Obsessively checking grim news updates has become so common that the term “doomscrolling” was invented to describe it. That being said, our phones can also provide an escape from all the doom and gloom.
For most people, that’s the end of the story. However, for a small part of the population, social media and smartphone use can become a problem.
Why do some people become dependent on their devices while others do not? Also, since it’s difficult to rule out smartphone use in our digital world, what can we do about it?
Andras Zsido and a group of five other researchers recently asked themselves this in a study published in 2021 called “The role of maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and social anxiety in problematic smartphone and social media use”.
Why Do People Develop a Smartphone or Social Media Addiction?
Zsido and their colleagues recruited 499 people between 18-60 years of age to answer a survey that assessed their social anxiety, smartphone and social media addiction, and cognitive emotion regulation.
Cognitive emotion regulation is a complicated term that simply refers to the thoughts that someone has after experiencing a negative event, like having a friend cancel plans or making a mistake at work.
The researchers observed the extent to which participants engaged in four unhealthy thoughts: blaming yourself (self-blame), thinking about a situation over and over (rumination), imagining a situation as a catastrophe (catastrophizing), and blaming others (other blame).
The results showed that these unhealthy thoughts were key factors in developing problematic smartphone and social media use, with catastrophizing having the greatest influence. Rumination and self-blame had a strong effect too, but blaming others was a less important predictor.
Reading through these types of unhealthy thoughts, you may feel like you engage in some (or even all) of them, but try not to worry! Experiencing these thoughts doesn't mean you're destined to become addicted to your phone or social media. However, if you feel like your smartphone or social media use negatively impacts yourself or someone you care about, it doesn't hurt to talk to a medical professional about it.
Can Social Anxiety Cause Social Media and Smartphone Addiction?
Several studies have demonstrated that people who experience severe social anxiety would prefer to communicate virtually rather than face-to-face, which makes sense. The ability to text or message others online can provide socially anxious people with a sense of control, maybe even liberation. Unfortunately, this preference for communicating through devices could lead to problematic smartphone use.
Zsido and their fellow researchers also found that social anxiety was associated with higher social media use, which in turn was associated with problematic smartphone use since most people use their phones to access social media.
What Can I Do About My Social Media or Smartphone Addiction?
According to the researchers, prevention should focus on strengthening social and emotional skills in addition to promoting responsible use. Specific interventions or activities could aim to reduce unhealthy thinking by diverting the focus to healthier thoughts.
For example, suppose you think about your mistakes over and over. You could instead try accepting that mistakes are a part of life or reflecting on times when you succeeded.
Another tip: When you feel yourself reaching for your phone, consider why. Think of it as a “check engine light” on your internal dashboard lighting up, telling you to check in with yourself.
When we’re dealing with an overwhelming experience or emotion, we can reach for our phones unconsciously, craving the comfort or reassurance that it can provide. In these moments, our phones act as a crutch. For some, especially those who experience high social anxiety or who are prone to catastrophizing, blaming themselves, or ruminating, this can snowball into symptoms of addiction.
From the research done so far, it looks like problematic smartphone and social media use is a symptom of a much larger issue. The good news is that it can be alleviated with the right support.
Once again, if you think social media or smartphone use may be negatively impacting your life or the life of someone you care about, don’t hesitate to talk to a medical professional.
Study Objective & Methods
The Role of Maladaptive Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Social Anxiety in Problematic Smartphone and Social Media Use
Andras N. Zsido, PhD; Nikolett Arató, PhD; András Láng, PhD; Beatrix Labadi, PhD; Diána Stecina, MA; Szabolcs A. Bandi, PhD
Published in Personality and Individual Differences, 2021.
Zsido, Arató, Láng, Labadi, Stecina, and Bandi recruited 499 Caucasian participants between 18-60 years old by posting invitations on a variety of internet forums and mailing lists. The survey measured social anxiety, emotion regulation strategies, and social media and smartphone addiction. They used structural equation modeling to assess the direct and indirect effects between the variables.
Additional Sources
Manual for the Use of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
Nadia Garnefski, PhD; Vivian Kraaji, PhD; Philip Spinhoven, PhD
Published in Leiderdorp, The Netherlands, 2002.
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