Addiction to Social Media and Attachment Styles: A Systematic Literature Review

TLDR

Social networking sites are rapidly adopted, and research indicates that a minority may develop addiction, with attachment styles influencing this risk. The study systematically reviews evidence linking internet/social media addiction to attachment styles. The review included 32 papers from 2000–2018 identified via Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. The review found that insecure attachment styles are positively associated with intensive, dysfunctional social media use, serve as a compensatory mechanism for missing affection, and are best understood through the gratification model.

Abstract

Web-based communication via social networking sites (SNSs) is growing fast among adolescents and adults and some research suggests that excessive SNS use can become an addiction among a small minority of individuals. There is a growing body of research that has examined the impact of attachment styles and its influence on internet addiction (more generally) and social media addiction (more specifically). Consequently, the present study systematically reviewed the evidence concerning internet/social media addiction and attachment style. A total of 32 papers published between 2000 and 2018 met the inclusion criteria following searches in the following databases: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and Google Scholar. Findings demonstrated a significant positive association between insecure attachment (anxious and avoidant) and a more intensive and dysfunctional use of the internet and social media. Findings demonstrate that those with insecure attachment appear to use the social media sites as a way of replacing and compensating affection that is missing from those around the individual (e.g., family and peers). The findings suggest that the gratification model provides a useful framework to understand the effects of parental attachment on social media addiction. Limitations and future research are also discussed.