Media framing of social media addiction in the UK and the US

Media framing of social media addiction in the UK and the US

Lundahl, Outi

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1 | INTRODUCTION

The media has considerable power in the adoption of and attitudes towards addictive behaviours. For instance, media portrayal of smoking has been shown to have an important impact on its attrac-tiveness and adoption (McCool et al., 2005). However, the media also has the potential to stigmatize individuals, which may lead to discrimination (Cape, 2003; McGinty et al., 2019) but it may also increase the desire to cease addictive behaviours. Media portrayal may also drive more structural changes in a society. For instance, by creating and perpetuating so-called moral panics, the media can also drive excessive regulation to contain the threat supposedly posed by the addicted individuals (Thompson, 1998). Thus, understanding

how the media frames addictive behaviours and substances is im-portant as it can have many direct and indirect effects on the af-fected individuals, industries and the society at large.

One addiction, which has recently gained a great deal of media attention around the world, is social media addiction. In fact, some have gone as far as to call it a “public health emergency” which is “killing us all” (Stanley, 2018). Such concerns have been further per-petuated by former industry insiders who have recently made the news by arguing that social media addiction has been intentionally manufactured by the social media companies (Wong, 2017). This is in stark contrast with extant literature, which has generally focused on investigating the psychological factors, which make a person more susceptible to social media addiction (e.g., Bányai et al., 2017; Received: 18 May 2020 

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DOI: 10.1111/ijcs.12636 O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E

Media framing of social media addiction in the UK and the US

Outi Lundahl

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Correspondence

Outi Lundahl, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. Email: o.k.lundahl@rug.nl

Abstract

As extant literature on social media has generally focused on investigating the psy-chological factors, which makes a person more susceptible to social media addiction, it has not yet investigated how social media addiction is portrayed by the media. However, the media framing of addictions can have considerable implications for consumers, as extant literature has shown them to use media texts as cultural re-sources through which they attempt to understand and justify their behaviour. The media can also have more indirect effects by, for instance, driving stigmatization or public policy initiatives. Thus, this study compares the media framing of social media addiction in the United Kingdom and the United States through longitudinal, mixed-methods frame analysis. It then extends the extant literature by showing how social media addiction has been framed in both the United Kingdom and United States. It shows that concern regarding the issue has increased in both countries. In addition, the findings show that while previously social media addiction has been seen as an individual, psychological problem, concerns about the addictiveness and, thereby, about the lacking public policy measures have also increased in both countries. Implications for individual consumers, public policy and managers are considered. K E Y W O R D S

addiction, media, moral panic, regulation, social media

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Hormes et al., 2014). However, as the media framing of addictions can have considerable direct and indirect effects, it is also important to understand the wider public discourse around the issue. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the media portrayal of social media addiction. More specifically, the aim of this study is to compare and contrast the media portrayal of social media addiction in the United Kingdom and the United States.

The reason for this is that, while a number of countries around the world have instituted public policies for the welfare of social media users, the United Kingdom and the United States have also taken strides towards tackling the problem of social media addiction. However, the proposed public policy measures in these countries vary a great deal. While the United Kingdom has taken a more moderate and individual level stance by, for instance, recommending guidelines as to the amount of time an individual should spend on social media a day (APPG, 2019), in the United States more structural solutions have been proposed. More specifically, a recent bill, called the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act [SMART] (2019), aims to prohibit social media companies from using practices that exploit human psychology to promote addictive behaviours in social media. Therefore, through longitudinal and mixed-methods frame analysis, this study investigates how the media has portrayed social media ad-diction in the United States and the United Kingdom. Consequently, the study also assesses the outcomes of such portrayal both for pub-lic popub-licy and as the cultural resources they afford for individuals.

The study then contributes to the literature on social media ad-diction by showing how the media has framed social media adad-diction and, more specifically, how the framing of the issue has changed in recent years. This study then shows that, while concern regarding social media addiction is more heightened in the United Kingdom, concern regarding the issue has increased in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Thus, social media addiction is now seen as both a considerable and widespread problem. In addition, the findings show that, while previously social media addiction was seen as an individual, psychological problem, concerns about the ad-dictiveness of the platforms have now increased in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Consequently, concerns about the lacking public policy measures have also increased in both countries. This could have considerable implications for individual consumers as media images shape the way addictive behaviours are perceived and, thereby, how individuals adopt and respond to such behaviours.

The study also has important public policy implications. For stance, given that concerns regarding social media addiction are in-creasing in both countries, it suggests that similar trends are also likely elsewhere. Therefore, public policy initiatives targeting the issue of social media addiction should also be considered in other countries as well. In addition, while the focus of this study was social media addiction, the data also suggests that similar concerns are now also directed at gaming addictions. This suggests that more structural and general solutions to digital addictions should also now be considered. The study also underlines the importance of academic research in directing public policy. Indeed, public policy recommendations are also based on extant academic literature and are drafted in consultation

with academics. However, it now appears that the academic litera-ture is not in line with the public understanding of the issue, which has led to a discrepancy between the public policy measures and the public perception of the problem. This could have considerable con-sequences for the perceived effectiveness of the measures. Indeed, to preserve consumers’ trust in the institutions and structures which are set out to protect them, it is important for public policy measures to be perceived as effective (e.g., Hudson, 2006).

Finally, the managerial implications of the study relate to the fact that, in both countries, there are demands for more structural solu-tions. Particularly in the United Kingdom, social media addiction now appears to resemble a moral panic. Therefore, it would be crucial for the companies to re-establish trust within the social media sphere to avoid negative spill over effects (Gao et al., 2013).

I will first explore extant literature on social media addiction. I will then explain the methodology of the study. Afterwards, I will present the findings of the study, and then, discuss the theoretical contributions as well as the public policy and managerial implications.

2 | LITER ATURE REVIEW

2.1 | Social media addiction as a psychological

disorder

There is no consensus yet regarding the definition of problematic social media use (Bányai et al., 2017). In general, however, addiction can be defined as the repetition of behaviour, which has known harmful con-sequences (American Psychiatric Association, 2018). Addiction thus also involves lack of ability to abstain from said behaviour, lack of self-control, cravings and the displacement of behaviours that best serve the individual’s interests (Martin et al., 2013; Vale, 2010). Depending on the exact definition used, estimates of compulsive social media users have then ranged from 4.5% (Bányai et al., 2017) to 9.7% (Hormes et al., 2014). In addition, extant literature has found that social media ad-diction can have many concrete consequences as, heavy social media usage is, for instance, associated with poor sleep, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem (e.g., Vogel et al., 2014; Woods & Scott, 2016).

