The study “(In)Visible Threats? The
Third-Person Effect in Perceptions of the Influence of Facebook” found that young
people believed Facebook use had more of a negative impact on others’ personal
relationships, future employment opportunities, and privacy, than on their own.
However, respondents seemed to not distinguish a gap between themselves and
their closest friends when it came to the negative impact of media on personal
relationships. The reasoning behind this exception was that since closest
friends are apart of the respondent’s personal relationships, and respondents
found themselves to be insusceptible to the negative impacts of Facebook,
respondents did not view the personal relationships of their closest friends to
be affected either.
The study’s conclusion matched the “third person effect”
theory, which predicts that people believe others are affected by the negative
effects of media and find themselves to be insusceptible. To find this
conclusion, a survey was given to 357 anonymous undergraduates in the
Northeastern U.S.
In an article by The New Yorker, multiple studies were presented that show Facebook
to negatively impact people by making them feel sad and envious.
University of Michigan psychologist,
Ethan Kross, concluded that the more people used Facebook, the unhappier they became and the more their overall satisfaction declined. He conducted his
investigation by sending five text messages, daily, to eighty-two participants
to track how often they were using Facebook. The texts acted as a method of
measuring and what Kross found was that the more time his participants spend on
Facebook in-between the texts, the unhappier they became. It was found in
another study that Facebook makes people feel jealous and therefore causes
problems in relationships. By browsing through Facebook, rather than post
content, users experience jealousy by learning of others’ achievements and good
times. Psychologist, Beth Anderson, and her colleagues explain that users want
to learn about other people and have others learn about them but this
relationship. The Facebook network was found to have an addictive appeal to
people and causes them to resent others and feel the need to constantly portray
a particular image.
Facebook has also been found to give people
anxiety and make them feel inadequate by constantly comparing themselves to
other users.
Just as
Anderson explained in her study, the Salford Business School study suggested
that Facebook, along with other social media sites like Twitter, have an
addictive affect on people. 55% of those polled claimed that not being able to
access Facebook gave them feelings of worry and discomfort. The study made
evident that Facebook, and the Internet in general, gave users stress; more
than 60% of participants had the need to hinder their access to social media in
order to have a break. Pertaining back to the addictive effects of Facebook, a
global study found that turning off devices to avoid the internet, specifically
Facebook, could cause some people to experience symptoms similar to drug withdrawal.
Further
studies indicated that Facebook imposes pressure on people, making them feel
more insecure and overwhelmed. These pressures have a stronger impact on those
with anxiety. According to clinical psychologist, Dr. Linda Blair, people
experience anxiety from Facebook, and other social medias, because they feel as if they
have lost control; as if technology has taken control over them. This claim was
supported in a study conducted by scientists who asked participants from 12
different universities worldwide to avoid their electronic devices. By doing so, the
participants were obviously unable to access Facebook, Twitter, the radio, etc.
As a result, participants developed symptoms similar to people who attempt to
quit smoking and majority of the participants relapsed to their electronic
devices in less than 24 hours.
These multiple studies all point to Facebook to be negative on humanity. Whether it be pertaining to people's relationships, their psychology, their behavior, or their self-esteem, Facebook seems to be detrimental to its users. Facebook exhibits many qualities of an addictive drug and shows to be most harmful to those who are insecure and experience anxiety.
I thought your post was overall extremely well done. It was very informative as I did not realize the extent of the negative impacts that are associated with Facebook use. I was aware of the fact that Facebook use causes unhappiness, but I was unaware that half of users had negative responses.
ReplyDeleteThe layout of your post was very effective and appropriate. Just by reading the first paragraph I was aware of how people perceive Facebook use and psychological effects. Your use of studies and multiple psychologists’ opinions also add credibility to your post and made it more interesting. Having the studies and specific numbers/percentage kept me entertained and helped me realize the magnitude of negative effects. Your subheads were well chosen and explanatory which is ideal if someone was merely scanning the post. They were informative and described the content you were talking about. If you were to change anything about your post, it would be to have shorter paragraphs. When I first looked at your post it was a little intimating because your paragraphs were on the longer side. I think if you broke them up you would create greater engagement.
In terms of your graphics, I would add more to also increase reader interest. I think if you had at least one more, readers would be more likely to keep scrolling down your post. Also, I think your graphic needs a little editing so that it can be more effective. It is important to put what you are measuring at the beginning of title like number or percentage so that those who are scanning understand it better. In addition, don’t forget to put the data in increasing or decreasing order.
I found an article by Jess Bolluyt called “4 Negative Effects of Using Facebook Too Much” which addresses the same issues you talked about but it also brought up an interesting point about how one’s amount of interaction affected their feelings. You talked about how an increase in time spent on Facebook led to greater levels of depression. This article addressed how those who merely observe and do not post or comment feel higher levels of sadness. I think this is interesting because according to studies being on Facebook more is hurtful, but when a person actually interacts it can have a more positive result.