Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature

By Daria J. Kuss, Mark D. Griffiths. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2011

1,947 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends, and meet other people based on shared interests. They are seen as a ‘global consumer phenomenon’ with an exponential rise in usage within the last few years. Anecdotal case study evidence suggests that ‘addiction’ to social networks on the Internet may be a potential mental health problem for some users. However, the contemporary scientific literature addressing the addictive qualities of social networks on the Internet is scarce. Therefore, this literature review is intended to provide empirical and conceptual insight into the emerging phenomenon of addiction to SNSs by: (1) outlining SNS usage patterns, (2) examining motivations for SNS usage, (3) examining personalities of SNS users, (4) examining negative consequences of SNS usage, (5) exploring potential SNS addiction, and (6) exploring SNS addiction specificity and comorbidity. The findings indicate that SNSs are predominantly used for social purposes, mostly related to the maintenance of established offline networks. Moreover, extraverts appear to use social networking sites for social enhancement, whereas introverts use it for social compensation, each of which appears to be related to greater usage, as does low conscientiousness and high narcissism. Negative correlates of SNS usage include the decrease in real life social community participation and academic achievement, as well as relationship problems, each of which may be indicative of potential addiction.

Subfields: Information Systems and Management, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/85a33cfd97c462373cca0ebaf771098a302d6e62

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Information Systems and Management

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Cell-Phone Addiction: A Review (2016, background): “Griffiths MD.”
Effects of Perceived Social Support and Psychological Resilience on Social Media Addiction among University Students. (2018, background): “In short, social networking websites can be defined as virtual communities where everyone can create profiles open to anyone [2].”
Social networking addiction: an overview of preliminary findings (2014, methodology): “…(Griffiths, 2010b), can gamble on games like poker (Griffiths & Parke, 2010), can watch videos and films, and can engage in activities such as swapping photos or constantly updating their profile and/or messaging friends on the minutiae of their life (Griffiths, 2012b; Kuss & Griffiths, 2011).”
Relationship of Smartphone Use Severity with Sleep Quality, Depression, and Anxiety in University Students (2015, background): “It may cause maladaptive behavioral difficulties, interfere with school or work, reduce real-life social interaction, and lead to relationship disorders (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011).”
Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention (2019, background): “Social media addiction has been found to be associated with a host of emotional, relational, health, and performance problems (e.g., Echeburua & de Corral, 2010; Kuss & Griffiths, 2011; Marino, Finos, Vieno, Lenzi, & Spada, 2017; Marino, Gini, Vieno, & Spada, 2018).”
Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned (2017, neutral): “Similarly, it has been argued previously that individuals do not become addicted to the Internet per se, but to the activities they engage in on the Internet, such as gaming [50] or SNS use [3].”
Online Dating and Problematic Use: A Systematic Review (2020, background): “In turn, excessive use of SNSs has been associated with factors such as introversion, extraversion, neuroticism, narcissism and dysfunctional coping mechanisms (Kuss and Griffiths 2011), as well as low self-esteem and anxious attachment (D’Arienzo et al.”
Are Social Media Ruining Our Lives? A Review of Meta-Analytic Evidence (2019, result): “Unlike other available reviews (e.g., Holland & Tiggemann, 2016; Kuss & Griffiths, 2011; Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012), our focus is on meta-analytic research.”
Ethics of the Attention Economy: The Problem of Social Media Addiction (2020, background): “In this article, our primary focus will be on the specific internet addiction that Young categorizes as cyber relationship addiction or what others have called social media addiction or social networking addiction (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011).”
Uses and Gratifications of Problematic Social Media Use Among University Students: a Simultaneous Examination of the Big Five of Personality Traits, Social Media Platforms, and Social Media Use Motives (2018, background): “…higher usage of Facebook as a task management tool on the part of extraverts (Horzum 2016), as well as with a systematic review that noted a positive association between extraversion and higher usage of social media for the social consolidation of existing relationships (Kuss and Griffiths 2011).”
Technological addictions and social connectedness: predictor effect of internet addiction, social media addiction, digital game addiction and smartphone addiction on social connectedness (2017, background): “(19) have described smartphone addiction as a behavioral addiction; Kuss and Griffiths (20), Griffiths (21), van den Eijnden et al.”
Extraversion, neuroticism, attachment style and fear of missing out as predictors of social media use and addiction (2017, background): “Extraversion has been shown to be positively related to both social media use and addictive tendencies (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011; Ryan & Xenos, 2011; Wilson, Fornasier, & White, 2010).”