Given the severity of the issue, extant literature has then also at-tempted to uncover the reasons for the compulsive behaviour. This literature has linked compulsive social media usage with underlying psychological issues. It has, for instance, been associated with low self-esteem and high level of depression symptoms (Bányai et al., 2017). Fear of missing out (FOMO) has also found to predict social media addiction (Blackwell et al., 2017). Social media addiction has also been found to result from deficient emotional regulation as, through the undesired behaviour, the individual aims to sustain, inten-sify or inhibit a particular emotion. Thus, research indicates that these individuals turn to social media as a way of escaping reality and coping with stress, depression and worry and as a way of distracting oneself from feelings of loneliness, sadness or anxiety (Hormes et al., 2014).

However, in the recent years, several academics have begun to question the basic tenets of this literature. Instead, they posit that

social media addiction is driven by the design elements utilized by social media companies (Berthon et al., 2019; Christakis, 2010). Algorithms, for instance, enable the analysis of a consumer’s pref-erences, thereby allowing a more customized experience (Martin & Murphy, 2017). Customized content, in turn, is thought to lead to in-creased consumer engagement (Martin & Murphy, 2017). However, if left unchecked, high engagement could also develop into an addic-tion, as a user becomes highly involved in a particular community or a topic (e.g., Okazaki et al., in press).

Similarly, concern has been expressed in terms of the so-called gamified design elements, which utilize game-like features in non-game contexts (Deterding et al., 2011; Eisingerich et al., 2019). These can include elements, which foster social interaction, increase sense of control, and/or introduce goals, progress tracking, rewards and prompts (Deterding et al., 2011; Eisingerich et al., 2019). Therefore, one could argue that elements, such as the “like” button, are exam-ples of gamification as they foster social interaction and provide the user with a reward for making a popular post on the platform. Indeed, studies have shown that gamification increases engagement, which can then in turn increase the addictive potential of such appli-cations (Eisingerich et al., 2019).

2.2 | Public policy and social media

As a consequence of the concern that has been expressed by aca-demic literature on the dark side of social media (e.g., Baccarella et al., 2018), a number of countries have established public policy measures which aim to protect the well-being of social media users. On the EU level, for instance, the Alliance to better protect minors online is a self-regulatory initiative designed to improve the online environment for children and young people (European Commission, 2020). Taking a more legislative approach, Australia has also introduced an eSafety Commissioner, which has been tasked with fostering online safety (eS-afety Commissioner, 2020). What is common to these initiatives is that they address issues such as harmful content (e.g., violent or sexually exploitative content), conduct (e.g., cyberbullying) and contact (e.g., sexual extortion). However, what seems to be missing from these pub-lic popub-licy measures is the issue of social media addiction.

Nevertheless, there are some notable exceptions to this trend. Thus, two countries, which have taken strides in terms of social media addiction, are the United Kingdom and the United States. However, these countries differ considerably in terms of the proposed mea-sures. More specifically, in the United Kingdom, a 2019 report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG, 2019) on Social Media and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Inquiry listed several public policy recommendations for the protection of young users’ mental health online. Among others, the report, for instance, recom-mended a more efficient removal of harmful material online, clearer guidance and education for the public and the establishment of a Social Media Health Alliance which would, for instance, give guid-ance on how much time a user should spend on social media. In addi-tion, the APPG (2019) recommended further research into whether social media addiction should officially be classified as a disease.

In contrast, in the United States, the recent Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act has taken a more serious stance against the practices of the social media companies. Thus, it has taken a more structural view of the problem by aiming to “prohibit social media companies from using practices that exploit human psychology” and “to require social media companies to take measures to mitigate the risks of internet addiction” (SMART, 2019). Such proposed legis-lation would limit the power of social media companies and, thus, it is questionable whether the legislation will garner support from the legis-lators, the public and the media. Indeed, as extant literature has estab-lished, the media has a considerable role in directing public attitudes.

2.3 | The media and the framing of addiction

The media has an important role in shaping consumer culture. Media texts act as cultural resources upon which consumers draw when they attempt to make sense of the world and consumption prac-tices (e.g., Fitchett & Caruana, 2015; Humphreys, 2010a, 2010b; Humphreys & LaTour, 2013). The media also has a great deal of agenda setting power in establishing an issue to the public con-sciousness and in legitimating the importance of societal issues (e.g., Peters & Broersma, 2016). Thus, the media has also been shown to direct public policy (Strömberg, 2001).

Indeed, extant literature has also demonstrated that the media has power to drive public policy and attitudes when it comes to ad-dictive behaviours. Extant literature has, for instance, shown the media to have the potential to stigmatize individuals, which may lead to negative outcomes and discrimination (Cape, 2003; McGinty et al., 2019). By creating and perpetuating so-called moral panics, the media is also known to drive regulation to contain the threat supposedly posed by deviant and dangerous individuals (Thompson, 1998). However, given the knee jerk reactions to the supposed threat, extant literature has also established that such regulations may also be excessive and not based on scientific findings (Markey & Ferguson, 2017).

In addition, the media may also have more direct effects on the affected individuals. As the media acts as a cultural resource, which consumers draw upon to understand the world, it may also act as a resource in their attempt to understand and legitimize their own behaviour. For instance, extant literature has established that the media portrayal of smoking has had an important impact on its at-tractiveness (McCool et al., 2005). Similarly, it has been established that lack of self-control is an important factor in any addiction (Martin et al., 2013). Therefore, if it is generally perceived that, for instance, social media addiction is inevitable and unavoidable, this may lower the perceived control a user has over their social media usage (Armitage & Conner, 2001; Bandura, 1977; Gökçearslan et al., 2016; Gulliver et al., 1995; Jeong & Kim, 2011). Overall, this then suggests that the media has an important role in the public attitudes and responses to addictive behaviours.

