A recent study from Norwegian researchers crossed the barrier in April 2012, providing the first scientific study that examined and quantified Facebook addiction. Facebook, as many are aware, is a social sharing website that can be accessed by computer, mobile phone or mobile device. Users update their profile with personal information, status and photos and then share the data with family and friends. Contacts do the same, and everyone mentally feeds off of everyone else’s material who is connected to each other.
The hope of the Norwegian study is that by identifying the extent of a Facebook addiction, the research can be used by psychologists to help sufferers break their mental connection to use of the website. In comparison, this type of mental addiction may actually be harder to sever than a physical substance abuse because the Internet is so prevalent in everyday life. From grocery shopping to map directions, an Internet connection has become an invaluable tool. And that same connection is all that is needed to access Facebook.
For clarification, however, the real issue is the addiction to social networking activity versus the website of Facebook. The provider could be any other name or company; it’s the access to social connection that drives the “Facebook addiction disorder.” Facebook just happens to be the biggest and easiest platform to find mental satisfaction. A number of other sites have tried to emulate Facebook’s success, including MySpace and Bing, but they do not yet have the mass following of the former.