This is something that I’ve been interested in and observing on a personal level for awhile now. To my understanding, someone who has an addictive personality must have some kind of addiction going at all times; what one is addicted to may change, but there has to be something external on which one depends for a sense of excitement, purpose, and well-being.
By that measure, I definitely do not have an addictive personality. Social media like Fluther (I don’t do Facebook so I won’t talk about it) tap into deeply engrained human traits that, in other contexts, no one sees as troublesome. No one would be worried by someone who seeks out the company of friends, enjoys sharing points of view, in the process giving and receiving affirmation. We’ve been neurologically wired by natural selection to feel rewarded by these activities. A couple of generations ago, there were people who carried on voluminous correspondence with multiple acquaintances, but no one spoke of “mail addiction”. Further back, people frequented “salons” for this kind of interaction, but no one spoke of “salon addiction”.
But because this can now happen through the intermediary of technology, and it is so very available, We don’t really know whether to be worried about it or not. It will take some time, I think, to understand where this form of socialization fits into the larger scope of human activity.