Anecdotal evidence would now also seem to suggest that, in the media, an increasing amount of voices have expressed concern about social media addiction. In fact, some have gone as far as to

call it a “public health emergency” which is “killing us all” (Stanley, 2018) whilst others have expressed concern over the welfare of children, who are seen as particularly vulnerable to the effects of social media and, yet, are often the heavy users of such platforms (e.g., Berg, 2018). Indeed, reportedly, even children under 5 years old are now becoming addicted to social media (e.g., Young, 2019). Such concerns have been further perpetuated by former industry insiders such as Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook and Chamath Palihapitiya, a former vice president of Facebook, who have recently come out in force arguing that social media addiction has been intentionally manufactured by the companies themselves. More specifically, Parker has been quoted saying that design ele-ments, such as the “like” button on Facebook, were designed to give emotional “dopamine hits” which would drive prolonged engage-ment (Wong, 2017). It is then possible that a considerable turn in the media portrayal of social media addiction could also drive changes in both attitudes and public policy. Thus, this study investigates how the media has framed social media addiction in the United Kingdom and the United States.

3 | METHODOLOGY

This study compares and contrasts the media framing of social media addiction in the United Kingdom and the United States. For the study, four of the largest newspapers in both countries were se-lected. The U.K. data were selected based on the daily brand reach (including online and mobile readership and their respective Sunday papers) as defined by Pamco (2019), whereas the U.S. data, where similar measurements were not obtainable, the circulation figures as reported by Statista (2020) were used. The selected newspapers are presented in Table 1.

The data search was mainly conducted through the NexisUni da-tabase. The only exception to this was the Wall Street Journal, which was not included in the database. Thus, the Wall Street Journal’s internal search engine was used to search for articles from said newspaper.

For the search, the search term “‘social media’ w/p addict*” was used. In other words, the keywords could appear anywhere in the article, but they needed to be mentioned in the same para-graph (or within approximately 75 words of each other, as defined by the search term w/p on NexisUni). This choice was made as

“social media addiction” was found to be too limiting. The asterisk was also further used to capture all mentions of the word with this stem. Thus, the search term captured such words as addic-tion, addicted, addicts and addictive. Articles which included the keyword addict* but which were not about social media addiction, such as a drug addiction, were further filtered out of the data manually. Similarly, articles in which companies were said to use social media advertising in order to market addictive substances, such as electronic cigarettes or online gambling, were removed from the data if the addiction was directed at the electronic cig-arettes or gambling rather than social media. However, articles, for instance, about smartphone addiction were included if it was indicated that one of the reasons for the smartphone addiction was social media.

For this study, the time period of January 2015––December 2019 was chosen. The reason for this is that it was important to gauge how impressions of social media addiction had changed over the years. This choice then meant that the data consisted of 1,041,639 words (approximately equivalent to 2,300 pages of A4 sheets). The aver-age word count per year, separated by country, is shown in Figure 1. As can also be seen from this figure, relatively limited attention was paid to social media addiction in 2015, particularly in the United States. Therefore, it was then deemed that the 5-year period was long enough time to gauge changing perceptions as it appeared that social media addiction was not perceived to be a considerable issue prior to this time.

It is also important to note from this figure that there is a con-siderable difference in the media coverage of social media addiction between the United Kingdom and the United States. Indeed, an in-dependent samples t test also shows that there is a statistically sig-nificant difference in the word count between the United Kingdom (M = 3,168.70, SD = 4,084.50) and the United States (M = 1,171.46,

SD = 2,126.35); t(478) = 27.76, p < .001.

For the main analysis, mixed-methods frame analysis was uti-lized. Indeed, whenever media reports on an issue, it frames it in a particular fashion, highlighting certain facts and interpretations whilst disregarding others (Entman, 1993). Analogously, construc-tionist frame analysis (D’Angelo, 2002) then involves identifying clusters of messages which highlight and promote specific facts and interpretations of an issue at hand (Entman, 1993). Thus, the aim of constructionist frame analysis is to investigate how a shared under-standing of the issue is created through the media (D’Angelo, 2002).

TA B L E 1   Selected newspapers

United Kingdom United States

Name Daily brand reach Type Name Circulation Type

Guardian (incl. Observer) 5,365,000 Broadsheet New York Times 483,700 Broadsheet

Telegraph (incl. Sunday

Telegraph) 2,961,000 Broadsheet Wall Street Journal 1,011,200 Broadsheet

Daily Mail (incl. Mail on Sunday) 6,575,000 Tabloid New York Post 426,130 Tabloid

Sun (incl. Sun on Sunday) 9,049,000 Tabloid USA Today 1,621,090 Tabloid

In practice, the qualitative frame analysis then involved identi-fying clusters of messages which deploy similar rhetorical strategies (e.g., problem or issue definition, keywords and images, sources and themes) which highlight and promote specific facts and interpreta-tions of the issue (Entman, 1993). In this analysis, the emphasis was on the problem definitions and the sources of information, in other words, what is seen as the cause of the social media addiction and which sources are used to justify the claims made. Thus, the first two frames differed from each other as, in the first frame, based on extant academic literature, social media addiction was framed as a psychological, individual disorder. In contrast, in the second frame, social media addiction was seen as widespread and as being caused by the platform design decisions and these claims were mainly justi-fied based on claims made by former industry insiders. As a conse-quence of the second frame, a final third frame was also separated as the media also began to discuss the need to regulate the social media sphere. Thus, within this frame, the problem was increasingly de-fined as the lack of regulation of the social media sphere and policy makers were increasingly used as the source of information.

However, to support the qualitative frame analysis, quantita-tive text mining methods were also used. More specifically, a com-puter programme called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC, Pennebaker et al., 2015; see also Humphreys, 2010b) was utilized to verify the findings of the qualitative frame analysis. The LIWC programme counts the percentage of words belonging to a dictio-nary, enabling the researcher to quantify changes in the data. First, a custom dictionary measuring addictiveness was created. The rea-son for this is that while previously, the discussion had centred on individual social media addicts, it became more prevalent to discuss the addictive nature of the platforms themselves. The dictionary then consisted of the words addictive, addictiveness and addict-ing. Additionally, the frame analysis revealed that, over time, there was also a great deal more discussion about public policy measures. Thus, another custom dictionary was created to investigate changes in the data. The custom dictionary consisted of the words law, laws, protect*, regul* and policy. The results of the LIWC analysis will be discussed alongside the qualitative frame analysis, which will be pre-sented next.

