Social Media AddictionStudy about the impact of addicting social media on

different life dimensionsAsmaa Hussein, Dina Esmail, Eslam Mamdouh, Haitham Ibrahim, Mona Refaat

-MBA Students, Consumer Behavior Project-

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out impact of social networking like; Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin at the different life dimensions like the personal relations, work productivity and lifestyle.

Design/methodology/Approach: The paper used qualitative approach which consists of a Semi-fixed structure questionnaire distributes on a stratified sample. The sample are social media Egyptian users who are resident in Egypt with their families and occupying a job in Egypt also.

Findings: The findings show that the selected sample of people are al social media users but the level of addicting the social media is differs from person to other. Furthermore, it shows that there is a significant positive relationship between social media addiction and different life dimensions destructions in the Egyptian society, in all manners such as the personal relations, work productivity, health and lifestyle. Accessibility and time spent on social media affects the degree of addiction and so the destructions as well.

Research limitations/implications: Since this study was conducted in the Egyptian Society, the replication of this study could be done within other countries and people profiles. Future studies should collect time-series data for testing the relationship between social media addiction and different life dimensions destructions.

Practical implications: the findings confirm the importance of studying the social media effect on life dimensions for the purpose of improving the quality of life, releasing the bad habits and initiated cause related campaigns. Firms wishing to improve their brand loyalty can use these outcomes in a cause related campaign to gain the trust of their market segments by a relevant and effective marketing strategies and tactics.

Introduction

The internet is considered as the most effective tool in all areas of science, business, education, culture, and politics.(1)The total number of worldwide internet users was estimated as 1.2 billion in the year 2000 and jumped to be 3.17 billion in 2015. (2) According to the internet usage statistics, internet users are increasing in Egypt reaching about 54.6 % of the population in 2015, compared to 35.6% in 2012. (3, 4)

More than 80% of the Egyptian internet café clients are young people. (5) Increasingly usage of computer technology and widespread dominance of the internet has faced many people particularly university students and extremely usage of it results in mental and psychological disorders and also affects the work performance and social relations. (6) College students and new parents are believed to be at a high risk with a marked increase in their internet usage worldwide especially after the new era of social media usage. (7)

The term “internet addiction‟ was first introduced by Goldberg I in 1995 describe “pathological and compulsive use of internet‟. Goel categorized this term as a subgroup of behavioral addictions.(8) In addition, various psychological measures are available to assess the internet addiction which include: young internet addiction test (YIAT), problematic internet use questionnaire (PIUQ) and compulsive internet use scale (CIUS).(9)

Addiction usually refers to compulsive behavior that leads to negative effects. In most addictions, people feel compelled to do certain activities so often that they become a harmful habit, which then interferes with other important activities such as work or school.

In that context, a social networking addict could be considered someone with a compulsion to use social media to excess -- constantly checking Facebook status updates or "stalking" people's profiles on Facebook, for example, for hours on end. But it's hard to tell when fondness for an activity becomes a dependency and crosses the line into a damaging habit or addiction. 

Facebook is a social networking service launched in February 2004; it reports more than 1 billion active users. It is particularly attractive to young adults and over half of member being in the age group of 18-34. (10,11) As of the third quarter of 2015, Facebook had 1.55 billion monthly active users with estimated 27million users in Egypt in November 2015. It has quickly become both a basic tool and a mirror for

social interaction, personality identity and network building amongst university students. (4,12,13)

There is no doubt that excessive use of Facebook affects the real world interaction abilities and communication, while social skills gradually decrease. Facebook addiction is the new term invented by psychiatrists as its addiction will damage the sleeping habits, health and interest in studies and interaction abilities of real life. (14)

Research Objectives

The research has a main objective which is investigating the social media addiction negative and positive effects in the Egyptian society that will lead us to extract the bad and good habits in the Egyptian society appeared in the Egyptians’ behavior to improve the positive and elaborate the negative signs through cause-related marketing campaigns.

Research Hypotheses

To give effect to the research objectives, a number of hypotheses were formulated, as follows:H1: the social media addiction is found on most of the social media users in EgyptH2: the social media addiction is associated with the low work productivityH3: the social media addiction is associated with the personal and family relations distractionsH4: the social media addiction is associated with the low mental health and quality of life

Research methodology and design

This research study uses qualitative approach to get insights about the effect of social media addiction in the life dimensions and to test hypotheses to provide an enhanced understanding of the relationship that may exist between the social media addiction and life dimensions.

