Psychology of Social Media

 How much of it is a hobby and at what point does internet usage become an addiction? It's incredibly hard for me to look at this objectively as I was raised with internet access and access to gaming. My brothers and I would sit for hours on end daily doing various digital things that made us happy for entertainment. Sometimes we'd spend weekends doing nothing but beating a game. Is that an addiction? It's not like we had anything else going on. As an adult, these habits still stand for me. But I don't see them as an addiction. Would any interest that is seemingly all consuming from the outside be considered an addiction? There are so many aspects of gaming that make it appealing. Sure, you can bill it as the game itself in total. But there's communication, creation, story, and learning new real-world skills or knowledge at times. Though this module highlighted the negative aspects of pokemon go, but it was an attempt to make people more social and physically active...

 Remember Kony 2012? Some might not, and others might act like they do to avoid the embarrassment. There is so much information online, so many tales of desperation and helplessness shared over and over by people who don't actually care enough to look into the real problem. Maybe with a simple retweet you can get someone's cry for help to a person with the right resources for the job. You may be sending them to the wrong people too. There's a chance the people aren't who they say they are, such as people filing a missing persons post to find their abuse victims who finally managed to get away. At least click the link and read a bit before blindly sharing. If it is a genuine plea from someone who needs help, don't discount yourself immediately. You could be the one resource they end up needing afterall.