4 | FINDINGS

4.1 | Social media addiction as an individual disorder

In the early years of the data, in 2015–2016, social media addiction was mainly seen as an individual level problem in both countries. Thus, the framing had many similarities with extant psychological literature. For instance, social media addiction was also often seen as arising from individual, psychological tendencies. Therefore, so-cial media addiction was, for instance, linked with the so-called fear of missing out (FOMO; Sunday Telegraph April 19, 2015; Wall Street

Journal February 17, 2016; see Online Appendix for the full details

of the cited articles), narcissism (Sunday Telegraph October 25, 2015;

Daily Telegraph October 10, 2015, April 29, 2016) and, more

gener-ally, with personal addictive tendencies (New York Times November 15, 2015). Similarly to extant literature, a great deal of concern was also directed at the negative consequences social media addiction would have on one’s mental health. One report, for instance, states that young, heavy users “are more than twice as likely to have poor mental health” (Daily Mail October 28, 2016).

Moreover, there was also a discrepancy between the media framing and extant psychological literature. It appeared that the ex-tent of social media addiction was perceived as a great deal more widespread than suggested by extant literature. For instance, it was reported that “[a]lmost half of Brits fear they are addicted to social media such as Facebook and Twitter” (Sun May 24, 2015; see also e.g., Daily Telegraph January 2, 2016). Similarly, many articles also re-ported some alarming statistics regarding the extent of social media usage with articles stating, for instance, that users “now spend al-most half of their waking hours consuming social media in an alal-most machine-like way”, and that this “amounts to spending 7.37 hours a day” on social media (Daily Mail September 15, 2016).

Given that the problem was seen as an individual level problem, this also meant that the proposed solutions to the problem focused on the individual level. For instance, there were articles, which in-structed how the user could limit their own or their child’s social media usage in their everyday life (e.g., Guardian January 1, 2016, May 18, 2016). Some articles also suggested various mobile phone applications, which might help the user curb their social media usage (Guardian May 18, 2016, September 12, 2016; Wall Street Journal January 1, 2015; New York Times July 12, 2015). There were also ar-ticles, which recommended a social media detox, in other words, tak-ing a longer holiday from social media (Guardian April 23, 2015; Daily

Telegraph January 3, 2015, October 10, 2015; Wall Street Journal

January 1, 2015, June 24, 2016).

Yet, there were also reports, which said that despite the wish to do so, many users struggled to even try a social media detox or gave up their attempt very quickly (Daily Telegraph January 2, 2016). Indeed, one report, for instance, stated that a third of Brits “revealed they had tried and failed to quit—deleting accounts only to sign up less than a week later”, and that “[o]ne in ten lasted just one day” (Sun May 24, 2015). Similarly, there were concerns that even though par-ents had set limits to their children’s social media usage, they found

these rules difficult to enforce, for instance, because of their own extensive social media usage (e.g., Guardian June 27, 2015).

4.2 | Social media addiction as a

manufactured epidemic

In contrast, in 2017, the media increasingly began to highlight the ad-dictive properties of social media platforms. This conclusion is also supported by the LIWC analysis whereby the data were analysed for words relating to the addictiveness of social media platforms. Thus, in the U.K. data, there was a significant increase in the percentage of words belonging to the addictiveness dictionary from 2015–2016 (M = 0.036, SD = .091) to 2017–2019 (M = 0.060, SD = .090); t(238) = 0.333, p < .05. Similarly, in the U.S. data, there was a significant increase in the percentage of words belonging to the addictiveness dictionary from 2015–2016 (M = 0.006, SD = 0.023) to 2017–2019 (M = 0.022, SD = 0.048); t(238) = 31.902, p < .005.

Importantly, the media also strongly suggested that these addic-tive qualities were purposefully manufactured by the social media companies (New York Times February 24, 2017). This claim was also strongly supported by industry insiders, who were regularly quoted (e.g., Daily Telegraph December 19, 2017, November 11, 2017, February 6, 2018; Sun December 13, 2017, November 9, 2018; Daily

Mail January 2, 2018, January 4, 2018, July 5, 2018a, b; Guardian

August 4, 2018, October 6, 2017; USA Today January 12 2018, February 14, 2018; New York Post October 13, 2017, December 15, 2017, January 8, 2018, February 12, 2018, March 21, 2018, May 9, 2018):

In an unprecedented attack of candour, Sean Parker, the 38-year-old founding president of Facebook, recently admitted that—“The thought process was: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and con-scious attention as possible?’”—To achieve this goal, Facebook’s architects exploited a “vulnerability in human psychology”, explained Parker—. Whenever someone likes or comments on a post or photograph, he said, “we… give you a little dopamine hit”.—This do-pamine process, which is common in all insects and mammals, is—at the basis of learning: it anticipates a reward to an action and, if the reward is met, enables the behaviour to become a habit, or, if there’s a dis-crepancy, to be adapted. (Guardian March 4, 2018)

Indeed, a great deal of this discussion focused on the notion of “likes” whereby the users indicate that they approve of another user’s post (e.g., Sun December 30, 2017, January 4, 2018, December 13, 2017; Guardian October 6, 2017; Daily Telegraph August 6, 2019). Thus, users were said to be obsessed with the number of likes their posts get and, particularly, how this process was driven by dopamine rewards (Daily Mail June 15, 2018; see also Sun September 4, 2019; New York

Times March 8, 2017, March 14, 2017). Through dopamine, users are

in fact even equated to insects and other mammals by arguing that our reward and learning systems are similar (see also Wall Street Journal February 1, 2017).

These articles also suggest intentionality. Indeed, many articles also noted how other leading technology industry insiders, such as former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, posed strict limits on their own children’s technology usage (Observer February 26, 2017, August 13, 2017; Daily Mail December 31, 2018;

Daily Telegraph September 25, 2018, October 7, 2018; New York Post

May 31 2018). This was seen as implying that the insiders them-selves were aware of the damage social media and technology could create. Therefore, comparisons both to the tobacco industry and to drug barons were made (e.g., Daily Telegraph April 24, 2018, June 20, 2018, July 4, 2018, September 25, 2018; New York Post January 10, 2018, October 18, 2019; New York Times November 20, 2017) as it was argued that the insiders within these industries were con-scious of the associated dangers and, therefore, avoided the prod-ucts themselves, whilst continuing to fuel addictions in others for financial gain. These concerns were also raised when, for instance, Facebook launched its dedicated children’s version of the platform as they were seen to incite addiction from an early age (Guardian May 24, 2018; New York Times January 30, 2018).

