Unit 10 Flashcards
What is most social media research regarding?
-impact on well-being
(does it displace other good things in our lives - is one of)
(what’s being left out of the online interactions)
What 2 types of well-being can social media impact?
-physical
-psychological (emotional/affective & cognitive)
^are related to each other - impact each other
What is cognitive?
- how you are thinking about your life
What is affective?
-your feelings or emotions
If ask youth if social media has an impact what do they think?
-think it has a positive effect
-allows you to connect, find info
(some do think negative tho)
-45% said neither
What are the direct effects on physical well-being from online?
- 14-22yr olds - access health info online - b/c it’s accessible, anonymous, available 24/7 -may lead to changes in behaviour (13-18yr olds have said they have)
- physical injury - inflamed tendon -text-messagers thumb
Indirect effects on physical well-being from online?
- sleep (both physical & psychological)
- adolescents need sleep
How does phones/online/social media indirectly impact sleep?
- displacement -(sleep w/ media use)
- emotionally arousing content/interactions makes it difficult to fall asleep
- bright light - (e-book on Ipad took longer to fall asleep & more sleepiness the next day)
What is the consensus on social media and psychological well-being?
- no consensus
- hotly debated - mixed research
- most research has focused on young adults
How can social media affect your mood? (affective)
-emotional contagion -(emotional states can be transferred to others - can catch from social media?)
What is a study w/ emotional contagion? Issues?
- Facebook Mood Study
- done by fb team and other researchers
- 700,000 users - manipulated what they saw for a week - experimental - positivity was reduced and negative emotions reduced -then rated emotional content of your own posts
- when seeing les negative stuff posted less negative, (& same w/ less positive)
- very controversial - ethics - consent
- effects large enough? -tiny effect
- meaningful w/in population?
Does social media impact depression?
- mixed findings
- early days of internet were linked w/ depression
- correlational have found mixed (direction? Small relationship)
- longitudinal - more info on direction - more on ‘within’ - still mixed findings (between individual effects but not within effects)
- experimental - also mixed
What’s an example of an experimental study & social media?
-undergrads -3 weeks - normal use & limit to 10min/day - found those who had higher baseline depression rate when in experimental there was a decline in depressive symptoms -but those w/ low depression at start had no impact
What is another example of an experimental study on depression & social media?
- randomly assigned undergrads
- normal use or no social media for either, 1,2,3,4 weeks
- found no difference btw normal use or treatment groups
Summary of social media & experimental designs on well-being?
- 12 studies that reduced social media had a positive impact on well-being
- 5 had no effect
- 1 said negative effect (ie reducing social media negatively impacted well-being)
Why might the experimental studies results vary so much?
- 3rd variables?
- time duration of reduction (seems to have benefits to reduce for a short period of time, but what about longer?)
- more benefits for reduction than full abstention
What is cognitive well-being?
how you think about your well-being - your life satisfaction
Life satisfaction & media?
- some find relationship w/ life satisfaction and social media use - but life satisfaction less impacted (?) b/c more stable than moods/emotions
- but findings are mixed
well-being & social media?
- no consistent pattern
- not strongly tied to well-being - small effect (meta-analysis)
2 types of how we use social media?
- active - facilitates exchanges w/ others: chatting, posting, sharing
- passive - lurking, consuming info w/o exchanges
study -correlational - w/ types of use and social media?
- 14-16yr olds - time on social media -active or passive, and relationship to depression -those who did more passive use had positive correlation w/ depression & anxiety
- active had less strong of a relationship, but did have less depression & anxiety
- (active use is more rare)
study - experimental - types of use and social media?
-young adults - undergrads - Facebook - randomly assigned passive or active use - for 10min -then measured mood & well-being - immediately after & at end of day - no diff at baseline - no effect immediately - but was an effect at end of the day - passive dropped in well-being -(active slight increase but not strong) - maybe why mixed effects in other studies (can also boost)
What about Asian Americans and their experiences of discrimination in Covid?
-those who had experienced were linked w/ greater social media use - diff types had diff effects - if messaging & posting = increased social support & linked to improved well-being - if passive/browsing - increased worry of discrimination & decreased well-being
When might types of use not help with benefitting well-being?
- Displacement theory
- if it displaces or distracts from face-to-face -which is linked w/ poorer social connections & well-being
How does Social Comparison relate to social media?
- context/opportunity to compare ourselves - judge how we’re doing -available - public - lots of ppl -ppl in similar shoes to you
- can curate themselves
- asynchronicity & cues management - more upward?
- more upward can lead to poorer mental health - can lead to more envy - but depends on type of use & on what’s being viewed (more envy for upward)
study of social comparison & social media?
