A Study of Social Media Addiction from Retrevo

On this blog I have asked if social media is like taking a nap, going to the water cooler, or going out for a smoke?  Here is a study from Retrevo that asks a different question: Is Social Media the New Cigarette? It other words, it looked at social media addiction and found a lot. Retrevo's "Gadgetology Report" is an ongoing study of people and electronics from consumer electronics shopping site. The data came from a study of online individuals conducted by an independent panel. The sample size was 771 distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. So the results reflect active online users.

It found that their sample used social media in the car (over 35 – 9%, under 35 – 40%), at work (over 35 – 29%, under 35  - 64%), on vacation (over 35 – 41%,  under 35 - 65%), on a date (over 35- 9%,  under 35 - 34%), and after sex (over 35 - 8%,  under 35 - 36%).  This raises several issues. For example, I wonder how many of the at work users are doing at the companies that ban social media at work?  How many of the drivers are violating laws against this activity? 

Twitter seems to be the most addictive. For respondents under age 35, 27% of those who use Facebook said they check it more than 10 times a day compared to 39% of Twitter users checking in on Twitter more than 10 times a day. Across all age groups, 56% say they check it between one and ten times a day. I certainly find Twitter more addictive. The activity is very fast and real time so you want to stay connected and it is easy to make a quick check.

The biggest enablers of this new addiction seem to be smartphones and other mobile devices, especially if you are under 35. In the Gadgetology study only 19% of the 35+ group use a phone as the preferred device for social media services with 81% preferring instead a desktop or laptop computer. This is me as I never use a phone, even though I have an iPhone. Perhaps I will as I get more used to my iPhone. Over on the other side of the generation gap they found 46% of those younger than 35 indicating their preference for a mobile device for all things social media.

This has already affected the workplace in several ways. Mobile devices are found to drive up business related social media use in other studies and observations.  Some organization like the state government in Utah have recognized these trends and acted proactively by creating guidelines that encouraged appropriate use. This is much better than banning it at work. However, there are situations when bans are the right thing. For example, the dangers of doing social at the wrong time are being recognized by such actions as the recent ban on Federal government employees texting while driving.

Social media will not go away.  In fact, it can be addictive for some. Work place policy and governance needs to recognize this and channel this addiction in appropriate ways. Bans are not the answer or even implementing simple limitations. If your job involves business intelligence or customer service you might what to check Twitter at least ten times a day.

Are you addicted to social media? How often do you check it? Is Twitter the biggest addiction? 

Comments

[Rotkapchen]

What I think is even more ironic is the fallacy of 'control' that is being imposed in companies. And consider how much money they're paying to shore up such control as people sit on their mobile phones invoking their own exercise of control : )

[Deni Kasrel]

Bill,
Good post on a real issue that warrants attention. Some people put the words "social media addict" in their Twitter profiles. This is likely to infer great enthusiasm for the platform, as opposed to a malady.

Certain of my friends post pretty much anything on Facebook; it is baffling really. The most mundane comments, such as "having a bad hair day" or "just stubbed my toe,ouch!" seem to get the most replies/commments from FB friends -- are these respondents then enablers?

I recently did a post on this very topic on my blog -- it was about whether or not companies can truly ban personal use of social media while on the job -- like you, I note smartphones make it impossible and that the solution is realistic reasonable policies on the part of the employer.

But yes, Twitter, can be highly addictive, especially due to the real-time element, and RT factor, which instill a high level of instant gratification.

[bill Ives]

Deni - Thanks for your great comment. I go to twitter when I what to take a break. I used to do other online things. It is addictive but I keep it to break time. Bill

[bill Ives]

Paula - Control is an illusion today. better to ride the wave than get consumed by it. Bill