In addition, clear references were also made to the gambling in-dustry as the media argued that many of the addictive techniques were learned from said industry (e.g., Daily Telegraph June 12, 2018b;

Guardian May 8, 2018, August 23, 2019; Wall Street Journal February

1, 2017; New York Times November 18, 2016). Some even made clear linkages to gamification literature (e.g., Eisingerich et al., 2019; Mullins & Sabherwal, 2018) by referring to “ludic loops” (Guardian 8, May 2018; see also New York Times July 28, 2018) which drew the user to the addictive behaviour. However, instead of viewing the “ludic loops” as a source of fun, the media highlighted their addictive qualities and the profit-making aims of the social media companies (see also Daily Telegraph August 10, 2018; Daily Mail November 10, 2017):

[S]ocial media firms are incentivised to keep you on-line for as long as possible, since that means they can collect more data and serve more ads. That’s why there is a constant battle for your attention—It’s all designed—the little beeps, the red notifications, the slot-machine-style refresh—to keep you absorbed.— We are all being driven to check, refresh, click and recheck (Daily Telegraph June 13, 2018)

Interestingly, within the data, social media addiction was also sometimes referred to alongside gaming addiction (Guardian March 18, 2019). Thus, one article, for instance, states that:

Video games [also] work hard to hook players. Designers use predictive algorithms and principles of behavioral economics to keep fans engaged. When new games are reviewed, the most flattering accolade

might be “I can’t put it down.” (New York Times June 17, 2018)

Therefore, it was suggested that, similarly to social media ad-diction, gaming addiction is also not a psychological disorder but, rather, is driven by game design choices, including gamification and algorithms.

Indeed, the media also highlighted the role of algorithmic cura-tion in inducing social media addiccura-tion (Daily Telegraph March 12, 2019). As has been explained, algorithms are driven to serve a user more of what they have engaged with before. Thus, users are served “increasingly more of the same content, in more extreme” fashion (Daily Telegraph March 27, 2018). However, this strategy of “pre-sent[ing] you with—material that reinforces the views you already hold” is seen to be another attempt to make users “addicted” (Daily

Telegraph March 27, 2018) because “the world of the tech companies

is designed to keep you hooked and give you a lot more of what you already want” thus prolonging engagement (Guardian November 29, 2018; see also Sun June 12, 2018; Daily Telegraph June 13, 2018, May 2, 2017). Therefore, what, for instance, is said to make TikTok addictive is its curation algorithm which anticipates what type of vid-eos a user is likely to engage with. Reportedly, this algorithm “has been so effective that the app’s owner—was forced to introduce an-ti-addiction measures” (New York Times December 11, 2019).

However, algorithms may also create echo chambers, which is apt at polarizing opinions (Sunstein, 2001). Inevitably, this means that, at times, the opposing extreme views also clash, which leads to an emotional eruption. Indeed, algorithms are not only driven to show content which the user actually likes but, overall, content which the user has engaged with. Thus, the user can also be shown content which the user has an extreme dislike to but has in some way interacted with. Particularly, as the echo chambers have given fur-ther support to one’s own beliefs, it also drives emotional responses to views which are opposite to one’s own (see also Daily Mail January 2, 2018; Guardian November 29, 2018). As a result then, “[a]ll that remains is two groups screaming at each other” (Guardian November 29, 2018). Instead of rational discussion, users are then again seen to be driven towards primal emotions by the platform design decisions.

However, instead of deterring users from social media, these extreme negative responses are also seen to drive addiction, par-ticularly on Twitter (e.g., Wall Street Journal September 25, 2017;

Guardian February 17, 2017, August 4, 2018). Thus, as the Guardian,

for instance, argues, “[s]ocial media platforms are the perfect places to deny nuance in favour of extreme opinions—and we are hooked on them” (Guardian November 29, 2018).

4.3 | Social media addiction as a legislative issue

Given the widespread concern about social media addiction as a structural issue, it is then understandable that there was also a clear increase in the discussion on various public policy measures. Particularly in the United Kingdom, it was then demanded that “[g]

overnments must embrace the inevitable and regulate the web as they do alcohol and cigarettes” in order to respond to this “public health emergency” (Daily Telegraph April 24, 2018; see also e.g., Daily

Telegraph October 1, 2018, June 16, 2018, June 15, 2018, December

26, 2018, September 17, 2018a, b; USA Today January 10, 2018, January 12, 2018; Wall Street Journal April 23, 2019). Indeed, in 2017–2018, one of the newspapers, the Daily Telegraph (2020), even launched an extensive campaign to urge for greater regulation and duty of care from the social media companies.

This conclusion is also supported by the quantitative analysis, which shows that there was a clear increase in the words related to regulation after 2018. Using a custom LIWC dictionary, the data were analysed for words relating to the regulation of social media platforms. An independent samples t test SD = 0.108) to 2018–2019 (M = 0.119, SD = 0.119); t(238) = 7.970, p < .001. Similarly, in the U.S. data, there was a significant increase in the percentage of words belonging to the regulation dictionary from 2015–2017 (M = 0.018,

SD = .057) to 2018–2019 (M = 0.074, SD = 0.274); t(238) = 11.371, p = .05.

More specifically, in the United Kingdom, the media particu-larly called for a greater protection of children. Many social media sites carry an age limit of 13, arguably to avoid asking for parental permission as required by the U.S.-based Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA, Childnet, 2018). Yet, an increasing number of children younger than 13 were not only found to have a social media account but were seen as addicted to them (e.g., Sun January 11, 2018, January 4, 2018; Guardian January 4, 2018). Hence, there was a growing consensus that these age limits are not enforced in any way (e.g., Daily Telegraph June 12, 2018a). Thus, the media sug-gested that social media should instead draw lessons from “18-plus pornographic sites where proof of age and ID will be required” (Daily

Telegraph 12 June a, 2018; see also Daily Mail February 7, 2019b).

There were also calls to enforce social media companies to make their platforms less addictive even if this jeopardized their current business models (see also Daily Mail February 7, 2019; Mail on Sunday April 21, 2019). Thus, the media, for instance, called for warning la-bels to notify users of addictive elements (Daily Telegraph June 15, 2018), for the banning of the “like” button for children (Sun April 15, 2019) and, overall, for greater protection of children so that they would not, for instance, be targeted by push notifications during the night (Daily Telegraph September 17, 2018a, April 15, 2019).

