Discussion—In Relation to Hypothesis

Discussion—In Relation to Hypothesis

The hypothesis of this study was as follows: Over half of young adults in the Edmonton area are addicted to social media. As previously stated, the DSM-5 does not yet include social media addiction as a classified psychological disorder; however, computer gaming is listed as a disorder, so it seems as though social media addiction is on its way to becoming an official disorder (Ciplak, 2020). The closest definition of social media addiction that was found in other research is: “a key aspect of social media addiction is that individuals do not only use social media more frequently but may experience distress without it” (Lin et al., 2017, as cited in Larson, 2021, p. 233). Because social media addiction is not an official classified psychological disorder, there are no criteria for qualified physicians to use for diagnosis. Since the researchers of this study are not licensed mental health professionals, they do not have the authority to determine whether or not the participants of this study are addicted to social media. Although this is the case, several conclusions were made throughout the research that contribute to the academic discussion surrounding this topic and provide some insights that may benefit further research.