Study: Facebook As Alluring as Sex

Facebook, you temptress

Social Media is Irresistible, According to Report

Are You Addicted to Social Media?

There's no doubt that Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest can pull you in, but would you believe that social media is as tempting as sex and cigarettes?

That's what a new study from researchers at Chicago University's Booth Business School finds, as study participants' willpower and desires were evaluated over a weeklong period.

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With 250 participants in Germany, ages 18-85 years old, taking part in the study, it was discovered that the need to use social media platforms was a stronger desire than other desired activities.

Those taking part in the study were signaled seven times a day over 14 hours, for seven days, requiring them to send back a response about whether they had a desire at that moment or had experienced one in the last 30 minutes.

Then they had to identify the desire -- turns out Facebook and Twitter were among those activities that were the hardest to resist.

Desires were rated on a scale from "strong" to "irresistible."

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Wilhelm Hofmann, the study's lead author, noted that social media is more readily accessible than cigarettes, sex or alcohol, making the temptation harder to resist.