Due to the added pressure, the final frame did indeed come to a climax in the United Kingdom in the spring of 2019. This is when public policy measures were introduced in an effort to increase the well-being of social media users. More specifically, this is when a report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG, 2019) on Social Media and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Inquiry was published. Thus, the media discussed several public policy recommendations made by the parliamentary group for the protection of young users’ mental health online. One of the major changes discussed by the media was the issue of whether social media addiction should be classified as an illness. Thus, the re-port often made the news with headlines such as “Social media

fixation an illness” (Sun March 18, 2019) and ‘Social media addic-tion should be seen as a disease, [Members of Parliament] say” (Guardian March 18, 2019).

The report also appeared to respond to the media’s repeated calls for greater accountability from the social media companies. Such a view had particularly been promoted by the Daily Telegraph (2020) through its aforementioned Duty of Care campaign, which was the most vocal in 2018. The report then, for instance, requires social media providers to remove harmful content in an efficient and effective manner. Overall, despite the fact that the public pol-icy measures did not fully align with the concerns expressed by the media, the public policy measures did seem to alleviate some of the most urgent concerns regarding social media addiction.

As the quantitative analysis shows, the issue of regulation also gained increasing media attention in the United States, albeit to a more limited extent. This is somewhat unsurprising given that the United States has traditionally invested less in preventative public policy measures (McGinnis et al., 2002). Indeed, often when public policy measures were discussed, these articles were relating to the policies instituted, for instance, in the United Kingdom (New York

Times August 27, 2019) and in France (New York Times September 20,

2018), where mobile phones had been banned from schools. However, U.S.-based public policy measures were also fea-tured. Indeed, as has been discussed, in 2019 a bill called the SMART (2019) was introduced. This bill takes a more serious stance against the practices of the social media companies, aiming to prohibit social media companies from exploiting psychological processes to addict users. However, in the media, the bill received limited attention with only three articles in the data referring to it and mainly in passing (New York Times August 27, 2019, August 1, 2019). Furthermore, in contrast with the United Kingdom, where regulation of the social media sphere was generally applauded, in the United States, some critical views of regulation also appeared. For instance, an article from the Wall Street Journal takes a very critical view of the proposed regulation calling it “nannyish” and “cuckoo” because the proposed bill “wants to restrict freedom be-cause it interferes with free choice” (Wall Street Journal August 11, 2019).

Indeed, overall, in the United States, the media was more scep-tical about the possibilities of regulating the social media sphere (New York Times February 12, 2018, May 6, 2019). Instead, then,

what is more pronounced in the data are self-regulatory measures, which the big technology companies, social media companies in-cluded, were urged to take in order to curb the time users spend on social media and on smartphones (e.g., New York Times January 8, 2018; USA Today January 12, 2018). Thus, despite the fact that the U.S. media also considered social media addiction to be a seri-ous and widespread problem, and even though it considered it to be a problem which derived from the addictive qualities of the plat-forms, there was a lack of trust in the effectiveness of public policy measures.

5 | DISCUSSION

This study has investigated the media portrayal of social media ad-diction in the United Kingdom and the United States. The findings of this study are summarized in Table 2. What the findings of this study then underline is that concern regarding the issue has been on the rise in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Thus, social media addiction is a problem, which is seen as considerable and widespread. In addition, the findings show that previously social media addiction had been seen as an individual, psychological prob-lem, as it has been portrayed in extant academic literature (Bányai et al., 2017; Hormes et al., 2014). However, the study also shows that concerns about the addictiveness and, thereby, about the lacking public policy measures have increased both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

However, while the concern regarding the addictiveness of the platforms and the lack of regulation increased in both the United Kingdom and the United States, the findings of the study show that there were also differences between these two countries. For in-stance, the media coverage of social media addiction was more prevalent in the United Kingdom compared to the United States and this difference was also statistically significant. In addition, while the media coverage in the United Kingdom was a great deal more cer-tain about the need for third-party regulation, in the United States there were also voices, which criticized public policy measures, such as the SMART bill. Arguably, such a discrepancy can also be the consequence of national differences in that the United States has traditionally been shown to invest less in preventative public policy measures (McGinnis et al., 2002) and it also has a stronger

TA B L E 2   Summary of the findings

Frame

Most

prevalent United Kingdom United States

Social media addiction as an individual disorder

2015–2016 Addiction widespread but an individual

level issue

Addiction widespread but an individual level issue

Social media addiction as a manufactured epidemic

2017–2018 Addictiveness intentionally created by

social media companies and driven by gamification and algorithms

Addictiveness intentionally created by social media companies and driven by gamification and algorithms

Social media addiction as a legislative issue

2018–2019 Calls for third-party regulation to

decrease addictiveness and increase duty of care

Calls for industry self-regulation to decrease addictiveness and increase duty of care

ideological undercurrent of liberty and freedom upon which the SMART bill, according to the data, are seen as infringing.

What this might also suggest is that a moral panic around social media addiction has been forming in the United Kingdom. A moral panic then is an instance of public anxiety regarding behaviour, which is seen as threatening the moral order of a society (e.g., Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994). Such moral panics are often perpetuated by the media and often lead to calls for greater regulation (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994; Markey & Ferguson, 2017) as the public feels the need for greater accountability and for the assurance that their well-being is being guarded. This finding will have important public policy and managerial implications, as will be discussed later. First, however, the theoretical contributions are discussed in more detail.

5.1 | Theoretical contributions

This study contributes to the understanding of social media ad-diction by showing how it has been portrayed in the U.K. and U.S. media. Indeed, while extant literature on social media addiction has focused on investigating the psychological factors which makes a person more susceptible to social media addiction (Bányai et al., 2017; Hormes et al., 2014), extant literature on addiction from other fields has shown that the media has a great deal of power in shap-ing the public understandshap-ing of addictions. Extant literature has, for instance, shown the media to have the power to normalize harm-ful consumption behaviour such as smoking (McCool et al., 2005). Moreover, extant literature has shown that media texts can also be utilized in treatment programmes as the media portrayals can be used by the individual to make sense of their own addiction (Hirschman & McGriff, 1995). Therefore, the media is an important cultural re-source for the public understanding of addictions. Consequently, it is also important to understand the media portrayal of social media addiction.

