Social media applications: Are the youth addicted?

Social media (SM) has seen an exponential growth since its inception on the web, making it an interesting and unexplored area of research. The positives and the novelty of the SM sites have resulted in its integration to our daily lives. Unfortunately, there are repercussions to its adoption, including but not limited to uncontrollable daily dedicated hours; loneliness creating the need to use it and causing more loneliness as the end product; addiction arising out of pleasure, etc. This paper aims to study the SM usage pattern of a sample of students from United States and India, and gauge the pattern and relate the same as symptoms of addiction.