Almost half of teenagers feel as if they are addicted to social media, according to a UK study.

The “striking” findings are from analysis being carried out at the University of Cambridge, with researchers likening some people’s relationship with social media to a behavioural addiction.

Cambridge researchers found 48 per cent of 7022 teenagers surveyed agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I think I am addicted to social media”.

The data was collected between January 2018 and March 2019, when the survey respondents were 17 years old.

The total who answered they feel addicted included a higher proportion of girls (57 per cent) compared with boys (37 per cent).

“We’re not saying the people who say they feel addicted are addicted,” University of Cambridge graduate student Georgia Turner said.

“But it’s not a nice feeling to feel you don’t have agency over your own behaviour, so it’s quite striking that so many people feel like that.”

Turner warned that research that assumes social media addiction could follow the same framework as drug addiction “is likely to be over-simplistic”.

“It could be that, for some, their relationship with social media is akin to a behavioural addiction,” she said.

“But for others, their use could be driven by compulsive checking, others may be relying on it to cope with negative life experiences, and others may simply be responding to negative social perceptions about ‘wasting time’ on social media.”

Turner, who led the analysis, said the research being conducted could be important to help find appropriate interventions for problem behaviour.

“If addiction isn’t what’s causing someone’s problems, an addiction-based intervention may not help them,” she said.

The University of Cambridge research is ongoing and has yet to be peer reviewed or published formally.

-Reuters