The Relationship of Social Network Addiction with the “Dark Triad” and Externality

One of its manifestations is digital addiction, the massive spread of which among young people worries experts. Among digital addictions, addiction to social networks has come to the forefront due to its widespread nature. This addiction is often accompanied by health problems, cyber-aggression and deterioration in academic performance, which causes reasonable concern among parents, teachers, and psychologists. Social networks, as a “vanity fair,” promote narcissism, and cyberbullying promotes the actualization of Machiavellian attitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to test assumptions about the existence of relationships between addiction to social networks and the traits of the “Dark Triad”. The source material for this study was the results of a survey of 1323 residents of Belarus aged 17-62 years. Used: Short Questionnaire of the Dark Triad (adapted by M.S. Egorova and others); questionnaires for social media addiction (V.P. Sheinov and others) and smartphone addiction (V.P. Sheinov); test of subjective localization of control. The study showed that in women and men, social media addiction is directly linked to psychopathy and Machiavellianism. It has been established that women on social networks are prone to displaying narcissistic traits, while men are prone to displaying an attitude toward an external locus of control and are more prone to Machiavellianism. Significant connections between the social media addiction and all the personality traits of the “Dark Triad”, as well as with the external locus of control, were found only in generation Z. Other age groups have their own characteristic differences. There are also differences at shorter and longer age intervals. The results obtained confirm the fact that digitalization of age groups and generations is expressed to varying degrees and manifests itself in different ways – in particular, in different relationships between digital dependencies and personality traits. In practical terms, the results of this study can be usefully applied in programs for conducting outreach work with young people to prevent CVD. A rational approach to the use of social networks will greatly help prevent the emergence of strong addictions and the development of negative personality traits.