Reyes 1

Valeria Reyes

English 1302

Judith McCann

9 February 2022

Essay 1- Facebook is so Addicting!

People sometimes feel that social media can be very addicting to them. One specific

social media that is very addicting is Facebook. Most people are on their phones all the time

scrolling through their feeds. This may cause some addiction for people when they are not in

touch with this social media. Facebook is a platform that can cause a lot of anxiety, addiction,

and can even change their personality. Some Researchers have made some opinions towards

what might happen to people that are addicted to Facebook if they stop using it for a while.

According to these researches they mentioned that people might change their moods, feel more

stressful, and feel that they are alone.

Overall, Facebook is a virtual space where many can have some fun and release their

stress. However, spending too much time on this social media can affect people’s lives. Think

about it: when you are not in your favorite app how do you react? Do your moods change? Do

you get anxiety? An experiment was performed where a participant tested this out.) Researchers

have discovered that there are many side effects when people use too much facebook.

It is surprising how much time people spend on facebook every day. According to the

Article “Facebook addiction and personality” it stated that people spend about 60 min every 5-6

times a day (Thipparapu and Rajesh, 2). Think about how people could do too many things that

can benefit them instead of sitting down and scrolling through facebook. In fact, people that
 Reyes 2

suffer from (FAD) also known as Facebook Addiction Disorder have six typical characteristics

which are salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal symptoms, and conflict

(Brailovskia and Margaf, 1-2). According to an article,(FAD) is an addiction that can really

affect human beings’ mental health ( Brailovskia and Margaf 1-2). For instance, In a article that I

read it mentioned how mood modification can not be related to narcissism ,but in some ways it

can have some common things ( Brailovskia and Margaf, 11). It mentioned that sometimes it can

have an outcome of positive or negative mood outcome that can relate to narcissism. This is

because people that are addicted to Facebook can focus too much on them and don’t know what

is happening in the world. In another article I read that when people don’t use facebook they feel

different personalities such as loneliness and narcissism (Thipparapu and Rajesh, 2). This means

that people tend to feel alone when they don’t use this social media. One of the reasons why they

tend to feel lonely is because they are used to being alone and never socialize with others instead

they message people through social media. This can also affect people because they tend to get

used to only communicating with people on social media instead of socializing person to person.

Since there are so many good and bad outcomes when people do not use facebook, there

was a five day experiment where a researcher decided to do an experiment and had to avoid

using facebook. This person could use other social media except facebook because that was the

“app” she was more attached to. The first attempt this person just tried to hide the app on her

phone and avoid using. Unfortunately, this method failed because the second day of the

experiment she forgot she couldn’t use facebook. This person felt anxiety in those two days

when she did not use social media. In fact, this person felt that she had to login to facebook in

order to feel more calm. The second method this person used to avoid using facebook was to

uninstall only facebook and keep messenger. This person only uninstalled facebook because she
 Reyes 3

felt that messenger was not going to lead her to use facebook. Unfortunately, this method also

failed because the person “had” to install facebook because she received a message thru

messenger. As we can see it was very hard for the person to avoid facebook every time she

would unconsciously open the app which made her use facebook. The Third method this person

used to avoid using facebook was to uninstall both facebook and messenger.

According to this person, uninstalling both apps was very helpful because she did not

have any temptations which would prevent her from installing facebook again. After too many

methods this person found the perfect method to avoid using this social media. Unfortunately,

this person had to start her experiment again after 4 days of trying different methods. This

person described how she felt everyday she did not use social media and what she was doing to

avoid breaking the rule.

To start off, The first day this person felt she had anxiety and felt very lonely. Since this

person would always message her friends, she felt she did not have any friends which made her

feel very antisocial. One of the reasons why this researcher felt without friends is because she

has a lot of friends on facebook and not in the real world. This demonstrates that it is true what

some authors mentioned in their article. According to them, people feel better and get accepted

in society by having a high number of friends on Facebook (Thipparapu and Rajesh, 2). One of

the ways this person would try to avoid using social media was by studying more for her classes

and trying to do a hobby. Although this person was trying to avoid using social media she was

about to install facebook ,but she reminded herself that she couldn’t use it. The person also had

mood changes, because she felt she had to use facebook. In fact, according to what other

researchers stated in an article they mentioned that people tend to use Facebook in order to feel

with company and communicate with others. This makes human beings escape from negative
 Reyes 4

mood states (Thipparapu and Rajesh, 2). This researcher felt sad because she couldn’t see what

her friends were doing and she couldn’t communicate with them. Which made her mood change

from happy to sad and stressful.

The second day of this experiment the person felt the same or worse. Everything started

to increase such as sadness, anxiety, and loneliness. These feelings can also relate to what the

other researchers mentioned in their article because according to them it mentioned how 26% of

individuals felt lonely without facebook and how 3% of the people were suffering from stress

and anxiety (Thipparapu and Rajesh, 2). Some of the ways this person would try to avoid it

when she wanted to install facebook was by cooking, spending time with her family, and trying

to only focus on herself. She mentioned that this method really helped her because it not only

helped her forget about facebook ,but also spent time with her family and learned how to cook.

Although this person felt company when she was with her family, she still felt lonely. One of the

reasons why this person still felt lonely is because she was not used to spending time with her

family and she rarely would make conversation with them. The researcher felt she was missing

something to do every 30 minutes since she would always check her facebook to see if her

friends had posted something. Now she felt she was not in touch with them. In other words, the

analyzer felt she did not have any friends nor life because she was already used to

communicating with her friends through facebook. She also felt a lot of anxiety every time she

wanted to download the app.

The third day of this scientific experiment she felt her moods change. For instance, when

she felt she was spending time with her family she did not feel sad, or with anxiety. According to

the researcher she stated that the only times she felt anxiety was when she was alone or she was
 Reyes 5

in a place where she did not know anyone. This might be because she is not used to socializing

with people face to face and she would rather communicate with them through social media.

The fourth day of this experiment she felt that she was happy without using social media

and she felt that she could have more days without using Facebook. According to this researcher

she felt that she learned how to deal with stress and anxiety. She stated that she feels that has

better communication with her family and friends without using any electronic device to

communicate with them. The Last day of the experiment the researcher felt that she could pretty

much deal with how she was feeling. In fact, she decided to be more social with people in public

places and made new friends. This person mentioned that she felt better having more friends in

person than on social media because she could communicate better with them. The researcher

also felt more comfortable and happy without using social media.

In conclusion, Facebook can really affect people's emotions. In fact, some people suffer

from anxiety or have a mood change due to Facebook addiction. Some researchers thought an

Individual that suffers from Facebook addiction suffers from anxiety and mood changes. They

mentioned that it is very hard for a person that is addicted to facebook to feel comfortable and

happy without using social media. According to the researcher that made the scientific project

she mentioned that it was hard to stop using social media ,but in the end she had great outcomes.

Worked Cited
 Reyes 6

Brailovskaia, Julia and Margraf, Jürgen. “Facebook addiction Disorder (FAD) among German

students- A longitudinal approach.” Plos One, 2017, pp.1-15.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0189719

Rajesh,Thipparapu and Rangaiah Dr.B. “Facebook addiction and personality.” Heliyon, 2020,

pp.1-6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020300293

Ryan,Tracii,et al. “The uses and abuses of Facebook: A review of Facebook Addiction.” Journal

of Behavioral Addictions, 2014, pp.133-148.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189307/