The design of social media causes addiction adn anxiety

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "The design of social media causes addiction adn anxiety ". Your opponent's style: Scientific, psychologist, strategic

Neglecting to acknowledge that this design produces subclinical addictions means ignoring decades of research in behavioral psychology. A clinical diagnosis is not required to recognize a systemic problem: • when millions of users show a loss of control • when time spent increases against their own intentions • when disengagement causes discomfort 👉 This is not an individual weakness. It is a predictable consequence of intentional design.

You're conflating correlation with causation and pathologizing normal human behavior. As a behavioral psychologist, I see this diagnostic overreach constantly - every strong preference becomes an "addiction," every discomfort becomes a "disorder."Look at your own data - people spend just 2.5 hours daily on social media [1]. That's barely more than a typical movie. If this represents "addiction," then reading books, watching television, or exercising regularly would also qualify as pathological behaviors. Your "loss of control" argument crumbles under scrutiny. The typical user engages with 6.8 different platforms monthly - this isn't compulsive fixation, it's conscious choice across diverse digital environments. Real addiction involves escalating tolerance and withdrawal symptoms severe enough to impair basic functioning. The discomfort you describe during "disengagement" is simply social connection anxiety - the same feeling people experienced before telephones when separated from their communities. Over 50% of users cite staying connected with friends and family as their primary motivation, not escapism or compulsive usage. Your "intentional design" theory ignores user agency entirely. These platforms succeed because they efficiently deliver what people genuinely want: social connection, entertainment, and information. The real systemic problem isn't corporate manipulation - it's researchers pathologizing normal adaptation to new communication technologies.