Do you ever feel like you're addicted to Facebook? It might not be in your head. A new study from the University of Chicago has found that Facebook can be more addictive than alcohol or tobacco, the Guardian has reported.
Researchers doled out BlackBerrys to 205 people ages 18-25 and sent them into the wild to monitor their appetites for social media. Participants received messages from the researchers seven times over 14 hours, asking them if they desired to look at Facebook or Twitter and if so, to note the strength and length of that urge and whether or not it conflicted with other yearnings. From 10,558 responses, there were 7,827 such urges reported by the subjects.
The study found that though the urges for sleep and sex are stronger, people are willing to forgo many cravings in order to check their social profiles.
"Modern life is a welter of assorted desires market by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success," lead researcher Wilhelm Hofmann told the Guardian, noting that there is tension between these hankerings and the desire to either work or relax.
Hofman opined that it might be more challenging for people to flee the pull of Facebook than it is for them to avoid cigarettes and alcohol.
"Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not 'cost much' to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist," he said. "With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may steal 'steal' a lot of people's time."
The findings of the study will be published in the journal Psychological Science, the Guardian said.
Another Facebook study set to be released in the same journal found that those with a low self-esteem could suffer more by using the site, as posting negative items to Facebook often makes them appear less likable to their friends.
In other Facebook news, the company this week filed for a $5 billion IPO. For more, see What a Facebook IPO Means For Users, Facebook IPO: What They're Saying, How Much Are Facebook Execs Making?, and the slideshow below.