Perceptions of data privacy in the age of social media addiction

In the 21st century, social media addiction has become more prevalent with the ubiquity of online communication in everyday life. Individuals often feel a strong obligation to keep up online in both personal and professional respects, to the point that they are consumed with digital media for multiple hours each day. In the trade-off of social utility – the perceived benefits of social media to an individual provided by media platforms – individuals’ privacy is forgone as they share large quantities of personal data. This project explores whether social media addiction and social utility can lead individuals to disregard concerns for their data privacy. Using a two-part quantitative survey, addictive social media behaviors and attitudes towards data privacy are compared to answer this question: do individuals who exhibit signs of social media addiction prioritize their social utility over their personal data privacy? Derived from past research on Facebook addiction, the first part of the survey evaluates participants’ inclination toward symptoms of social media addiction. The second part allows participants to rate their knowledge and concern for the data they share with the public while using specific platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. This research found that young adults aged 18-25 are most likely to exhibit social media addiction. Within the addicted subsample, 20 percent of participants were deemed unconcerned about their data privacy. Various patterns emerged regarding age, gender, and time spent online as related to addictive use, suggesting specific groups that may be at risk of social media addiction. Future research will explore the distinctions between platforms that allow them to be addictive and probe further into the motivations behind protecting personal data.