How to know if I am addicted to social networking

The friends of PortalProgramas have wanted to collaborate with Cisolog sharing a study that have been conducted on how to affect social networks in our personal relationships with the collaboration of four experts:

The psychologist Mertxe Pasamontes
The sociologist Javier de Rivera
The director of the Association of internet Victor Domingo
The director of the Training Center Project Man in “Avarca” Antonio Jesús Molina Fernández

This is a study carried out in the form of a round table where all the experts have given their opinion on various issues and is published in five reports that can be found here, in Cisolog, and in the digital magazine Milbits of PortalProgramas:

How to know if I am addicted to social networking
Does the addiction to a social network, if you can call it that, can be as serious as other addictions such as drug addiction?
In the case of being hooked, how can we learn to make a responsible use?
Since there are social networks, do we have less need to see/talk with people in person?
What precautions we must take to use Facebook does not harm our daily life?

We started this entry with the first of them, but not before sending a special thank you, for your mediation in this collaboration, Anna Ortiz (Department of Communication PortalProgramas).

—————————

Social networks are online platforms that are increasingly in vogue. Today it is a rare person who is not attached to any network of this type. These new practices on the Internet are causing a shift in the way we interact with others, whether for good or for evil. Each time we talked more with the people of our environment through the network, either with a computer or with a smartphone, smartphones are also on the rise.

For these reasons, from PortalProgramas we have conducted a round-table discussion on how to affect social networks in our personal relationships with 4 experts from different branches for us to solve some doubts that have arisen through the observation of the phenomenon of social networks. In this roundtable, we had five general questions to opinaran according to their specialty and then we perform a series of specific questions for each one, tailored to your area of knowledge. Then we have to introduce you to the experts that have participated and we show the first question that opens this round table.

Experts participating in the round table

Javier Rivera: is a Sociologist, graduated at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Currently, he is preparing the doctoral Thesis on the processes of configuration of the Digital Society, social networks, socialization technology, and uses socio-political technologies digital.

Antonio Jesús Molina Fernández: Degree in Psychology(University of Granada) and Anthropology (UNED), director of the Center for Training of Project Man in Aravaca, an organization with 26 centers that offers help to people in need of treatment to overcome all sorts of addictions.

Mertxe Pasamontes: Degree in Psychology (University of Barcelona) and Humanities (UOC) with recognition of the clinical specialty and accredited European Expert in psychotherapy (EuroPsy). Loves everything related to the web 2.0 because it allows you to communicate with many different people and there can apply their knowledge of humanities and social psychology.

Victor Sunday: the President of the Association of internet, a non-profit association that fights for the rights of Internet users. Coordinator of the campaign for online safety, anti-fraud and child protection.

—————————

First question: How do you differentiate between being active in the social networks to be hooked?

Antonio Jesus Molina, Project Man: In that sense, the addiction to C & s is not unlike other addictions behavioral. We speak of problematic use or addiction when there is an impact on activities of daily living, social relationships, personal aspects (especially emotional), family relationship…impact that limits or restricts such activities. In terms of personal attitudes, we talk about social isolation, irritability, inability to control and/or limit the activity, blocking and/or explosions, the emotional, the use of lies to hide the activities carried out, disorder, behavioral (sleep, food, hygiene…)

[…] problematic use or addiction when there is an impact on the activities of daily life […]

Mertxe Pasamontes, psychologist: What we mean by being hooked, strictly, is to manifest the symptoms and behaviours characteristic of addiction: loss of control of the use, damage or deterioration of the quality of life as a result of the addiction, use despite harm, denial of the problem, inability to stop the “substance” or “behavior” without suffering withdrawal symptoms, etc… Taking into account that these symptoms would define an addiction already established and of gravity, would have to see in each case whether such use has passed the barrier of being active for longer go on to be addictive. The symptoms referred to may give us an idea of at what point we are.

[…] behaviors characteristic of addiction: loss of control of the use, damage or deterioration of the quality of life as a result of the addiction […]

Javier Rivera, sociologist: I Think that we are already really attached to technology, social networks, mobile phones, cars, television, etc Are part of us and of our lives. Although perhaps the crux of the question is the definition of “being hooked” or “addiction”. From sociology, we are not interested in the detail of whether people are engaged or not, but the type of society and social relations that emerge from their behaviors and personal situations. But if I had to venture out to make a differentiation between “active” and to “be hooked”, I would say that the hooked or addicted associated with your identity, your idea of yourself, your presence on social networks, while another person, active or not so much, not “look at themselves” from their interactions virtual. It is complicated because social networks are not a substance, like drugs, but a way of relating. We can also be hooked to a partner or a way to have fun with friends. What is the difference between being committed in a relationship and be hooked? The hooked “depends on” psychologically from the relationship, the other is able to think for himself without her, she is able to keep the centre itself, or something like that.

[…] the hooked or addicted associated with your identity, your idea of yourself, your presence in social networks […]

Victor Domingo, Association of internet: The answer to that question is a matter for professionals of the psycho-sociology. My perspective of professional use of the Internet does not have rigorously no because I know staff that surf the Internet for professional reasons many hours in the day, but despite that reason are willing to disconnect for a beer with the friends, to be with their loved ones or going for a walk by the mount.