Understanding the mechanism of social media addiction: A socio-technical systems perspective

Social media addiction has become alarmingly serious among numerous users and led to considerable psychological and behavioral issues. This study examines the formation of addiction, with a particular focus on university students, to gain a great understanding of how social media addiction works. Based on a socio-technical systems framework, this study develops a model to explore how social and technical factors influence social media addiction. A survey involving 265 participants was conducted to examine our research model. Findings indicate that perceived irreplaceability has a good explanation and predictive power for social media addiction. However, the relationship between functional dependence and social relationship is not significant. Additionally, social factors (i.e., fear of missing out and sense of belonging) influence perceived irreplaceability, whereas technical factors (i.e., utilitarian, social, and hedonic values) affect functional dependence. Theoretical and practical implications of preventing social media addiction are also discussed in this study.