Addiction to mobile text messaging applications is nothing to “lol” about

•Extraversion and social anxiety are significantly related to consumer attitudes toward BBM and WhatsApp services.•Addiction to these services mediates the examined effect.•Consumers turn to these services for socializing, seeking entertainment, seeking self-status, and seeking information.•More than 32% of participants report using these services more than 12 times per hour.•53% of participants perceive themselves to be either BBM or WhatsApp addicts or do not know whether they are addicts.

The recent use of mobile text messaging applications, such as Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and WhatsApp, has increased greatly throughout the world. Unfortunately, this advanced technology is not without problems. In this study, the researcher argues that BBM and WhatsApp may generate noticeable improvements in consumer's lives but may simultaneously cause serious social and personal problems, including addiction to these applications. Amazingly, this topic has received little if any attention from consumer behaviorists, who need to understand the psychological factors that affect BBM and WhatsApp consumers. Hence, the current research examines two personality traits—extraversion and social anxiety—that influence consumer attitudes toward these applications. The results of a survey from 552 BBM and WhatsApp consumers in Kuwait indicate that the interaction effect of extraversion and social anxiety is significantly related to consumer attitudes toward BBM and WhatsApp. Furthermore, addiction to these applications plays a mediating role in the examined effect.