When describing the cultural impact of social media, to call it "phenomenal" would be an understatement. But is the overuse of social networking sites like Facebook on par with the use of physically addictive and/or mind-altering substances?
In a trend that shows no signs of slowing, the number of people who use social media has experienced a meteoric rise from just under a billion worldwide users in 2010, to more than 3 billion estimated users by 2021.
[1] With nearly 2.2 billion active users each month,
[2]Facebook leads the pack as the social networking site (SNS) where we're spending the bulk of our time online.
Not only are more people using social networking sites, we're also spending increasing amounts of time each day liking, commenting, and sharing our lives online. Don't assume that this is only a fad amongst young people: since
2012, adults are spending 50% more time on Facebook each day. An adult in the U.S. uses Facebook for an average of 135 minutes per day, equating to nearly
16 hours-that's two, full workdays-
per week.
[3] What accounts for the magnetism people young and old, feel for social media?
Comment: Read more about disturbing revelations inside the "Poison Papers"