Oh there are quite a few reasons behind social media obsession; some are even more rational than you'd think.
1. Life gets boring.
The internet, on the other hand, is always active. This is what happens when you billions of people all congragating in the same location.
Our lives get boring and life has been made so "easy" by the internet that you can basically sit in the comfort of your house and enjoy the benefits of relating with people whom you might not even have the chance to.
People, by the way, of different characters and dispositions. Whatever kind of person you're looking for in the internet you're sure to find. Then again we have the celebrities who have made their life an entertainment. We follow the celebrities, see them constantly posting their glamorous lifestyles and we want to do the same.
2. You can be a better or less genuine you.
It may simply be a case of imitation or just wanting to spice up our boring lives but there's no doubt the internet affords us the opportunity of a clean slate.
You open a twitter account and get hundreds of followers from all over the world who have no idea what you're like in real life. You realize you have the opportunity to be something else. Something flashier or stronger or more mature or funnier or meaner or more handsome and more beautiful than you're percieved in real life.
This is why most people seize the opportunity by posting filtered version of their lifestyles. Posing with cars they don't have or applying excessive filters and giving themselves beauty they don't have or copying quotes and showcasing knowledge they don't have.
Nobody should tell anyone how to live their lives of course but you can't help but consider that it's a shame people aren't using the opportunity of the internet to really re-invent themselves, and TRULY make themselves better people.
3. Another reason people get obessed with social media is that they want us to!
Yes, there are people out there who want you to spend every second of your day surfing Facebook! Because they make an enormous amount of money from it.
Which is why they're busy devising more means and features to make you do just that. They want you to wake up and make the first thing you think about as you wake to be the number of likes your photo got the previous day and how you're going to get a borrowed car to pose with so as to get more likes.
4. Following the crowd
Is another reason for social media addiction. Sometimes though we might bit be able to resist this, at least not without paying the priceof ostracization or being "out of the know".
Most of our friends are all there, most conversations and informations have become virtual. And this is why the next point should me as a sort of post scriptum.
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Social media isn't all bad. And spending time on there or getting people to spend time there isn't entirely bad either. So long as you have a tangible reason to be there; something tangible you have as a reward for it.
For example steemit.com or musing.io, fiverr, amazon, quora etc are places you can spend your time and not only gain valuable knowledge but also earn real cash and have great fun at the same time!
Cheers!