Are you hooked on social media?

A new survey commissioned by MyLife.com shows that nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults would rather have a root canal or spend the night in jail before they give up their social accounts.

The survey examined the social media habits of 2,037 U.S. adults. Of adults who are a member of more than one social networking site, more than 62 percent said they keep an eye on their social networks because they don’t want to miss out on an important event or status update.

How strong is the compulsion? Nearly 40 percent of the respondents agreed they would rather do the following than give up their social networking profiles:

• Wait in line at the DMV
• Read “War and Peace”
• Do their taxes
• Give up an hour of sleep each night for a year
• Run a marathon
• Sit in traffic for four hours while listening to polka music
• Get a root canal
• Spend a night in jail
• Clean the drains in the showers at the local gym
• Give up their air conditioner/heater

“Consumers are bombarded with so much information online—from status updates and photos to tweets and check-ins—that our anxiety around ‘missing out’ has shifted to our digital lives,” said Jeff Tinsley, CEO of MyLife.com. “The fact that many people would rather run a marathon or spend a night in jail than give up their Facebook or Twitter account is proof positive.”

Millennial social media users (between 18 and 34-years-old) have an even worse case of addiction. More than 54 percent would undertake one of these activities rather than give up their social media profiles.

While Facebook is widely known to be the most popular social network worldwide, the site actually doesn’t top social media users’ lists when it comes to being the primary social profile they turn to for consuming or sharing content. LinkedIn is tops for consumption (i.e., to observe without actively posting anything); 68 percent of online adults who are a member of LinkedIn say they use the site mainly to consume content.

• YouTube (57 percent) and Twitter (53 percent) were next in line when it came to sites where users tend to primarily view content without sharing.
• Pinterest (48 percent) narrowly edged out Facebook (46 percent) as the site where users are most likely to equally consume and share content.

“Surprisingly enough, while everyone knows different social networks serve different purposes, the way people are using sites to consume or share content doesn’t fall in line with what we might expect,” continued Tinsley. “Facebook was passed by Foursquare as the primary place people share content and newcomer Pinterest edged out the social media giant when it came to the site where users equally share in both activities.”