This study then extends the extant literature on social media addiction by showing the cultural resources, which individuals can draw on to understand social media addiction. In other words, the study shows that social media addiction is increasingly being por-trayed as a widespread problem, which is almost unavoidable. In addition, it is portrayed as being purposefully manufactured and, therefore, in need of regulation. Indeed, extant literature has al-ready suggested that social media addiction is designed on purpose (Berthon et al., 2019). However, this study also extends such litera-ture by also showing that this view is shared by the public.

How the media frames social media addiction is important, for instance, because this could serve to delegitimize social media usage and, therefore, could lead consumers to leave social media. However, it could also influence the social media users’ perceived self-control. As has been discussed, in order to control their behaviour and/or to recover from an addiction, it is important for the affected indi-viduals to have perceived control over their own life and actions, so that they feel that they are able to overcome the affliction (Armitage & Conner, 2001; Gökçearslan et al., 2016; Gulliver et al., 1995).

However, if the individuals are portrayed as powerless to resist the addictive behaviour, as in the case of social media addiction, this may hamper their perceived self-control. Thus, by framing social media addiction as widespread, this may also legitimate heavy social media consumption.

Furthermore, this finding is also important because it suggests that the public understanding of the problem is not in line with ex-tant literature on social media addiction. As public policy is drafted in consultation with academic research, this finding may have consid-erable public policy implications, if it leads to a discrepancy between public policy measures and the public perception of the problem. Therefore, public policy implications of the research are discussed next.

5.2 | Public policy implications

The findings of this study show that concerns regarding social media addiction are on the rise at least in the United Kingdom and the United States. While future research should be directed at inves-tigating whether such concerns are also increasing in other coun-tries, it may be prudent to assume that similar trends are also to be detected elsewhere. However, as has been discussed, internation-ally, social media addiction has gained a great deal less attention in public policy measures compared to, for instance, the restriction of harmful content. Thus, the implications of this study, first, include the fact that international public policy measures should also begin to address this issue more seriously in order to avoid an institutional void which is characterized by the perceived lack of efficient regula-tory measures (Hajer, 2003). Indeed, as Hudson (2006), for instance, shows, trust in the institutions, which are set to protect consumers, is an important factor in their overall happiness and well-being.

Similarly, while the focus of this study was social media addiction, there were also allusions to, for instance, gaming addiction within the data. Thus, it appears that, similarly to social media addiction, the media is also increasingly framing gaming addiction as a structural issue, rather than as a disease as it has been seen by extant literature (Kuss, 2013). Therefore, while gaming addiction is now officially con-sidered an illness by the World Health Organisation (2018), public policy should also consider more structural approaches to tackling the problem. What may be of assistance in this task is the ability to learn from the public policy measures which have now been insti-tuted or proposed in terms of social media addiction. In this study, it is not possible to investigate the effectiveness of such measures empirically. However, based on the findings of this study, future re-search could, for instance, investigate and consider the following.

First, as has been noted, in the United States, structural solu-tions to the issue of social media addiction have been proposed. More specifically, the SMART (2019) bill proposed that social media companies should be prohibited from using practices that exploit human psychology to promote addictive behaviours in so-cial media. Such proposed legislation would answer the calls for limiting the power of social media companies. Nevertheless, as has

also been shown by this study, such proposed legislation has not garnered much public support. The reasons for this may, as men-tioned, lie in cultural differences and, as Pagoto et al. (2019) also note, the effectiveness of such regulations should also be thor-oughly investigated. Such measures may prove necessary and ef-fective in the long term. However, policy measures such as those introduced in the United Kingdom may prove more realistic in the shorter term, particularly as it seems that the report did manage to alleviate some of the most urgent concerns regarding social media addiction. Nevertheless, there are still a number of issues which should be considered.

More specifically, in the United Kingdom, the APPG (2019) then, first, recommended further research into whether the “addictive” nature of social media is sufficient for official disease classification and, hence, whether social media “addiction” could be treated in a similar way. Establishing clear guidelines as to what is meant by so-cial media addiction would undoubtedly facilitate conversation not only between academics but also between different actors. As has been noted, there is a considerable discrepancy between academic sources which have, for instance, found 4.5% of the social media users to be addicted to social media (Bányai et al., 2017) and the media reports which claim that almost half of Britons felt that they are addicted (e.g., Sun May 24, 2015). Establishing clear guidelines should also help to alleviate some of these concerns. Classifying social media addiction as a serious health condition should also fa-cilitate the users to receive the help that they require in order to recover from the condition. Indeed, if social media addiction is found to be comparable to other addictions such as alcohol or drug addic-tion, it will be necessary to offer therapy for those who are worst affected by the condition (Hall & Parsons, 2001).

Moreover, classifying social media addiction as a disease also draws attention to the individual level as it classifies the issue as a psychological disorder. In contrast, the findings of this study sug-gest that the problem is now perceived as a manufactured epidemic, the source of which is endemic to the very design of social media platforms. Thus, treating social media addiction as an illness would lessen the duty of care required of the social media companies. Therefore, it is important that these two issues are balanced well.

It also appears that the issue of social media addiction itself has not fully been included in the report. The report does set out actions that the government believes providers of social media platforms should take to prevent bullying, insulting, intimidating and humiliat-ing behaviours on their sites. These steps may indeed help to lessen some of the most overt instances of negative interactions between users. However, they do not fully consider the harm provided by the platforms themselves. For instance, the report does not take a po-sition on issues such as age verification or push notifications, which might help lessen heavy user engagement, particularly from a young age.

Finally, the report recommended clearer guidance and education for the public. In practice, the report recommends the establishment of a Social Media Health Alliance which would, for instance, give guidance on how much time should a user spend on social media.

Educating the public regarding the ways in which they can shield themselves from the most negative aspects of social media would undoubtedly be a positive development. Similarly, benefits would also be gained from educating the users on how different platform design decisions promote engagement and, therefore, addiction (Berthon et al., 2019). This would increase the users’ perceived con-trol and, thereby, help them to tackle compulsive behaviours as they begin to arise.

