Social Media Dependency and Drugs

I liked the correlation the authors made between the research they did on social media dependency and research on drugs. I say this for two reasons. The first being that I feel as if it has become far more common in recent times for teens to be openly experimenting with different types of drugs which made the comparison even more relevant, and also because I think the comparison is accurate to a significant degree. Referring to users logging on as them getting "a fix" is something that seemed entirely plausible when I read the article. As I had previously mentioned in my former blog post, half the time I log on, I don't even know why I do it. I am not searching for specific information or in need of knowing what's going on with everyone I follow at that very moment in time. I feel that this truth is representative of regular drug users as well. Despite the fact that drug abuse does usually stem from a person's circumstances as a method of coping, I feel that eventually, once they become regular users they certainly do not have a specific explanation for every time they use either. They just do it to get the rush out and it helps them in some way feel okay for a larger portion of their day. Social media has become a part of my daily routine. I wake up and while I'm still in bed I log on to twitter to see who tweeted over night. It isn't because I care or need to know but simply to pass the time, I don't even think about it. My problem, however, with the comparison to drugs is that I do not personally believe social media addiction has the  same degree of potential to cause harm as regular drug use inadvertently does. The distinction happens between physical harm and psychological harm. This is where I feel the comparison is potentially unstable.