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Social Media Addiction is Real and Only Getting Worse
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March 28, 2022Update: March 13, 2025 – Class Action proceedings have commenced
The class action is in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and is on behalf of Canadians suffering from Social Media Addiction and other mental and/or behavioral conditions.
Canadians who were under the age of 18 years when they began using Facebook and/or Instagram and were negatively impacted socially, mentally or behaviorally may be entitled to compensation. If the affected individual is currently a minor, a parent or guardian of the individual must register to participate on their behalf.
Social Media Addiction in Canada
Social Media Addiction in Canada
March 13, 2025 — In an ever growing technology based world, we are all spending hours upon hours glued to our phones and devices. Social media users worldwide have grown by 13% or 362 million in the last year. In Canada, 94% of adults have an account on at least one social media platform, ranking Canada as one of the most connected countries in the world.
As adults we spend time checking in to our social media accounts, clicking, liking, commenting and posting on average 2-3 hours a day, but for teens and young adults that number jumps to up to 9 hours a day. That’s a lot of screen time!
How healthy is this rapid consumption of social media, and what is it doing to our teenagers mental health?
Let’s start by looking at how many people are using different social media channels.
- Facebook is the by far the most popular social media channel with more than 2.7 billion monthly active users worldwide. In Canada 83% of adults have a Facebook account.
- Instagram is the 7th most visited website in the world, with 2.9 billion visits per month. 1.22 billion people use Instagram each month. Canada has a 51% usage rate.
- TikTok, a relatively new channel, had more downloads than Instagram in the fall of 2021. In Canada it’s running at 15% of users.
It’s clear by the numbers above that social media is growing, reaching and affecting millions of users daily. But how exactly is this affecting our overall mental health?
It doesn’t take much digging on the Internet to find numerous case studies highlighting the negative mental effects of social media addiction in our teens and young adults.
Let’s first look at ourselves and ask: Have you ever felt depressed when viewing your social media platforms?
Chances are you said “yes”, or at least said “sometimes”. It’s fairly common for many people to feel depressed based on how these platforms work. Have you asked your teenager or young adult about this?
Example: When we see “likes” on a post you created on Facebook it triggers a positive dopamine response in your brain. Dopamine is the “feel-good” chemical that triggers our inner rewards system similar to what takes place when we eat delicious foods or take addictive drugs.
When we expect to see “likes” and then don’t get them we get depressed and ask ourselves – “Why didn’t someone like my post? Is it me?” It’s already hard enough to be a teenager and to complicate this, if your teenager is truly addicted to the social media “rewards system” and don’t go online, it further exacerbates their depression.
Other negative side effects of social media addiction may include: anxiety, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, learning disorders, aggression at school or in public, diagnosed psychological condition, and symptoms of psychological issues requiring treatment or counseling.
Do you feel like you HAVE to check into your social media channels daily?
Do you wake up and instantly reach for your phone to check your social media alerts?
If so you aren’t alone, a ScienceDirect study has suggested that 210 million people may suffer from social media addiction. Here is the actual excerpt from the study (link source below):
Results show that life satisfaction has significant effects on both generalized Internet addiction and the specific addiction to social media. For addicted individuals, there may be deep-rooted issues in their lives, lowering their satisfaction and driving their continued or increased addictions to Internet technologies.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160791X16301634
Algorithms meant to keep you online and to sow division.
Last year in October a whistleblower, Frances Haugen from Facebook, told a Senate subcommittee about how their algorithm was intended to keep people on its platform. She testified and said Facebook harms children, sows division and undermines democracy in pursuit of breakneck growth and “astronomical profits.”
She went on to state that Facebook knows that its algorithm was harmful to children, yet took no actions to change it. Her statement: “The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people.”
Government Studies Effects of Social Media.
In June 15, 2020 the US National Library of Medicine published a study entitled: Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review. This study is quite long, but we’ll share this section:
National Law Firm to Take Action in Canada.
Since learning about this tragic rapid growth of social media addiction in Canada (and everywhere) the lack of remorse, lack of change and direct ignoring of the problems caused by these social media channels, our law firm is currently accepting any injury claims from the use of social media.
We fully intend to investigate and hold these companies responsible for the mental illness, psychological damage and willfully not changing their platform to help stop the addiction that is affecting millions of people.
Take action if you or someone you love has shown signs of addiction, or has been diagnosed with any mental issues arising from the use of any social media channel. Use the 100% secure form, or simply call us direct at 1-800-631-5656.
Links to case studies, articles, examples and stories of social media addiction.
Facebook’s own research found Instagram fuels eating disorders in young people.
The Dangerous Experiment on Teen Girls. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/facebooks-dangerous-experiment-teen-girls/620767/
Instagram promoted pages glorifying eating disorders to teen accounts.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/instagram-facebook-eating-disorders/index.html
Instagram curates anorexia images to teen girls who have eating disorders: docs
Facebook’s harm to young women shouldn’t be a surprise
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-facebooks-harm-to-young-women-shouldnt-be-a-surprise/
A picture is worth a thousand words: Electronic cigarette content on Instagram and Pinterest