The First Step

The First Step

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem which can be hard to do if you aren’t aware that you have problem. What many people don’t realize is that addiction isn’t just drugs, alcohol or gambling; in fact it can be anything. If the TLC television show My Strange Addictions has taught us anything, it’s that people can be addicted to a broad range of things from shopping to eating toilet paper, drinking urine, and sniffing baby powder.  One addiction that is growing in popularity is the addiction to the internet and more specifically social media.

Here are some statistics on social media provided by thesocialskinny.com:

• ·       Women are more active on social media than men 55% vs. 45%
• ·       91% of online adults use social media regularly
• ·       40% of people spend more time socializing online than they do face-to-face
• ·       Facebook is the most visited website on the internet (reaching one trillion page views on June 30th, 2011)
• ·       50% of Facebook users log on everyday
• ·       The average user spends 700 minutes per month on Facebook
• ·       Almost 50% of 18-34 year olds check Facebook when they wake up – 28% before even getting out of bed
• ·       50 million users log onto Twitter every day
• ·       Users on YouTube spend a total of 2.9 billion hours per month on the site
• ·       Smartphone users are twice more active on social media than non-smartphone users

<!--[if !supportLists]-->

As you can see from these statistics we spend a lot of time online, updating statuses, connecting with friends and family, watching videos, posting photos and videos and playing games so it’s no big surprise that someone can become easily addicted.  The hard part however, is admitting you have a problem and this can be because you are in denial or are simply unaware of the impact social media has on your life.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to post about how you can help prevent yourself from becoming addicted to online activities and the social media world, as well as tips for those who are already addicted and need help. Each week I am going to post a challenge to hopefully get you thinking about how much time you are spending online and how it’s affecting your life. My challenge for this week is simple, keep a journal and record how much time you spend on your social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, LinkedIn, YouTube...etc.) and how much time you spend on other activities (outings with friends or family, reading, watching TV, biking…etc.) and record your observations in the comments below.

I look forward to your observations!

-Tiffany.H