To cover the different segments in the Egyptian society and to obtain accurate results, a satisfied random sample was drawn. Using a semi-structured individual depth interviews with 20 persons featured with a specific inclusion criteria.

Inclusion Criteria: Age group from 25 to 40 years old Egyptians and resident in Egypt Occupying a job with monthly income Active internet users Willing to give consent and complete the questionnaire Both Sexes

Exclusion Criteria: Not within the selected age group Not willing to give consent & complete the questionnaire Not using internet Not an Egyptian or resident outside Egypt

The study instrument for data collection consisted of a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire with 7 sections;

1. Warming questions:A. Are you member in social media? B. What types of social media are you member in?C. What type of devices do you use ?

2. Accessibility to social media questions: A. Where do you usually access to social media? ( work-home-coffee)B. What types of the internet package do you use?C. What types of activities do you do in social media? D. What do you do if the internet cut off?

3. Consumption rate questions:A. On average, how much time do you spend daily using social media?B. What time in the day do you mostly use social media?C. In your point of view, why people overuse social media?

4. Impact on work performance questions:A. Do you have accessibility to social media in your work?B. What will be your reaction if your company stopped using the social media

in workplace?5. Impact on quality of life questions:

A. How does the social media affect your responsibility toward your family? B. How the social media affects your mode?

6. Impact on social relation questions:A. Does communication through the social media satisfy you the same as in

the real life?B. Does communication through the social media satisfy your parents the

same as visiting or calling them?7. Closing questions:

A. How people can control their over usage of social media?B. How do you think social media can be used better?

The depth interviews have been conducted and recorded, then data has been encoded to be analyzed to extract findings. A satisfactory response rate of 100% was achieved as 20 interviews were usable for analysis.

Ethical considerations: a preapproval was taken from the interviewees to record their answers and all the interviewees were informed about the interview objectives and verbal consents were obtained from them

Research Results

Socioeconomic data about the participants:Socioeconomic profile was gathered for each participant and then gathers in the below table to clarify the main characteristics of the research participants.

Table (1): presenting the socioeconomic data of the participants by numbers and percentage of each type from the total number of the characters

Character Number

%

SexMale 8 40%Female 12 60%Age Group25 to 32 14 70%33 to 40 6 30%Career LevelLow 6 30%Medium 12 60%High 2 10%Marital StatusMarried 13 65%

Single 7 35%

Questionnaire themed analysis:Using a semi-structured individual depth interviews with 20 persons featured with a specific inclusion criteria to cover all the seven themes and sub-themes of the questionnaire. The below themed analysis is done for the gathered data to collect the findings and extract the recommendations.

1. Warming questions:A. Are you member in social media?

All the participant said yes and strongly yes.Eng.Amr Tareq said “this question is like you are asking; do I have blood?!”

B. What types of social media are you member in?All the participant noted that they are using Facebook. Only 30% of them said they are using twitter, 20% said that they are using Instagram and only 10% mentioned other platforms like Snapchat, Linkedin and what’s app.We noticed that there is low awareness within 50% of the participant about the meaning of social media, as some of them didn’t consider Linkedin and what’s app as social media platforms.

C. What type of devices do you use to access the social media?All the participants noted that they are using smartphones and mobile devices to access the social media. Only 35% of them mentioned the laptops added to the smartphones in some times and while the duty specially.

2. Accessibility to social media questions: A. Where do you usually access to social media?

80% of the participants mentioned the home is the first line place for social media, 60% of them said the workplace also is one of the preferred places for social media usage. But 40% said “once I can, I will do, whenever wherever I’m”.Only one participant mentioned that he never use the social media while he is in his home especially in weekends, for family responsibilities.

B. What types of the internet package do you use?90% of the participants said that they are using the monthly package as they care about the accessibility through mobile phones.20% mentioned the Wi-Fi as a source of internet to access the social media platforms.

C. What types of activities do you do in social media? 90% of the participants said that scrolling up and down is the main activity during using the social media platforms, and only 2 participants said that they are getting information from them; one said Islamic knowledge and one said knowledge related to marketing and new trends of advertising.

