Addiction to Social Network Site Use: An Information Technology Identity Perspective

As the popularity of social network sites (SNSs) has grown substantially over the past years, several negative effects of using SNSs have been experienced by users and reported by Information Systems (IS) researchers. Addiction to SNSs is one of such negative experiences, which has widely been considered from a psychopathology perspective. While increasingly there is more studies in IS on this phenomenon, it is still unclear what characterises addiction to SNSs and what may influence it. This in-progress study adopts an information technology (IT) identity perspective and applies Dual Systems Theory as well as Protection Motivation Theory to provide an initial understanding of what impacts SNS addiction and how to combat it from an IT/SNS identity perspective. To achieve these objectives, we reviewed the literature and proposed a preliminary framework of addiction to SNSs use. We then offer discuss research implications and propose ideas for future studie

The Dark Side of Using Online Social Networks: A Review of Individuals' Negative Experiences

Research on online social networks (OSNs) has focused overwhelmingly on their benefits and potential, with their negative effects overlooked. This study builds on the limited existing work on the so-called ‘dark side’ of using OSNs. The authors conducted a systematic review of selected databases and identified 46 negative effects of using OSNs from the users’ perspective, which is a rich spectrum of users’ negative experiences. This article then proposed nomenclature and taxonomy for the dark side of using OSNs by grouping these negative effects into six themes: cost of social exchange, cyberbullying, low performance, annoying content, privacy concerns and security threats. This study then conducted structured interviews with experts to confirm the sense-making and validity of the proposed taxonomy. This study discusses the confirmed taxonomy and outlines directions for future research.</jats:p