Attachment scores were significantly higher (overall, anxious and avoidant) within the Social Media addiction group in comparison to the non-addiction group. Anxious attachment had a larger effect size (0.6) then either overall or avoidant (0.4). This matches previous research (Blackwell et al., 2017; Nitzburg & Farber, 2013), where increased use of Social Media for those who are anxiously attached, may allow for a sense of closeness or intimacy through a sense of connecting to others. Nitzburg & Farber (2013) suggested that those who are anxiously attached wished to avoid face-to-face communication, while still wishing to build relationships from a safe distance and did so through Facebook. The results in this present study are therefore different to Nitzburg & Farber (2013), in that they found no connection between avoidant attachment and problematic Facebook use. This goes against what was anticipated and based on avoidant attachment characteristics, it was hypothesised that alternative forms of Internet use without a social component would be preferred. In which case, it may well be that Social Media applications have changed and expanded in terms of functionality over the past five years since the Nitzburg & Farber (2013) study was published. Indeed, more recent Social Media apps like Instagram may well be favoured by those with avoidant attachment, due to the focus on photography rather than communication. Equally, Bartholomew’s adult attachment model (1990) may provide an explanation in terms of the fearful avoidant attachment type, where an individual desires closeness and intimacy but maintains a distance in order to avoid rejection. This could explain the findings in the present study and provides a motivation for using Social Media in a very specific way, equally, future research may benefit from collecting actual data relating to this kind of use.
It is possible to again use the idea of a safe space here (Silver & Slater, 2019), where social media helps to mitigate attachment anxiety that may otherwise be too overwhelming. In which case, it can both function as a way that reduces fear of rejection and anxiety that may accompany more complex, in-person social exchanges (Eichenberg et al., 2017). This equally applies to fearful avoidant attachment although unfortunately it was not possible to tease out such details with the measure used. Thus, a connection through Social Media may allow for an individual to get a reassuring sense of proximity, responsiveness and availability to attachment figures (Ainsworth, 1970; Bowlby, 1973). Indeed, as has been previously suggested (Hertlein & Twist, 2018), the device used to access Social Media may itself become an attachment figure or transitional object (Winnicott, 1969). This may
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be an adequate coping strategy at first, but clearly a dependency can form that becomes problematic over time depending upon the overall attachment system.
Alexithymia levels were also found to be significantly higher in the Social Media addiction group when compared to the non-addiction group, although the effect size was small (0.3). Significant differences were again found in the Difficulty Identifying and Difficulty Describing Feelings subscales, both again with small effect sizes (0.3 for each). No significant findings related to Externally-orientated Thinking, indicating that issues therefore exist within the appraisal rather than attention phase according to the attention-appraisal model (Preece et al., 2018). In which case, anxiously attached individuals with problematic Social Media use may be able to pay attention to a particular situation, but then experience difficulty appraising the feelings or emotions that follow, perhaps after being faced with an interpersonal trigger. This may well lead towards a preference for what might be a more comfortable mode of communication, particularly in terms of the ability to take time when responding and to take a break, without risk of rejection, if it becomes overwhelming or distressing (Kandri et al., 2014; Scimeca et al., 2014).
Findings in this present study therefore echo those found in previous studies linking higher levels of alexithymia with problematic Social Media use (Bolat et al., 2017; Zarins et al., 2015). Zarins et al. (2015) further found that higher levels of alexithymia were associated with specific types of Social Media, a detail that was unfortunately not attainable in this present study but is worth investigating in future research. Additionally, they lend weight to the theory that while Social Media may assist in alleviating anxiety in relation to interpersonal communication, it can result in a negative cycle of self-defeating safety behaviours (Bolat et al., 2017). Indeed, it then follows that such safety behaviours become further engrained through experiential avoidance and the wider attachment system.
Experiential avoidance was also found to be significantly higher within the Social Media addiction group when compared to the non-addiction group, with a medium effect size (0.6). This corresponds with previous research looking at experiential avoidance and Social Media use (Hormes et al., 2014). Hormes et al. (2014) found that maladaptive use of Social Media related to issues with emotion regulation and limited access to emotion control strategies. Indeed, this fits with the findings within the present study in terms of the overall attachment system, with experiential avoidance effectively reducing the ability to adapt towards a different strategy. When
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considered alongside insecure attachment and higher levels of alexithymia, experiential avoidance may indicate use of Social Media to be a safety behaviour where the opportunity to learn is then avoided (Bolat et al., 2017). It thus follows that the opportunity for any adaptation to the internal working model may also be missed.