Addicted to socialising and still lonely: A comparative, corpus-driven analysis of problematic social networking site use.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Problematic Social Networking Site Use (PSNSU) is not a formally recognised addiction, but it is increasingly discussed as such in academic research and online. Taking a quantitative, exploratory approach, this study aims to (1) determine whether PSNSU is presented like clinically defined addictions by the affected community and (2) address how well measurements of PSNSU fit with the thematic content found within the associated discourse.

METHODS

Four corpora were created for this study: a corpus concerning PSNSU and three control corpora concerning established addictions, including Alcohol Use Disorder, Tobacco Use Disorder and Gaming Disorder. Keywords were identified, collocates and concordances were explored, and shared themes were compared.

RESULTS

Findings show broad thematic similarities between PSNSU and the three control addictions as well as prominent interdiscursive references, which indicate possible confirmation bias among speakers.

CONCLUSIONS

Scales based upon the components model of addiction are suggested as the most appropriate measure of this emerging disorder.