Experts say excessive social media use can lead to depression, anxiety
The world has more than two billion active social media users, but whether it's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, how much is too much? Can you get addicted?
"I do find myself kind of like always clutching it and checking it for anything that's happening in the community, the nation, around the world," marketing specialist Nicole Behnke said.
Behnke is a 20-something marketing analyst with a confession about social media.
"I do find myself like just feeling like I'm not connected at all if I don't check it every half hour, so I do feel very dependent on it," Behnke said.
Experts say more teens and young professionals are actually becoming addicted to social media with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
"If you just look at the statistics, you'll see 80 percent of young adults are on some sort of social media," said Dr. Munther Barakat of Aurora Health Care.
WISN 12 News looked at a recent study by the University of Montreal. More than one-third of teenagers say they check their social media accounts more than 25 times a day.
Its study of 216 teens over six months found they posted or commented more than 87,000 times on Instagram. Experts said this can take a toll on their health.
"Research has demonstrated increased issues with sleep, increased issues with depression and anxiety, and stress based on this excessive use. Whether it's the light from the screens they are looking at, or if they get caught up in an argument that happened on there," Barakat said.
Barakat told WISN 12 News he's seeing an increase in the amount of patients he's seeing with these symptoms.
"If it's like, late at night, and my brightness is up too high or something like that, it can give you headaches every now and then," Behnke said.
Eighty percent of those surveyed said they check social media so much because they are bored.
If someone feels stressed by social media, experts say decompress, and the solution may be as simple as finding a hobby.
"Families start doing more activities that don't require the social media, whether it's biking or engage in some sort of sporting activity, or going to the beach, something that they'll feel good about," Barakat said.
If anybody needs to cut down on social media, experts recommend timing out visits to only once per day, scheduling the visits and keeping track of how much time they spend there.