Facebook Addiction: New Scale Gauges Social Media Dependency

Some people can't stop friending, tagging, poking, and posting. Psychologists say Facebook addiction is real--and now it can be measured.

Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have developed a new tool, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, to measure obsession with the social media site.

For a new study published in the April 12, 2012 issue of the journal Psychological Reports, the researchers tested the scale with more than 400 university students.

The scale gauges Facebook addiction on the basis of six criteria:

• You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
• You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
• You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
• You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
• You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
• You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

People are asked to self-report how each statement applies to them: (1) very rarely, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, and (5) very often.

The researchers found that people who indicate "often" or "very often" on four or more of the statements may be experiencing a Facebook addiction--and women are at greatest risk, according to the study. People with poor sleep habits also score high on the scale.

"It occurs more regularly among younger than older users," study author Dr. Cecilie Schou Andreassen, a psychologist at the university, said in a written statement. "We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face."

Plus, let's face it, avoiding Facebook is tough. Recent research from the University of Chicago suggests that social media are more addictive than sex.

About two-thirds of adults online--66 percent--say they use some type of social media like Facebook or Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center.

Facebook has more than 900 million monthly active users.

Check out the video below for more on how the Internet affects our lives.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[tomedson2004]

08:36 PM on 11/06/2012

Personally I feel that too many people use Facebook and become addicted to it, where it negatively affects their jobs, school and also puts people at risk of not getting employed on certain jobs due to employers looking on their Facebook page. Facebook can be a great way to promote your business and connect with friends, so there are positives and negatives, but beware of Facebook addiction lol

[tomedson2004]

08:33 PM on 11/06/2012

This article was so helpful, we quoted a few lines in it on our blog, regarding Facebook addiction http://nomorecreditcards.com/facebook-addicts-financial-survey/

[mh430]

09:49 PM on 09/27/2012

I don't know that I agree with the findings. I believe that we do have different levels of ability to retain information. But we all perceive it differently. I spend little time on facebook and twitter because I find it redundant. I enjoy reading and watching video's from both left and right wing sites. I'm always amazed at the different comments I read after reading or watching the same information. I know people that work 20 hours a day but don't believe that there is a segment of are society that refuse to work, and spend hours trying to figure a way to get more benifits. I know people who completely rely on government assistance and can't understand why we help victims in other countries suffering from a natural disaster.

[Margie Sutherland]

12:20 PM on 08/06/2012

People have an innate need to connect. Many of us live sedentary lives because of the type of jobs we have. We are on our computers all the time. We live off of technology because communications can be documented and are faster. There are benefits to Social Media because of the connections but there are also downsides if overused. Just like anything in life, there needs to be a balance.

[kleind862]

05:15 PM on 05/21/2012

A legal drug for weak sheep of our world , People today are zombies and live inside their computers. I call them robot !

[jasonsmd]

04:44 PM on 05/12/2012

One of the few treatment centers in the United States that treats FB addiction is www.arctreatment.com. My son went there, for that and other issues, and has gotten back on the right path...

[czs5056]

08:22 PM on 05/11/2012

i use it as a kill time waiting for class to start

[TooKrunk]

03:44 PM on 05/11/2012

I don't have facebook, but I have heard it helps when stalking ex girlfriends.

[David Licht]

02:40 PM on 05/11/2012

I think while learning new things, i think that it is true we are kiling brain cells in a part of our brain cause we're not using it that much and that we're having Google, and the internet do it for us.

[John Kettles]

01:59 AM on 05/10/2012

I can quit any time I want to... ; )

[qaan]

01:44 AM on 05/10/2012

I was addicted to FB games. Then FB updated its policy so you had to agree that they could track your Web usage even when you weren't on FB. To me that was an invasion of my privacy.

I wiped out everything on my profile and then discontinued my account. That was over a year ago and I feel SO much better.

[GOODDOC1]

07:11 PM on 05/09/2012

The scale should have gone from 0 to 5, with 0 for "never". I use Face Book, and none of those statements applies to me. Anything and any behaviour can be addictive.

[pslcitizen]

06:46 PM on 05/09/2012

If Facebook is your life, you really do need to get out more..lol.

[qaan]

01:45 AM on 05/10/2012

That's true. I'm disabled and housebound so that set me up for potential FB addiction.

[alblonie116]

06:07 PM on 05/09/2012

I want to dump mine,,serves no purpose...

[GOODDOC1]

07:12 PM on 05/09/2012

Just don't sign on to the site.

[gsalis]

05:44 PM on 05/09/2012

People do need to get lives