Are you an 'e-Social' addict? Here are the signs to look out for

By Saliha Nasline

Imagine spending hours and hours on social media every single day , scrolling through your Facebook wall or chatting on WhatsApp or wading through the latest tweets. Meera (name changed) is among a growing number of people who do so, with the result that they find little time for anything else, a phenomenon that is detrimental to their lives and careers but can be reversed with professional counselling.
"I am a social media addict," admitted Meera, a college student, who is working on a project at a leading financial institution in Bengaluru. "I check my Facebook ac count through my phone every 10 minutes. Even when I have nothing to post on my wall or nothing particular to check, I will be scrolling through the news feed. I rarely get time to do college assignments" Meera's self-realisation, according to experts, could well be her first step towards rehabilitation.

A 27-year-old executive from a wellknown firm decided to seek help as he had lost control over the time he was spending on social media. He was getting in touch with complete strangers and discussing his most intimate details. He was threatened, scolded, but he carried on. His addiction to look for new members each time for a chat of this kind was keeping him away from his family and made his work atmosphere a suffering. He was concerned that he might get caught as one of his colleagues was fired, in an overseas office branch, for internet surfing.

With counselling, though, he came back to his normal life, said Reena Yadav, researcher and proprietrix at It's a Deserving Life (IADLife), Bengaluru.

"Social media addiction is quite common nowadays. The phenomenon is something new and, in psychiatry, no one has given a title for it," said Dr MJ Thomas, consultant psychiatrist, drmjthomas.com, Bengaluru.

Dr Thomas, who has been practising for nearly four decades, said, "It is learnt that people who are spending more time online show more depression and anxiety symptoms. If other people are posting happy life accomplishments, then the user feels miserable about his inability to post some thing similar. It leads to depression in some peo ple." Besides, an increasing number of people are report ing marital problems, he said."When you get to the root cause, it will usually be social media. In India, no one comes complaining of internet addiction because there is less awareness about the condition," he said.

Social media helps people stay in touch with each other but some of its features also cause stress to many , said Yadav. The first thing to do, according to her, is to find out whether a person is addicted. "He should not be hard on himself, but should see if he can engage in other activities like playing with kids or a pet, cooking or walking to the coffee machine or water station while in office. Gradually , his habit of addiction to phones or social networking sites reduces," said Yadav .

Secondly , the person should write down affirmations and keep it where he can read it as many times as possible. Affirmations such as "I can do this, I have the will power" and "Dayby-day I am getting better and better" lift the will power to change.

If all these tips don't work, a trained counsellor can help gradually reduce the time spent on social media, she said. In most of the cases the root cause is the desire for attention or someone's approval, according to her.

Have you ever been caught by your boss while chatting on Facebook or online shopping at workplace? Not only does this result in productivity loss, but also it could put some companies in legal trouble.

"We all know that social media is an integral part of almost all organisations. Nowadays, social media is widely used from recruitments to marketing," said Supradee p Rajkhowa, lead HR of a leading IT company.

However, many employees seem to be using social media more for leisure than for of fice use, he said."Employees are always keen on updating statuses, commenting on pictures, `stalking' friends and they manage to do all these things during office hours...Organisations can't really ban the use of social media, even if the employees are blocked from using such URLs, because they all have smartphones. But a company can promote its healthy use," he said.

Blocking sites is not the answer, said Mitin Paul, co-founder of By the Riverside, a startup that makes home decor products out of reclaimed materials. "All we can do is encourage people not to use social media platforms during work hours," he said.

According to Dr Prajakta Deshpande, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at Manasvin, Pune, it is mostly people above 40 who seek an appointment with doctors to deal with suspected social media addiction. In case of children, she said, the parents should block unwanted sites and curtail internet time.