From: Science Daily: University of Bergen. “Are you a Facebook addict?.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 May 2012.
The use of Facebook has increased rapidly. We are dealing with a subdivision of Internet addiction connected to social media,” Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen says about the study, which is the first of its kind worldwide.
To help folks understand if they are addicted to facebook, a scale was created. It’s called the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale.
From: Science Daily: University of Bergen. “Are you a Facebook addict?.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 May 2012.
About the Scale
In January 2011, 423 students – 227 women and 196 men – participated in tests for the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. The scale can facilitate treatment research, clinical assessment and can be used for the estimation of Facebook addiction prevalence in the general population worldwide.
The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale has been developed at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen in collaboration with the Bergen Clinics Foundation, Norway. The researchers involved are also working with instruments measuring other addictions, such as the recently introduced Bergen Work Addiction Scale.
The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale
According to the Scale, there are six warning signs.
The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale is based on six basic criteria, where all items are scored on the following scale: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, and (5) Very often:
- You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
- You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
- You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
- You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
- You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
- You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.
Andreassen’s study shows that scoring “often” or “always” on at least four of the seven items may suggest that a person is addicted to Facebook.
If a Person is Concerned They May Be Addicted, A Good Place to Get Help is…
The Technology Addiction Cure.
