How Social Media Affects Real World Social Interaction
For all the good it does us, social media is far from free
of criticism. Of these criticisms perhaps the most common is the belief that
social media use negatively affects our social interactions and/or social
wellbeing in a significant manner, however new research suggests this may not be the case.
The new research in question was conducted by a team from
the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Kansas, Lawrence,
which aimed to explore what impact if any social media truly has on our face-to-face
interactions over the course of two dedicated studies. The team ultimately
concluded that despite what popular opinion may indicate, social media use has
little bearing in this regard.
“The current assumption is that when people spend more time
on apps like Facebook and Snapchat, the quality of their in-person social
interactions decreases,” says Michael Kearney, one of three co-authors on the
new studies. “However, our results suggested that social media use doesn’t have
a strong impact on future social interactions.”
In order to reach this conclusion Kearney and the research
team conducted two separate studies, one long-term and one short-term. The
first study, which followed the social media use of individuals from 2009 to
2011, found that change in social media use was not associated with changes in
direct social contact. In addition, the participants’ feelings of social
well-being actually increased.
The second study, which surveyed adults and college students
through text-messaging over the course of five days, found that social media
use earlier in the day did not have any impact on future social interactions.
However, the researchers do warn that passive social media use may lead to
lower levels of well-being after spending significant time alone.
“People who use social media alone likely aren’t getting
their face-to-face social needs met,” Kearney says. “So if they’re not having
their social needs met in their life outside of social media, it makes sense
that looking at social media might make them feel even lonelier.
“People are spending increased amounts of time using the
internet and other media that may replace the time they could use for speaking
face to face, but that doesn’t mean that they are worse for it. People must
ultimately be responsible for maintaining their relationships, whether that’s
through social media or other means.”
Sam
is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers.
Currently working as Editor of Social Songbird, he hopes to one day drop that
'aspiring' prefix. Follow him @Songbird_Sam
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How Social Media Affects Real World Social Interaction
Reviewed by Unknown
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Monday, March 05, 2018
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Monday, March 05, 2018
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Unknown
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