Researchers have published a psychological scale to measure Facebook addiction with a hope that this tool will help in investigating problem behaviour linked to Facebook use.
The new measure is called the BFAS, short for the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale and is the work of Dr. Cecilie Andraessen at the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway, and colleagues.
Are you a Facebook Addict?
“We have found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face,” says Andreassen.
The Norwegian team also finds that people who are more organized and ambitious tend not to become addicted to Facebook, and are more likely to use social media as an integral part of work and networking activity.
Notes
The research this questionnaire is based on used 423 undergraduates at a single university as the subject pool. Therefore, the results are most reliable when compared against other young adults attending college and may not be generalizable to other adults.
References
Andreassen, C.S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G.S., Pallesen, S. (2010). Development of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological Reports, 110, 2, 501-517.