Again, however, such guidelines might have the potential to draw attention to the individual level, thus burderning the individual in-stead of finding more structural solutions. Indeed, as has been dis-cussed, despite the willingness of many users to cut down on their social media usage, the findings indicated that users find this diffi-cult in reality. Indeed, as extant literature has shown, overcoming an addiction merely based on what one knows to be healthy is not sufficient (see also Jiang & Leung, 2011). Thus, stricter regulations could, for instance, be established if the companies themselves were required to include warning lables and instructions on their sites (Berthon et al., 2019). This would at least turn the onus onto the social media companies themselves, even if the impact of such la-bels has been questionable at least in other contexts (e.g., Boncinelli et al., 2016).

There is also a great omission in guidelines such as the one pro-vided by the APPG (2019): even though younger users of course are a particularly vulnerable group, such concerns also extend to adults. Indeed, as the findings show, a great many adults also feel that they struggle with their level of social media usage. It may, therefore, be difficult for these parents to enforce strict boundaries and set a good example on their children’s social media usage if they themselves are also compulsive social media users. Therefore, if the parents and adults are to carry the burden for establishing safe guidelines for their children, as is suggested by the APPG (2019), they themselves should then also be provided with the resources with which to take on such a task and also to protect themselves.

Finally, the most difficult challenge would no doubt be to con-trol the issue of algorithmic curation which also is not extensively covered by the APPG (2019) recommendations but which is seen as driving addictive behaviours. Yet, given that extant literature has concluded algorithms to be a “black box” and proprietary (e.g., Pasquale, 2015), determining how exactly they work would be diffi-cult and regulating their functioning even more so.

5.3 | Managerial implications

The study also has managerial implications in that the study shows that in both countries there are demands for more structural solu-tions to the problem of social media addiction. In the United States, this has meant calls for self-regulation as well as a proposal of a bill aiming to protect social media users. Extensive regulation would of course limit the freedom of social media companies. However, it is also prudent to consider the effects of the media discourse based on the findings of this study.

Indeed, the findings of this study suggest that, particularly in the United Kingdom, a moral panic around social media addiction has been forming and this could also have considerable consequences for the social media companies. In the United Kingdom, social media companies are now being likened to drug barons and tobacco com-panies and, thereby, their marketing activities are being framed as morally irresponsible behaviour (Nielsen & McGregor, 2013). Therefore, it would be crucial for the companies to re-establish trust within the social media sphere.

This is not the first time that moral panics around media con-sumption have formed. Most notably, there has been a great deal of discussion as to whether violent movies and violent video games cause real life violence. These fears have particularly been raised in the event of violent attacks such as school shootings (Markey & Ferguson, 2017). Thus, the media have then often been very vocal in attributing the violent incident to the offender’s gaming habits. These incidents have then led to a moral panic whereby stricter reg-ulation of violent media content has been called for, even if empirical research has not found evidence for such concerns (e.g., Ferguson, 2008; Ferguson & Colwell, 2017). However, while for instance the video game industry has become the target of accusations that they incite violence in their users, the industry itself has not been blamed for intentionally causing the negative behaviour. Therefore, the moral panic around social media addiction could prove to be even more impactful as the companies themselves are seen as in-tentionally driving the harmful behaviour for their own profit. This could then incite calls for even stricter regulation of the social media sphere (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 1994; Markey & Ferguson, 2017) as has been the case with the SMART act.

Furthermore, as has been noted, social media companies are now being likened to drug barons and tobacco companies. These metaphors are apt at creating enduring negative stereotypes, which can be leveraged in other issues as well. Indeed, moral panics may appear as isolated outbreaks, but can also form part of a series, each episode building on the other (Garland, 2008). This can create a so-called spiral of signification (Hall et al., 1978) where each panic adds to the perceived significance of each new twist in the continuing narrative of concern. If the social media companies become stereotyped through strong metaphors, this could increase the overall blame placed on the social media com-panies as stereotyping is one way to draw connections between unrelated events (Denham, 2008). Therefore, it would be crucial for the companies to re-establish trust within the social media sphere particularly as this may lead to guilt by association if the blame is framed as an industry wide problem (Gao et al., 2013). Indeed, while social media addiction has been the focus of this study, the findings already indicate that similar concerns are now also being expressed in terms of gaming addictions.

It would then be in the managerial interests to take pre-emptive steps to prevent such crises from forming and to engage in corrective actions (Dutta & Pullig, 2011). An example of this is a recent initiative by Instagram, which has experimented with hiding the number of “likes” from other users (Meisenzahl, 2019). Indeed, the Instagram

CEO Adam Mosseri was quoted saying that the company “will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s well-being and health” (Meisenzahl, 2019). In such a way, the company not only promises corrective action in terms of reducing the users’ reliance on social media as a measure for their self-worth, but also reduces the perceived harmful intentions of the company. Similarly to TikTok, companies could also consider voluntary anti-addiction measures. However, it would be important to investigate the effectiveness of such measures, for instance, on consumer welfare, engagement and trust.

6 | LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

QUESTIONS

This study has investigated the media framing of social media ad-diction in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This study has shown that concerns about social media addiction are widespread in both countries. However, it is not possible to as-certain whether these findings can also be extended to other countries and, therefore, this is an avenue for future research. In addition, while the data also suggests that a similar trend is also to be detected in terms of other digital addictions, such as gaming addiction, it has not been possible to investigate this empirically in this study. Therefore, future research into gaming addiction should also investigate the media framing and public perceptions of gaming addiction.

Extant literature has already shown media texts to act as cul-tural resources, which individuals draw on to understand society and themselves. However, in this study it has not been possible to inves-tigate how, exactly, do consumers draw on these media representa-tions to understand their own social media usage. For instance, while it could be that some users legitimate their heavy social media usage based on the media imagery which considers social media to be ad-dictive, it could also be that, due to the same reason, others decide to leave social media altogether. Therefore, a more detailed analysis of how consumers utilize media images to understand and justify their own social media usage would be a fruitful avenue of research.

In this study, public policy and managerial implications have also been considered. However, future research should also be directed at understanding the impact the different regulatory solutions would have (see also Berthon et al., 2019). Similarly, future research should investigate how different self-regulatory measures would improve consumer welfare, engagement and trust.

More generally, the findings of this study suggest that, instead of considering social media addiction as only affecting the few, future research should be directed at understanding the addictiveness of social media platforms themselves. Indeed, such a research stream has already started emerging, for instance, in terms of the more gen-eral issue of smartphone addiction (e.g., Melumad & Pham, 2020). Such research would also help to inform public policy and, therefore, also ensure that public policy is more closely aligned with the public perception of the issue.