Is it just fascinated by social media and truly addicted to Facebook? This is to determine Norwegian researchers. They have developed a new instrument to measure the dependence on the social network.

Addicted to Facebook as the Bottle

More and more users become addicted to social media like Facebook or Twitter. Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have created a scale to measure dependence Facebook.

Cecilie Schou Andreassen, one of the researchers of the project, explains: “Addiction is more common among young users. In addition, people who are naturally anxious and feel insecure use Facebook more regularly. “One aspect that the researcher explained by the fact that more anxious people communicate more easily through social networks rather than face to face.

Be addicted to Facebook as the Bottle

Conversely, people with ambitious nature, organized, are less dependent on Facebook. They use it as part of their work to create a network and thus put themselves forward.

The study also shows that women are more likely to develop an addiction to Facebook. The researchers believe it is the social nature of the network attracted more than the female. Still according to the researchers, the dependence is linked to a Facebook phenomenon extraversion and large users have a real problem to create a sleep-wake rhythm.

Facebook has become so now that TV in the daily lives of millions of users. It is more difficult for users to know whether or not they are addicted to social media. The Norwegian study was able to prove that the symptoms of Facebook addiction resemble those of alcoholism and drug addiction.

Six criteria for the personal use of the social network can get an idea of ​​possible addiction:

-Spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook and its use

-Feel that you use Facebook more often.

-Use Facebook to forget personal problems.

- Being upset or agitated when it is impossible to use Facebook.

-The use of Facebook has a negative impact on work or studies.

For each response, the user must use the terms “very seldom”, “rarely”, “sometimes”, “often” and “very often”. The study showed that when the user answers “often” or “very often” to four of the six criteria, the behavior is linked to a social network addiction. In January 2011, 423 Norwegian students participated in the trials of this study. This could contribute to the development of a treatment, clinical evaluation and prevent situations of dependency.