Instagram, Texting, Facebook, Twitter, Hashtag, Selfie, Snapchat, Pinterest.

 If you know what these terms mean, you’re probably pretty adept at social media.

But using these networking sites to be “social” all the time probably isn’t such a good thing. Consider this:

--Do you check your phone for a status update all the time? Are you checking it now?

--Will you text, rather than talk, to someone?

--Are you compelled to sleep with your phone because you’re afraid you might miss something?

--Do you Instagram everything you do?

--Do you have withdrawal symptoms from not doing any of the above?

You might be addicted to social media technology, says Dr. Ca Trice Glenn, a Georgia Perimeter College personal advising counselor. 

“Social media addiction is not so much in how many hours per day you are on it, but the association that if you don’t have it, what is going to happen to you,” she explains. Social media addiction has even spawned a new type of psychology, called cyber psychology, says Glenn.

After observing how students’ personal relationships are affected by social media usage, Glenn saw a need to offer technology addiction workshops at GPC.

“I know of people in the same house who were just texting each other and not talking to each other,” she says. “Texting eliminates visual cues about what someone really means. You have to read into it. So you’re left with how you interpret that text based on your past assumptions—and they are usually negative. By nature, relationships are developed and strengthened through private interaction, not using public venues.”

During the workshops and personal counseling sessions, Glenn asks students to consider who they “friend” on Facebook and other social media sites. “Don’t try to create a relationship with someone you only know through a site and don’t fill your sites with people you don’t know just to increase your (friends) numbers,” she says. “And please don’t ‘share’ so much,” she adds.

Your friends’ posts can reflect poorly on you, Glenn adds.

“Future employers can see you—and they will judge what they see, whether you want them to or not,” Glenn says. “I ask them, ‘Would you want the president of Coca-Cola to see that post?’”

If that isn’t enough for slowing down that steady stream of Instagram photos, consider this: once a comment or photo goes into cyberspace, it stays in cyberspace. Not even Snapchat—which supposedly “self-destructs” five minutes after being viewed—is safe. (People can make a screenshot of the image or video, she says).

The need for that social media connection has spawned an issue few students really consider:  Preserving their personal security.

Ever heard of Spokeo?

“Spokeo is really spooky,” says Glenn.  A data gathering site, Spokeo latches on to all information out there on an individual and gathers it together. “Most students don’t put on their privacy settings, so that means this site can pull all their data,” she says. During the workshop, Glenn types a student’s name on the site: in an instant, the student’s name, current and former addresses and even the aerial view of their house will show up.

It’s a wakeup call.

“Students will freak on how much of their personal information is out there,” says Glenn. “Anyone who wants to can look at it—and they don’t need your permission.”