-college students w/ range of depression - had them view someone who was rated as attractive or someone unattractive - when attractive (for everyone) increased envy - more pronounced for those w/ high levels of depression
So overall what are two main mechanisms of social media? (a 3rd?)
- social relationships
- social comparison
- FOMO
What is FOMO? What is it linked with?
- kind of anxiety for when missing out on something that is socially rewarding - differs in individuals - some can be higher in it - it’s a trait - having higher fomo is linked w/ lower self-esteem, lower well-being, lower life satisfaction
- fomo is correlated w/ social media use - seems to predict social media use as well - but maybe a spiral (fomo drives to social media, social media increases fomo)
What is a possible reason why active use is better for mental health?
-possibly more disclosure? makes you closer with ppl
Are more ppl active or passive users?
-passive
What study contradicts passive vs. active?
- Valkenburg, Beyens, Pouwels - october 2021
- found evidence that didn’t support passive social media use hypothesis
- (80% of the 20% who were passive user, didn’t have worse mental health)
- those who had high browsing enjoyment experienced better mental health -those low still had positive effect to well-being (9% of them)
So is it proven that active use is better than passive?
- quite a bit of research thought yes -but then recent study shows it’s not a given
- jury is still out
- (maybe now ppl are so used to social media it’s normal & seamless)
So overall does social media lead to poorer mental health?
-no not necessarily - there is a small relationship but found mostly through correlational
What is an example of social media well-being & correlational?
- Facebook - 14 days -young adults - Kross et al (2013)
- found lower life satisfaction, lower mood, more loneliness & more facebook use correlated w/ more facebook use - at end of 14 days, less life satisfaction
- cycle - more upset, more go on facebook, then more upset
- BUT older finding, correlational, small effects
What is recent research finding about social media use and well-being? Why?
- might not be an effect -is there is, small and nearly insignificant
- complex relationship, context, content, differences in platforms, reasons for use, types of use, maybe more focus on positive mental health in general now
Summary of social media & well-being
-many studies have found link btw social media & mental health - but it is exceedingly small -when it is bigger, usually relating to something else, underlying thing -ex. screen use is a symptom of existing mental health issue
How about social media in time of COVID?
-Social Determination Theory - need for relatedness -social media can provide opportunities to connect - if satisfied then associated w/ better physical & mental health
How about social media in time of COVID?
- Social Determination Theory - need for relatedness -social media can provide opportunities to connect - if satisfied then associated w/ better physical & mental health - can also frustrate it
- (maybe competence too, seeing others accomplishments when you’re stuck in covid -pressure)
What was the CyberTeens project?
- 997 students - 2 highschools (one in school, other online and in school) in BC
- longitudinal - online questions
- mixed-methods - 3 key themes - indifferent, disconnected, and connected - only 28% were disconnected (64% connected (& 69% of those mentioned importance of tech)
- helped satisfy need for relatedness
- thos disconnected were at risk - peer attachment secuirty made a difference (less likely to feel disconnected) and FOMO (even if had peer security, if had FOMO then more likely to feel disconnected)
- problematic smartphone use, screen time, and parent attachment security weren’t helpful
- FOMO was a predictor - fear more important than the security (fear of losing security probably)
Summarize Coyne
- 8 year longitudinal - (time on) social media and (impact on) well-being -13 years old to 20 (500)
- girls on SNS more
- use more social media as grow up
- did between & within
- between effects of social networking & anxiety - but not within - depressive symptoms unrelated to future networking except depression at age 16 predicted social networking at age 17
- causal
- displacement theory -uses and gratification theory
- social media not a social risk factor for the development of depression and anxiety
- limitations: - self-report -bias -social media effect might appear later in life
Summarize Parent, Dadgar, Xiao, Hesse, Shapka - COVID
- social disconnection during covid - attachment, FOMO, smartphone use - mixed methods - 2 schools -online survey -open-ended question -3 themes: socially connected, disconnected, indifferent
- secure peer attachments is portective factor - but FOMO was independent risk (didn’t matter if had secure peer) -perceived peer secuirity
- attachment theory
- screen time application -smartphone addiction scale -
- 28% felt disconnect,, 64% felt connected (emphasis on tech) - disconnect risk for mental health issues etc.
- rural & urban made difference (rural was protective) but diff school situation (in full time)
- fomo - predictor of social disconnection -can fear losing secure attachments
- smartphone use and & problematic use not associated w/ disconnection
- limitations: - not ethnically diverse - ppl who didn’t repond, underrepresented -self-report - impossible to have causal because it was cross-sectional -used overall screen time not specific activities on phone
