Here’s what some Canadians would give up for social media

A study looking at what people would give up to maintain a social media presence shows a small percentage are willing to sacrifice significant aspects of their lives, such as a year of their life or their ability to have children.

The study, published last month and authored by University of Windsor researchers Paige Coyne, Bailey Csabai and Sarah Woodruff, asked 750 Canadians between the ages of 16 and 30 what they would sacrifice to stay on social media apps.

"So we said, ‘If we said we're going to take your social media access away or you have to give up something else, which would you pick?’

Across the 750 participants, the most commonly used platforms were Instagram (90 per cent), Facebook (86 per cent) and YouTube (82 per cent).

Results show a correlation between individuals with higher levels of social media addiction and the significance of things they would give up to keep using these platforms.

While most participants said they would sacrifice alcohol (41 per cent), video games (38 per cent) and caffeine (37 per cent), nearly 10 per cent said they would give up sex, their ability to have children and even a year of the life.

“People who had scored higher for social media were likely to give up more things overall. That was a really important finding. That came out that regardless of what they were giving up. They were always willing to give up more things,” explained Coyne.

Some of the more “interesting” findings, Coyne said, are listed below:

• 30 per cent (231 participants) would not eat at a restaurant for one year.
• 18 per cent (139) would rather be unpopular.
• 16 per cent (122) would never eat their favourite food again.
• 12 per cent (92) would live in a different city than their significant other for one year.
• 11 per cent (83) would have acne.
• Six per cent (48) would rather be clinically depressed.
• Three per cent (22) would give up 10 years of their life.
• Two per cent (17) would rather have a life-threatening illness such as cancer.

“Three per cent doesn't seem like a lot. But when you have three per cent of people willing to give up 10 years of their life to maintain their social media access, that's really concerning to me,” said Coyne, adding the results raise concerns about the potential issues of dependency and addiction to social media.

“It's now about being mindful and thinking about what we consider to be social media addiction, because I think we can say almost everybody is addicted to social media. But, then, is that really an addiction? I think this brings up an interesting conversation around that."

Coyne added while it’s important to strike a balance between the pros and cons of social media, it might be time to “recalibrate” the way it’s viewed — especially for generations of people who have grown up with social media their entire life.

Munty Al-Bazaz, Lauryn Qenneville and Mousa Al-Safadi say they were shocked to know some study participants would give up their life span and overall heath to maintain a social media presence. They all agreed they would never go that far. Pictured on July 17, 2023. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)

Fifteen-year-old Lauryn Qenneville described herself as an avid social media user and said she would give up fast food to maintain an online presence.

"I would rather give that up than some of the other crazy stuff that other people said," said Qenneville, adding social media is not important enough to justify giving up a year of your life.

First-year university student Munty Al-Bazaz was "shocked and surprised" that anyone would give up years of their life or suffer through a severe illness for the purpose of staying on social media.

"Some people can't live without social media. It's an addiction that needs to be fixed in all parts of society," said Al-Bazaz. "With everything comes pros and cons, and I know social media has a lot of pros, but does it outweight the cons? Clearly, some of these answers say the opposite."

Fellow student Mousa Al-Safadi said the study's findings point to "clear issues in society."

"It's surprising that some would move away from their signficant other for a year. If people will give up major things just for social media, that's a problem," said Al-Safadi.