(Press-News.org) Instagram users may overestimate the extent to which they are addicted to the platform, according to research conducted on 1,204 US adults published in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that for most social media users, excessive use is driven by habit rather than genuine addiction.
Addiction towards a substance or action is typically characterised by a cluster of symptoms including difficulties controlling use, experiencing cravings to use, experiencing withdrawal symptoms when not using, and continuing to use despite negative consequences or risk of harm.
Ian Anderson and Wendy Wood surveyed an approximately representative sample of 380 US Instagram users, who were 50% women and had an average age of 44 years. Participants described how addicted they felt to Instagram and were assessed for symptoms of addictive Instagram use. The authors found that although 18% of participants at least somewhat agreed that they were addicted to Instagram — with 5% substantially agreeing — only 2% displayed symptoms indicating risk of potential addiction.
The authors explored a potential cause of this discrepancy by assessing descriptions of social media use in news articles published in US news media outlets between November 2021 and November 2024. They identified 4,383 articles mentioning the phrase “social media addiction” and 50 mentioning the phrase “social media habit”. This suggests that frequent social media use tends to be described as an addiction in US news articles. The authors suggest that this may influence how users perceive their social media use.
Using a second sample of 824 US adult Instagram users, the authors investigated potential negative impacts of labelling frequent Instagram use as an addiction. The authors found that prompting participants to frame their social media use as an addiction was associated with lower feelings of control over their Instagram use and assigning higher levels of blame to both themselves and the platform for their excessive use.
Together, the findings suggest that labelling frequent social media use as an addiction by news media and other institutions may contribute to Instagram users overestimating the extent to which they are addicted to the platform and may also negatively impact their perceptions of their social media use. More selective use of the term addiction by policymakers and the news media in relation to social media use may reduce this effect, according to the authors.
END
Psychology: Instagram users overestimate social media addiction
2025-11-27
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Climate change: Major droughts linked to ancient Indus Valley Civilization’s collapse
2025-11-27
Successive major droughts, each lasting longer than 85 years, were likely a key factor in the eventual fall of the Indus Valley Civilization, according to a paper in Communications Earth & Environment. The findings may help explain why this major ancient civilization — a contemporary of ancient Egypt located around the modern India-Pakistan border — slowly declined, and highlights how environmental factors could shape ancient societies.
The Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) was one of the ...
Hematological and biochemical serum markers in breast cancer: Diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic significance
2025-11-27
Breast cancer remains a predominant global health challenge for women, with late-stage diagnosis being a key contributor to its high mortality. This is particularly pronounced in low-resource settings where access to advanced, costly diagnostic tools is limited. There is a pressing need for affordable, non-invasive, and accessible diagnostic strategies. This review underscores the significant potential of hematological and biochemical serum markers as pivotal tools to bridge this diagnostic gap, offering insights into diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring for breast cancer.
Hematological Markers Associated with Breast Cancer
Hematological ...
Towards integrated data model for next-generation bridge maintenance
2025-11-27
Japan is facing the urgent challenge of aging infrastructure, amidst ineffective linking of on-site experience and expertise with vast amounts of digital data in maintenance operations. This is especially the case for bridges across Japan. With a large number of bridges constructed during the rapid economic growth period, aging simultaneously, extensive inspection data and repair histories have been managed disparately across paper ledgers or departmental systems thus far, leading to inadequate integration between the experience of skilled engineers and digital data.
To address this inefficiency, it is vital to leverage cutting-edge ...
Pusan National University researchers identify potential new second-line option for advanced biliary tract cancer
2025-11-27
Biliary tract cancers, including intrahepatic, perihilar, and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer, are among the most aggressive gastrointestinal malignancies. Treatment options remain limited once the disease progresses after first-line chemotherapy, and survival rarely exceeds one year.
To address this, the team of researchers led by Professor Yun Hak Kim from Pusan National University, analyzed 12 years of clinical data from 54 patients treated at Yonsei Severance Hospital and combined the results with a systematic review and meta-analysis of 21 studies from around the world. This paper was made available ...
New study warns of alarming decline in high blood pressure control in England
2025-11-27
A comprehensive new analysis by researchers at Queen Mary University of London warns that England has lost the substantial gains made in high blood pressure prevention, diagnosis and management during the 2000s.
Drawing on data from more than 67,000 adults who participated in the annual Health Survey for England between 2003 and 2021, researchers report that the rates of high blood pressure, undiagnosed hypertension and inadequate treatment control have plateaued since 2011 and deteriorated sharply in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Findings ...
DNA transcription is a tightly choreographed event. A new study reveals how it is choreographed
2025-11-27
Life’s instructions are written in DNA, but it is the enzyme RNA polymerase II (Pol II) that reads the script, transcribing RNA in eukaryotic cells and eventually giving rise to proteins. Scientists know that Pol II must advance down the gene in perfect sync with other biological processes; aberrations in the movement of this enzyme have been linked to cancer and aging. But technical hurdles prevented them from precisely determining how this important molecular machine moves along DNA, and what governs its pauses and accelerations.
A new ...
Drones: An ally in the sky to help save elephants!
2025-11-27
Key Findings
Drones can be a valuable, non-invasive tool for observing elephant families and aiding long-term conservation efforts.
Elephants can habituate to drones - showing fewer signs of disturbance both during a single flight and after repeated exposures. Disturbance behaviours were 70% less likely on successive drone flights.
Careful flight protocols matter - when flown high (120 m or above), with a downwind approach, and steadily, drones cause minimal stress.
Just under half of all trials showed no signs of disturbance, and those that did quickly returned to levels comparable with pre-exposure.
The ...
RNA in action: Filming ribozyme self-assembly
2025-11-27
Press Release
Under embargo until 27 November, 11:00 AM, CET
RNA in action: filming ribozyme self-assembly
Researchers have visualised, in unprecedented detail, how a large RNA molecule assembles itself into a functional machine
RNA is a central biological macromolecule, now widely harnessed in medicine and nanotechnology. Like proteins, RNA function often depends on its precise three-dimensional structure. A recent study published in Nature Communications by Marcia group, has captured, for the first time, a ribozyme in ...
Non-invasive technology can shape the brain’s reward-seeking mechanisms
2025-11-27
The nucleus accumbens is a tiny element of the human brain triggered when we experience something enjoyable, and used to help us learn behaviours that lead to rewards.
A new study has shown for the first time that its influence on human behaviour can be altered using transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS).
Applying the technique for just over a minute at a time, researchers were able to influence how people learned the links between certain cues and rewards.
The result was that they were more likely to repeat a choice that had previously paid off, their learning rates following positive outcomes increased and they were more likely to make ...
X-ray imaging captures the brain’s intricate connections
2025-11-27
An international team of researchers led by the Francis Crick Institute, working with the Paul Scherrer Institute, have developed a new imaging protocol to capture mouse brain cell connections in precise detail.
In work published today in Nature Methods, they combined the use of X-rays with radiation-resistant materials sourced from the aerospace industry.
The images acquired using this technique allowed the team to see how nerve cells connect in the mouse brain, without needing to thinly slice biological tissue samples.
Volume electron microscopy (volume EM) has been the gold standard for imaging how nerve cells connect as ‘circuitry’ ...