Arguments Against my Position: The obsessive use of technology is causing rise in social networking addiction

Argument #1: Some experts question whether an obsessive use of technology meets the clinical definition of addiction. 

“A new study by the Pew Research Center found that about half of Americans have engaged in some form of political or civic-minded activity through social media in the previous year… Technology also appears to help those who have difficulty socializing. A study published in February by Martin Sundberg, a psychology professor in Budapest, Hungary, found that adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorder who participated in low to moderate online gaming were less lonely and had more friends than nongamers”(Layons, 2018, p.663).

Argument #2: Technology helps bring together people with loneliness and social isolation, people aren’t addicted to technology but rather desire social interaction

Social media use the platform to find happiness for example "Introverted" users use the platform to find happiness and emotional support when feeling low, while "extroverts" tend to show higher level of activity by posting and sharing personal life and self-promoting (Marengo, Poletti & Settanni, 2020, p. 3)

Mobile-device habits may not be anti-social, but rather hyper-social -- stemming from a healthy human need to socialize. This is the finding of a new review of the dysfunctional use of smart technology, which concludes that the most addictive smartphone functions all share a common theme: they tap into the human desire to connect with other people( Frontiers, 2018).

 
Sources

Marengo, D., Poletti, I., & Settanni, M. (March 2020). The interplay between neuroticism, extraversion, and social media addiction in young adult Facebook users: Testing the mediating role of online activity using objective data. Addictive Behaviors, 102:106150, N.PAG. https://doi-org.libproxy.adelphi.edu/10.1016/j.addbeh.2019.106150

Frontiers. (2018, March 7). We're not addicted to smartphones, we're addicted to social interaction: Mobile-device habits stem from a healthy human need to socialize, rooted in evolution. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 20, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180307141337.htm

Lyons, C. L. (2018, August 3). Loneliness and Social Isolation. CQ researcher, 28, 657-680. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/