D. What do you do if the internet cut off?100% of the participants mentioned that as long as the social media is a tool to spend the free time, so there is no problem for cut-offs. Ms Laila said; “the break will start then to see what’s going on in the real life!”

3. Consumption rate questions:A. On average, how much time do you spend daily using social media?

All participants are exceeding one hour per day in reviewing social media platforms. 60% of them mentioned that it’s not related to number of hours as I use it during each and every free time.Ms Mai Assem said; “I counted it before, it was ten hours per day!”

B. What time in the day do you mostly use social media?60% of the participant was flexible in this questions and not sticking to special time during the day. 30% mentioned the morning time is the best for them to check the news, reviewing the past years memories notified by Facebook and others mentioned that there is relation between the morning coffee and social media platforms.Only 10% mentioned after lunch time as the best time for them.

C. In your point of view, why people overuse social media?All participants said that it’s due to the long free time. Only one participant mentioned that in addition to the long free time, people want to socialize and feel the self-recognition between each other’s.Ms Mai Assem said; “if they have work and targets, that will not happen at all”

4. Impact on work performance questions:A. Do you have accessibility to social media in your work? And what

about its impact on work productivity 50% of the participants said yes and the other 50% said no. 80% of the participants mentioned that although they cannot stop reviewing the social media platforms, but it gives bad mood for them due to the bad news everywhere.20% of them said social media gives them some power to work and releases the negative energy.

B. What will be your reaction if your company stopped using the social media in workplace?

Who yes in the previous question, has been asked this question and the answers were; 50% said it’s the right of the management and that will affect the productivity positively. 30% said it doesn’t matter for him as he is using only the mobile internet package during the duty.20% said it will harm the business.

5. Impact on quality of life questions:A. How does the social media affect your responsibility toward your

family? 60% of the participants mentioned the bad effects of social media on their family relationship. Mr. Khaled Kareem said; “it’s so bad, I have a bad experience with my wife due to Facebook, that’s why I closed the account”40% of them not only mentioned the opposite but also they use it to improve the family relations and communicate with the family members abroad.

B. How the social media affects your mood?70% of the participants noted that the social media affects their mood generally. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worst mood according to shares and posts of the network.30% of the participants noted that it doesn’t affect the mood at all.

6. Impact on social relation questions:A. Does communication through the social media satisfy you the same

as in the real life?All participants have one answer towards this question, which was “No, at all”. And some of them rehearsed about the incomplete communication as the digital communications missing the voice tone, the body language and facial expressions.

B. Does communication through the social media satisfy your parents the same as visiting or calling them?All participants have one answer towards this question, which was “No, at all”. Eng Amr Tarek said; “I love to see my daughter, so I will not chat with my Mother instead of visiting her”

7. Closing questions:A. How people can control their over usage of social media?

All participants mentioned it must be self-controlled not by any external actions except the intrapersonal decision.Mr Khaled said; “if you have life goals you will have the passion, and if you have the passion you will have the control”Ms Mai Assem said; “close your Facebook account, that’s it”

B. How do you think social media can be used better?The participants mentioned different ways of the useful usage of social media:

1. Gain more knowledge2. Follow the local and international news3. Regain your old friends4. Work through social media marketing

Testing the Hypotheses

In order to test the hypotheses, analysis was done for the data gathered to compare the quantity of participants that supports the hypotheses in percentages shown in the below table (1).

Table (2): Percentage of participants supporting the research hypotheses

Hypothesis Percentage of supporters

H1: the social media addiction is found on most of the social media users in Egypt

100%

H2: the social media addiction is associated with the low work productivity

50%

H3: the social media addiction is associated with the personal and family relations distractions

100%

H4: the social media addiction is associated with the low mental health and quality of life

70%

From the above table and the results of testing the main first hypothesis, it has been found that the effect of social media addiction is affecting the relations and social intelligence in the highest rate. Some people can control the social media to distract there work performance and mood but some are victims to the bad side effects.

Discussion

The Internet is extremely an important social and communications tool, and is changing our daily lives at home and at work. There is no doubt that some Internet users develop problematic behavior. (16) Over past 5 years, social media sites like

Facebook have become a central, virtually unavoidable medium for social interaction, most of Facebook users don’t realize the negative impact of social media on their life because they are already addicted to it. (14)

This study explored the phenomenon of social networking site usage and its effects. The data produced seven themes and sub-themes based upon participant interviews, the researcher’s condensed searches, and demographic data. One implication was that increased online usage decreases offline social involvement.A marketer may want to set goals with customers for developing offline interactions, such as:

(a) Setting time limits on online usage(b) Engaging customers with existing offline social groups (e.g., previous

friends, available family, community activity groups, or local volunteer agencies)

(c) Social skills training.

