Think your social media addiction is an accident? Think you undeniable love for Facebook is as a result of your own doing? Ever wondered why you end up spending junks of your time on social media platforms every single day? If you were being too hard on yourself on social media addiction, it’s time to start going easy on yourself-social media was designed to be addictive!
How Social Media is made to be Addictive
What’s common between Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? The ‘Like’ button. Yes, ever since Facebook adopted the like button back in 2009, the other social media platforms followed suit and the today, a social media platform is not complete without a small like button to provide feedback on whether the content posted is likeable or not.
Likes equal to social validation
The fundamental function of the like button in all the social media platforms, is to provide the users with a means of quenching their craving for attention. We all log into Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram with one thought in mind: I hope someone liked the stuff I posted earlier.
It is not surprising therefore that the first thing we all do when we log into our various social media platforms, is to check the notifications first. It is almost as if we are crying out loud to get as many likes as possible on the content we put out on social media- and the creators of social media platforms know this very well.
The attention economy
Thanks to our unending love for attention, we have created a micro-economy online which the social media platforms are exploiting to mint billions of dollars. Attention economy operates on the demand for attention and validation that we all have as humans and the social media platforms are supplying that attention to us right in the palms of our hands.
By capitalizing on the attention economy, the social media platforms can then transform the numerous hours we spend on their sites into money by selling ads. This is why the platforms with the highest numbers make the highest amounts of money every single year.
It is intrinsically rewarding talking about oneself
The other reason that makes social media compulsive for many, is the joy associated with self-disclose. There is a lot of joy that is associated with talking about oneself and social media platforms provide us with an avenue to talk about ourselves.
You can tweet about your day on Twitter, update a status on Facebook about your thoughts on something, post a photo on Instagram to show that world the progress in your life et cetera. The act of disclosing one’s own thoughts and telling the world about oneself, is intrinsically rewarding.
The emotional appeal gets the better of most people
We humans are sentient people. We have emotions and are always looking for things and people to express our emotions to and social media gives us a virtual platform to do this. Social media platforms are designed in a way such that they will emotionally appeal to their users- here is how it works:
If a loved one passes on today and you post his/her photo on Facebook accompanied by a short message mourning him or her, be sure that people will send their condolences and almost mourn with you albeit online. This gives you a sense of belonging- it almost feels like you are all one big family on whatever platform that you frequent on.
Should you be worried about your social media addiction?
So, should you be worried about the almost compulsive obsession of the various social media platforms? Are there ways through which you can unshackle yourself from the grip of social media obsession?
Social media has become part and parcel of daily living today. It is not only an avenue for communication, it is being used for ecommerce and other important modern day living like data collection and analysis. If you can’t control your usage of social media therefore, you should tame it and channel the love for it to make a living.
Here at Runrex, we always advise people who feel like they are spending too much time on social media, to convert their hours into money. There are very many social media jobs in the world today. You can choose to run corporate social media accounts, run a small business on the platforms or even become a social media marketing expert.
Talk to Runrex
If you are looking to channel your love for social media into something meaningful, then talk to us here at Runrex and we will get you started on social media marketing and other related jobs. Runrex is a full-fledged marketing agency serving both Multinational companies and small start-ups in the Houston area at very affordable rates all year round.
Give Runrex a call today and we will gladly be of service to you.