What Is Social Media Addiction?

Excessive, compulsive, and habitual use of social media can lead to significant addiction issues for some individuals, affecting various areas of their lives. In some users, the use of social media triggers the release of dopamine, a brain chemical linked to feelings of pleasure. People struggling with social media addiction exhibit symptoms such as:

• Loss of interest in other activities
• Decreased self-esteem
• Increased mental health conditions
• Reduced interpersonal interactions
• Excessive use during interpersonal social activities
• Shunning responsibilities
• Difficulty making and maintaining relationships
• Excessive, frequent, and prolonged use
• Uncontrollable urges to engage in social media

Sleep deprivation, eating disorders, and negative body image often accompany social media addiction. Recent research has revealed that social media use can be particularly dangerous for young users whose developing brains are more vulnerable.

Does Social Media Affect Mental Health?

Social media platforms can have a significant impact on mental health by employing psychological strategies designed to stimulate addictive brain chemicals and encourage users to remain engaged for longer periods. According to the Mayo Clinic, children aged 12 to 15 who spend three or more hours per day on social media face a higher risk of developing mental health issues, including:

• Anxiety and depression by comparison to other users’ idealized life portrayals.
• Negative body image and eating disorders due to portrayed unrealistic and idealized body standards.
• Self-harming behaviors over exposure to harmful content, negative comparisons, bullying, threats, and intimidation from other users.
• Suicidal ideation and suicide over feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, and depression through constant exposure to bullying, threats, and negative self-comparisons.
• Increased anxiety over fear of missing out (FOMO) on social events or experiences, often triggered by others’ social media posts.

Individuals and families have filed numerous wrongful death, suicide, and mental harm lawsuits against many of the world’s most popular social media platforms. In 2023, 42 states joined forces to collectively file a lawsuit against Meta over the negative mental health effects of its platforms.

What Is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is a form of digital bullying or harassment that occurs online or on mobile devices and is particularly pervasive on social media platforms. Cyberbullying refers to posting, sending, or sharing negative, harmful, or false content about a specific person with the express intention of embarrassing, threatening, or causing distress and harm.

Social media provides platforms where users can anonymously or openly target victims and spread damaging comments, rumors, or images to a wide audience, many of whom actively participate in secondary cyberbullying by continuously sharing the content.
Cyberbullying leads to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression. Many victims face mounting harassment as cyberbullying often transitions from digital to interpersonal interactions, particularly for pre-teens and teenagers in school settings. Cyberbullying has been linked to numerous cases of self-harm and suicide.

While other countries have developed laws against cyberbullying, there are no such federal laws in the United States. Several states, however, have enacted laws, many of which require schools to implement anti-bullying policies and procedures for addressing online bullying and harassment. In some states, cyberbullying is considered a crime under existing criminal laws covering harassment, stalking, defamation, and threats. However, enforcement can be challenging due to anonymity and the global sharing nature of social media.

Are Social Media Companies Responsible for Public Harm?

Meta platforms, the company behind the world’s largest social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Threads, faces criticism and numerous lawsuits over leaked internal reports revealing company executives were aware of their platforms’ negative impacts but failed to act. In response to the leaked reports, Congress has repeatedly called Meta Founder Mark Zuckerburg to testify publicly about the negative aspects and public harm associated with his platforms.

The majority of lawsuits against Meta allege maximizing profits over consumer protection resulting in serious mental health conditions, emotional distress, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, sexual abuse, grooming, drug overdoses, and deaths linked to Meta platforms, and accuse the company of the following:

• Failure to install safeguards to monitor and address harmful and dangerous content.
• Purposely promoting dangerous and harmful content to minors.
• Failure to warn consumers of the harmful mental and physical health risks of their platforms.
• Purposely creating platforms and algorithms specifically to maximize screentime and promote addictive behaviors for increased use.
• Failure to exercise reasonable care when developing, operating, and promoting social media platforms.

Lawsuits against social media platforms compensate victims, highlight social media’s dangers, and potentially spawn government regulations enforcing and ensuring public safety. Several states have proposed legislation expanding methods for holding social media companies accountable to include additional forms of harm, such as social media addiction.