Searching for Social Media Addiction: A Content Analysis of Top Websites Found through Online Search Engines

Alexis M. McCarroll, Bree E. Holtz and Dar Meshi
Additional contact information
Alexis M. McCarroll: Department of Communication and Media, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
Bree E. Holtz: Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Dar Meshi: Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: Disordered social media use, often referred to as “social media addiction”, has not been officially recognized by medical bodies such as the American Psychiatric Association or the World Health Organization. However, websites still present information to laypeople on how to treat and manage social media addiction, which can pose the risk of spreading low quality or incorrect information. As such, we aimed to assess how the most popular social media addiction websites present information across multiple metrics. We conducted an in-depth online search to identify the top social media addiction websites in November 2019 (N = 23). Websites were separated into four distinct classifications: (1) treatment/therapy/medical; (2) informational; (3) news article; and (4) blog/essay. Based on previous website analysis research, three trained coders evaluated these websites on six metrics: (1) design; (2) credibility; (3) accessibility; (4) literacy; (5) engagement; and (6) social media addiction content. Design features were the top-rated metric across all websites, followed by credibility. Websites scored the lowest for the engagement and social media addiction content metrics. Across website classifications, scores for social media addiction content varied greatly, with blog/essay websites ranking the lowest and informational websites ranking the highest. Our findings provide necessary information for both patients and healthcare providers, apprising these individuals and the field about the current online health information landscape for disordered social media use.

Keywords: health literacy; health information; content analysis; websites; social media addiction; problematic social media use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10077/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10077/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10077-:d:642902

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().