A study by researchers at Vrije University in Amsterdam has linked the use of Facebook to hedonic addiction.
With people spending more time glued to their phones, social media is quickly becoming addictive, the new study warned.
The worrying study found that the mere sight of the Facebook logo is now enough to get some people craving time online, according to Daily Mail, that first reported the result of the study online.
The findings illustrate just how obsessed people are becoming with social media, and could help to develop a social media rehabilitation programme.
The research claims the site is just as addictive as chocolate or nicotine.
Researchers from Vrije University in Amsterdam studied the online habits of 200 people, and found that showing frequent Facebook users the site’s logo sparked spontaneous pleasurable reactions – which made it difficult for them to resist.
Social media has been found to be more addictive than drinking or smoking – with doctors warning it can endanger mental health.
Now, it has been illustrated just how obsessed people can become with the mere sight of the logo sparking immediate “hedonic reactions”.
In the study, participants were asked to rate a series of images as pleasant or unpleasant after being shown either the Facebook logo or a neutral cue.
The results showed that frequent social media users reacted more positively to the images that followed the Facebook logo.
But it did not affect the responses of the less frequent users.
A second study replicated the first, but added another dimension – measuring Facebook cravings among the participants.
This included questions such as “I want to use Facebook right now,” “I would love if it was possible to use Facebook right now,” or “I don’t need Facebook at the moment”.
Results showed that there was a direct link between the level of their cravings and their earlier reaction to the Facebook logo.
Dr Guido van Koningsbruggen, who led the study, said “Frequent Facebook users showed more favourable affective reactions in response to Facebook cues compared to control cues.
“Less-frequent Facebook users’ affective reactions did not differ between Facebook and control cues.
“These results support our hypothesis that exposure to social media cues triggers spontaneous hedonic reactions in frequent social media users”.
The findings are consistent with the idea that social media users have strong and positive reactions to media content.
Dr Koningsburggen added that “Given that cravings reflect one of the aspects of problematic or unregulated media use and have been associated with a preference for immediately rewarding behaviour when tempted, we speculate that the observed spontaneous hedonic reactions to social media cues might also be associated with people’s failures to resist social media temptations”.
The researchers believe that their findings could be used to develop a social media rehabilitation programme.
Dr Brenda Wienderhold, who also worked on the study, said “Understanding hedonic reactions, both psychological and physiological, to social media cues can help us to develop more effective treatment and prevention protocols”.