The 2014 social media update from the Pew Research Center showed Facebook continues to be the most popular of the social media sites. Though platform growth has slowed, the level of user engagement has increased, researchers said. Seventy percent of Facebook users engage with the site daily while 45 percent do so several times a day — a 63 percent increase from 2013. More importantly, Facebook has significant overlap with other platforms. Fifty-two percent of online adults use two or more social media sites, another significant increase from 2013. But, are these increased numbers a sign of enjoyment or addiction?
Scientists have been investigating the idea of Facebook addiction for years now. In 2012, researchers from the University of Bergen conducted a first-of-its-kind study about the ways in which people develop Facebook dependency. The social nature of the site itself was considered problematic, especially for women, extroverts, and those unable to fall asleep until very late at night (people with a delayed sleep-wake rhythm), researchers said. The following year, researchers linked social media use to the reward center of the brain that's associated with preservation of our social reputation, whereas another preliminary study found compulsive Internet use may induce changes in some brain reward pathways that are similar to drug addiction.