Is dialogue addictive?

Abstract

In this study, we shed some light on the thinking behind Facebook addiction. Since social network system are dialogical communication tools, we carve out a space for a theoretical and methodological alternative to the research on social media addiction, as it relates specifically to Facebook addiction. Based on several meta-evaluations and synthesis of extant empirical research, we uncover the two most prominent functionalist approaches sustaining these empirical researches. Upon pointing to their epistemological, theoretical and methodological limitations, we delve into dialogic approach and theory with a view to isolate how and what it is in a dialogic communication that makes it addictive. Finally, we offer some theoretical and methodological alternatives from a dialogical perspective on how to study Facebook addiction.