Are a portion of Facebook’s 900 million users addicted to the site? In a study conducted by Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen and a team of researchers at Norway’s University of Bergen, it may be a possibility. 

The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, which began development in 2011, seeks to differentiate between a normal amount of use, and an unhealthy proclivity toward the popular social networking site.

The scale developed in Dr. Andreassen’s study uses six statements to evaluate a possible Facebook (News - Alert) addiction:

• You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
• You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
• You use Facebook to forget about personal problems.
• You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook with no success.
• You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
• You use Facebook so much that it has a negative effect on your job/studies.

Participants are then asked to attach one of five qualifiers to each statement: very rarely, rarely, sometimes, often and very often. Answering between four and six statements with ‘often’ or ‘very often’ suggest the participant may be addicted. 

In her initial January 2011 study, Dr. Andreassen provided 423 students with the survey, 196 men and 227 women. Results found that Facebook addiction was most common in younger users, women and extraverts, and not as common in those who were more organized, ambitious and career-oriented. 

“We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits,” said Dr. Andreassen, “probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face.”