Is social media addiction actually serious?

 I am sure we are all familiar with the term social media addiction, but is it actually a serious addiction?

Let's talk.

There is no actual diagnosis for being addicted to social media, but people are able to classify who they think are and are not more addicted to their phone.

I think some people rely on their phone for allot of their contact and communication - which makes sense, but can appear as if they are just addicted to screens.

If anything I feel like young children are the ones who become the most addicted to social media, because they are less self aware, and do not have as strong of an ability to self regulate or monitor their screen time. 

First I just want to bring up a few things that can be classified or seen as an addiction to social media.

1. Losing hours of your time scrolling through apps, even though you think it has just been minutes.

2. Not wanting to do anything beside being on your phone.

3. Not being able to interact with others in person, without the use of electronics.

4. You are not able to take a break from your phone.

Socially media can appear to be both physically and mentally addicting. Harvard talks about this because when an app bring us joy our body generates dopamine. And we all know you can get addicted to that feeling. 

While I have not personally met someone with a social media addiction, I think it is more a of a habit or dependency on the social platforms than a hardcore addiction. And I don't mean that in a rude way, I think at some point the user or the platform will get boring or disperse some. In some cases some one who is "addicted" to social media could actually end up turning it into a high paying job. I think social media needs to be used in balance like everything else. I also think the alternative or solution to help someone curb a habit of being on their phone 24/7 is not a hard fix to make.