You May Not Need to Slow Your Scroll

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SSocial media can be hard to ignore these days. There’s so much of it, and it’s so accessible, right there, glowing on phones, in our pockets and purses. Many of us find ourselves scrolling through the feeds of friends, family, and so-called influencers more often than we’d like (or like to admit).

But does this mean we are addicted in the clinical sense, or simply indulging in a bad habit?

It turns out the distinction matters. While the U.S. Surgeon General warned in early 2023 that excessive use of social media can have neurological effects similar to those of drug addiction, for most people the language of addiction is neither accurate nor helpful, according to a recent study by two researchers from the California Institution of Technology and the University of California, Los Angeles. The results were published in Scientific reports.

The team conducted two studies. For the first time, they recruited 380 U.S. adults who used Instagram at least once a month and were representative of the U.S. population as a whole. Participants answered questions about addiction-like symptoms such as withdrawal and life conflicts, how “mindless” the behavior was, and whether they personally described their use as an “addiction” or a “habit.” Next, the researchers looked at how these labels corresponded to feelings of control, self-blame, and past attempts at reduction.

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The scientists found a glaring discrepancy: Eighteen percent of participants reported feeling at least somewhat dependent, but only about 2 percent scored within a range defined by the study as a warning sign of possible addiction risk. And people who label themselves “addicts” not only feel more out of control, they also report more failed attempts to cut back and more self-guilt.

In a second study, the researchers tested whether telling yourself an addiction story could actually cause these same feelings and behaviors. They recruited 824 daily Instagram users and randomly assigned them one of two different versions of a writing prompt. One group was explicitly told that their use of Instagram might be “addictive,” based on language used in the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning, and then asked to rate their own feelings of control, self-blame, and attempts at reduction. The other group did the self-assessment first. Next, the researchers compared the groups.

This brief exposure to addiction framing was enough to change people’s mindset. Those who received the “addiction” message reported a lower sense of control, more guilt, and a stronger desire to reduce their Instagram use.

Researchers say this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: If you think you’re addicted, you may assume your ability to quit is limited, undermining your confidence and making change more difficult. But if most overexploitation is characterized as habit, the solutions look less like a dramatic battle with oneself and more like simple environmental engineering.

Instead of drastically changing their lives, social media users can do simple tasks to reduce their habits. Reduce signals: Turn off notifications and keep the phone out of sight. Add friction: log out, remove the app from your home screen. Swap out a replacement behavior for moments that typically trigger scrolling, like boredom, anxiety, or waiting in line.

The study authors speculate that popular media is responsible for making people feel more dependent than they are. To test this hypothesis, they counted the number of articles published in U.S. media outlets using the phrases “social media addiction” or “social media habit” between November 2021 and November 2024. Addiction was the most common descriptor, they found, primarily driven by articles about lawsuits as well as the Surgeon General’s May 2023 warning.

A small minority of users may actually exhibit more serious, addiction-like symptoms related to social media use, researchers point out. But for the rest of us, they argue, using “addiction” language can backfire, adding shame while steering people away from the most effective tools for change.

“Our results offer good news to users,” they write: “the vast majority are not addicted to social media, even if they feel it.”

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Main image: Stokkete / Shutterstock

• Kristen French

  Published on December 12, 2025

  Kristen French is an associate editor at Nautilus. She has worked in science journalism since 2013, reporting and writing articles and news for publications such as Wired, Backchannel, The Verge, And New York Review. She holds a master’s degree in science journalism from Columbia University.