Revealed: Time Facebook addicts spend on site

The British are suffering from a serious case of "virtual vanity," as one in nine admit to checking Facebook over 20 times a day, a new survey has revealed.

The research, which examined the social media habits of 18-25 year olds, reveals the nation's most obsessed Facebook users who log onto the site everyday, spend a daily average of eight hours on the social networking site - the equivalent of a full working day, the Daily Mail reported.

While the majority of young Facebook users spend far less time obsessing over their profiles - the average 18-25 year old spends 1hour 20 minutes on the site each day - huge numbers of youngsters admitted to worrying about their "online appearance."

Over a third (38 percent) of young adults admit to worrying about being tagged in unflattering photos, the paper said.

Girls seems to be the most affected, with almost half claiming that friends seeing dodgy photos of them on Facebook is one of their major worries in life.

Worryingly, over a quarter admit to feeling unpopular when scrolling through posts of nights out they were not invited to, and one in five (19 percent) go as far as to exaggerating their status updates to make their lives appear more exciting, it added.

Social media pressure clearly has a big impact on shopping habits, with almost a quarter of youngsters regularly splashing out on new clothes to avoid being tagged in the same outfit twice.

"Facebook is an integral part of young people's lives but it's putting pressure on them to fit in and look the part, which is especially challenging for groups likes cash-strapped students," Duncan Jennings, co-founder of VoucherCodes.co.uk, who carried out the research, said.

"This generation of youngsters has grown up with social networking and it's interesting to see the impact it's having on way they shop," he added.