None of the participants was able to provide an alternative activity to using social networking sites. The lack of other options provided insight into the participants’ limited ability to lessen social networking site usage.A Marketer may choose to have clients explore the past for previous activities. Marketer may also explore volunteer or sports opportunities in their communities.

In addition, negative interactions from others on social networking sites resulted in individuals’ feeling negative emotive responses such as hurt or rejection. Individuals who use social media platforms more frequently than others, especially in harsh conditions such as cyberbullying, may experience negative emotive responses after use. Marketers working with individuals with frequent online conflict may treat lowered self-esteem with customers.

Furthermore, participants in this study noted a loss of control in terms of not being able to limit usage, using when they did not intend to, and using for longer than intended, thus indicating a pattern of habitual, compulsive, and addictive usage. This behavioral pattern is similar to Marks (1990) description of addiction involving compulsions, or repetitive behaviors. Some participants were unaware they were using at times. Some could not perform recreational activities without using social network sites intermittently. Marketers must treat the social media addiction as a formal addiction category and start cause-related marketing campaigns to release the bad habits and increase the awareness about self-controlling the addiction of social media.

Also, some participants noted a lack of engagement with their partners due to both individuals using social networking sites simultaneously. On a long-term basis, lack of engagement can lead couples to seek therapy or leave one another. They may also form relationships with others online to fill their need for connection. (15)

Marketers should take note of the potential effects of social networking platforms usage. Marketer may explore customer interactions with others in social media platforms in an effort to repair relationships.

The effect of social media on work performance through this study, didn’t take a specific trend as it was equal for negative and positive effects. Researchers should take note of the potential positive and negative effects and do deeper researches in this direction,Marketers should take note of the positive effects to enhance and elaborate them in their marketing messages, on another hand should take note of the negative effects to raise the awareness and spread the good habits among the community.

One of the limitations of this study it was a cross-sectional one that only showed the relation between social media and Facebook addiction and some potential health hazards without being able to determine the causality among those variables, so cohort studies are recommended to confirm the causality. Also data collection was based on depth-interview questionnaires which are prone to recall bias.

Recommendations:

Future research related to social media addiction may provide a more in-depth understanding of social media addiction effects in several ways. Researchers could build upon this study with a larger participant group to either confirm or repudiate the results. Furthermore, replication of this study with multiple interviews per participant may establish a more consistent and reliable data set.

Researchers can also utilize the results of this study to develop a grounded theory study to create theory surrounding the effects of social media addiction and reason for use. Also they can investigate about the reasons of the self-control problem in social media usage although the side effects is well acknowledged to the users.

The undetermined trend between yes or no towards the effect of social media addiction of the work performance is a highly recommended topic for research building on the findings of this study it also may go deeper to see if the effect is differ from male to female labors or differ from married to single labors.

In addition, findings from this phenomenological study may assist in the development of quantitative studies on a larger scale. Also, the themes resulting from this study could be tested in a quantitative study utilizing significantly more participants. Finally, gender differences may be a focal point in future studies due to the differing desires to limit social networking site usage based upon gender.

Conclusion

The results of this study imply that social networking site usage is a phenomenon that individuals utilize to connect with one another. Most of individuals use media platforms more often when isolated in life and feel isolated in return when they limit their social networking site usage. Individuals emit positive and negative emotive responses to others, similar to face-to-face interactions. At times, social media usage addiction allows individuals to ignore offline relationships and responsibilities. Individuals use social media platforms compulsively and often struggle when they try lower their use. Individuals desire genuine online relationships but believe them to be superficial. Finally, social networking sites allow individuals to present themselves in ways that may not be realistic due to anonymity.

In addition, the outcomes of this study are important to marketers to understand customers and researchers in the field of consumer behavior. Because the results of this study provided a snapshot of the phenomenon for twenty participants, more research is required to truly understand the phenomenon. Future researchers can apply the results of this study to further develop the knowledge of how this phenomenon affects individuals and how to provide effective cause-related marketing campaigns to engage the customers

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