How to tell if you’re a social media addict

More than half of Gen Z believe they have a problem when it comes to scrolling, with an increasing number seeking professional help. Helen Coffey investigates what effects being constantly online can have on our mental health and asks the experts how to break the cycle few weeks ago, I swapped my smartphone for a “dumb” phone to see what life would be like without constant connection. It was for a 

feature I had originally pitched as “my week using a Nokia 3210!”; alas, the chirpily optimistic brief changed once I realised how pathetically dependent I am on my device. Three days was the most I could manage – and one of the main reasons was social media.

The slide from being someone who “used Twitter a little bit” for work to fully fledged junkie has been slow and insidious – a years-long process that crept up so stealthily that I didn’t notice it happening. But in the aftermath of my dumbphone experiment, I was finally forced to face the uncomfortable truth.

I scroll on social media as soon as I wake up; as soon as I feel bored or frustrated at work; as soon as I have 30 seconds of downtime. I do it while watching a film on Netflix, mid-conversation with friends and, yes, even on the loo.

Sometimes I catch myself reaching for my phone for no discernible reason and put it back down. Less than a minute later my hand will, unbidden, pick it up again – like “Thing” from The Addams Family, scuttling around of its own accord. But that’s just how it works, right? That’s how everyone feels about social media – it’s something you joke about with your friends, sure, but it’s not like a real addiction or anything. Not like I’m Aubrey Plaza’s character in the 2017 film Ingrid Goes West, spending my life obsessively checking Instagram and winding up moving to California to drink green juice and befriend slash stalk an unwitting influencer… And yet, despite my cynicism, social media addiction “is absolutely as real an addiction as other addictions”, according to Lee Fernandes, lead therapist at the UK Addiction Treatment Centres (UKAT). “Addiction is defined as losing the power of choice, and so if social media has overtaken a person’s life, they have developed an addiction to it.” He categorises social media as a type of behavioural addiction – the umbrella term under which gambling, eating disorders, gaming, porn, shopping and sex addictions also fall. “It actually has similarities to other types of addiction, namely behavioural disorders like gaming,” Fernandes explains. “The desire to game for as long as possible, and when not gaming feeling desperate to game again, is the same for someone who has a social media addiction; they are obsessed with being on social media.”

This could express itself in two main ways: either the person becomes addicted to creating content in order to get “likes”; or they use social media as a form of escapism from their real life, incessantly scrolling and living vicariously through the online world of others. “It is typically one or the other for social media addicts,” adds Fernandes.

Generation Z are possibly more in touch with their own weakness in this area than the rest of us. Three in five claim they’re addicted to social media, according to a survey of 2,000 young people conducted by education company EduBirdie. One in seven said they had even gone as far as seeking professional help to tackle their addiction.It’s a problem that Sven Rollenhagen, a trained social worker who specialises in addiction, and the author of Scroll Zombies, is all too familiar with. “I have a lot of clients who are teenage girls and their behaviour, when I talk to parents about it, is the same as a person taking drugs or alcohol. They can’t put the smartphone away, it’s always in their hands, and when their parents try to stop them they get angry, scream and even fight.”

Seeking professional help might seem extreme to those of us who have normalised constant social media use, but it could be fundamental to discovering the “why” behind an addiction, advises the UKAT. “Sometimes, an addiction is simply a plaster covering an open, untreated wound,” says Fernandes. This wound could be low self-esteem, bad mental health, stress or anxiety, all of which can be treated “so that social media isn’t a necessity in that person’s life anymore”. Understanding our triggers can help us implement better boundaries for the future.

There are also straightforward measures we can put in place to limit our own use. A digital detox, where you significantly reduce the amount of time spent using electronic devices, “could be a wise precaution”, advises Addiction Center. “This can include simple steps, such as turning off sound notifications and only checking social media sites once an hour.” Rollenhagen agrees that creating boundaries where certain areas of life are smartphone-free – such as the bedroom and the toilet – is a good start, as is being strict about only doing one screen at a time (so no scrolling while watching a film).

He also recommends taking intentional breaks, starting with an hour and building up, using digital tools that physically limit the time you can spend on apps, and getting out in nature without your device. But the piece of advice that strikes me most is this: “Try to do something where you can’t have a phone in your hand: dance, dive, climb.”

I picture all of these activities in my mind – finally learning to Tango, watching the light slice nimbly through clear water, stretching my full length to reach the next brightly coloured handhold on the climbing wall – and then catch a glimpse of myself in reality, blank-faced, bent-necked, craned over the attention-sucking rectangle in my hand. “Stop. Put the phone down now, please. Helen. Helen. JUST PUT THE BLOODY PHONE DOWN!”