Social Media: Good, Bad or Neutral

Now that I've posted several statistical facts, looked at the medical answer behind media addiction, and tried to understand why so many use social media, I want to turn my focus on weather social media addiction is good or bad and what it means for future generations.

Is all of this social media exposure to much for anyone to handle?

Seth Barnes expresses in his blog that "the media is a neutral thing, neither good nor bad - it's just raw technology". I believe that media is good until it becomes addictive. The Barna Group concluded that media exposure has become America's most widespread and serious addiction. George Barna who is in partnership with the Barna Group uses statistics and fasts to determine the positives and negatives of media exposure. He explains some benefits provided by tools and the media. It can stimulate thinking and conversation, increase memory, capture people's attention on important issues and it's a way to decompress and relax. The only way media exposure becomes negative is when it distracts one from important matters, and ultimately becomes a debilitating obsession for individuals.

An experiment called 24 Hours: Unplugged had 200 students from University of Maryland agree to go without social media for 24 hours. They could not use their computers, phones or any form of technology. The majority of the responses to the experiment were that they felt anxious and they were having cravings and withdrawls. One response that caught my eye and was not surprising came from a student who stated that "texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort,”. When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life. Although I go to a school with thousands of students, the fact that I was not able to communicate with anyone via technology was almost unbearable".

This brings me back to the Uses and Gratifications perspective that I read about in Media Now by Strabhaar, LaRose, and Davenport. The theory says that users actively seek out media that meets their needs for new knowledge, social interaction, and diversion. Her cell phone and computer help to satisfy her interpersonal communication needs. That is why sites like Facebook and Twitter are so popular, they help to satisfy a need and eventually lead to longer visits on the sites and repeat viewings. It may seem easy to pace yourself, but once you check once it becomes harder and harder to stop eat time you visit these sites. This is where behavioral addiction comes into play. As we become more addicted to social media, we may seek out or encounter new media that will satisfy new or different needs. When one site becomes boring or unpopular, the uses and gratifications diminishes and we turn to other sites liked LinkedIn or Twitter or stumble-upon new websites that will satisfy the same or different needs. It's a long continuous cycle that will keep on spinning as long as social media is still impacting it's audience.

Large amounts of media exposure is released everyday and this is one way social media addiction is being negatively affected. In a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics it is noted that those who expose themselves to more media outlets get fewer hours of restful sleep which leads to worse performance in school.  These individuals are also more likely to become obese, aggressive, violent and can cause anxiety due to information overload. As individuals get more sucked into SM sites, their participation in normal social, occupational, and recreational relationships weaken.

Will we soon see a decrease in the use of technology and social media?

Social media addiction is on the up-rise and we are seeing a steady increase of media exposure. One sign of social media addiction stated by George Barna, is that people are resisting to reduce their amount of media exposure. He says that if people were really serious about reducing their addictions, we would see a decrease in spending on personal media and technology and parents would set boundaries for their children and themselves. Instead were are seeing an increase in spending and an even larger market for future media purchases. Just the opposite is happening, media exposure is becoming larger than it already is.

What does this mean for future generations?

Baby boomers adapted to technology and will continue to use it to express themselves. They, like the Mosaics(22 and under) will seek out new technology to expand on their already evolving world of electronics. These electronics are the key to social media websites like Facebook and Twitter and the tools that feed the addiction. Mosaics grew up with technology and have known nothing else. During their generation, technology will continue to rapidly expand and become even more popular than it is today in 2012. Mosaics feel content with their technology and don't want to miss out on anything. They will find it harder to use self-control because they will be so accustomed to relieve negative feelings by using social media, resulting in media addictions, as stated by Straubhaar, LaRose, and Davenport.


 Resources:

http://www.sethbarnes.com/?filename=media-addiction-is-killing-us-in-7-ways

http://www.georgebarna.com/2010/01/media-exposure-addiction/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/social-media-addiction-study-w.html

Straubhaar, J., Larose, R., & Davenport, L. (2009). Media now, understanding media, culture, and technology. (6 ed.). Boston : Wadsworth Pub Co.

Mashable Just Posted These Intersting Twitter Statistics

Is anyone else astonished that Beyonce's pregnancy announcement generated an average of 8,869 TPS(Tweets per second) ?

When Beyonce announced her pregnancy, a multistep flow of media effects became evident. Beyonce is an opinion leader to the public, which includes her beloved fans. Once she announced she was expecting, that information was captured by the media and influenced those who use social media secondhand. Although they might not have heard it from her in person, the news made its way down the chain and eventually onto Twitter and Facebook, making it accessible by all. The multistep flow model is one way the media impacts media usage.

 

Straubhaar, J., Larose, R., & Davenport, L. (2009). Media now, understanding media, culture, and technology. (6 ed.). Boston : Wadsworth Pub Co.

Nail Art: Social Media

Addicted much? Someone painted their nails with popular networking logos. This has taken social media addiction to a whole new level.

Photo Source

 

CBS views on Social Networking Addictions

CBS News National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports that Social Networking is in fact an Internet Addiction. After one interview with CNET.com Senior Editor Natali del Conte, Kauffman finds that the American Psychiatric Association is starting to recognize Internet addiction as a real addiction. This article was published in 2009 and in such a short time the use of social media has exploded.

Natali del Conte offers a few tips on how to prevent internet addiction:

1. Set Limits- Only allow yourself a specific time limit each day to spend on the internet for leisure. I know when it becomes time for finals, a lot of my friends disable their Facebook pages so they can concentrate all their time and energy to their studies. It seems bizarre but it truly does work.
2. Turn off e-mail notifications- Disable direct e-mail notifications so you are not tempted to visit the site for new comments or updates. It will also keep your inbox less cluttered
3. Don't leave your social networks open- I am guilty of this, especially when I am doing homework. It's so easy to leave the Facebook tab open and click it anytime I feel like I want a distraction.
4. Don't network on your phone- This is a hard one for me because looking at Facebook and Twitter on my iPod is so much easier for me than using the computer. Plus both applications automatically save my passwords so I don't have to log in every time I want to check my news feed.

Resources:

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-4205009.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

Why We Use Social Media

According to Ragan's PR daily, "more than 66 percent of online adults in the U.S. belong to at least one or more social media platforms". That means that there are more than 155 million users in the U.S that are actively involved with at least one social media site. Compared to the total world population of more than 7 billion, 845 million of those actively use Facebook. Coming in second, Twitter has 127 million active users and Google+ has 90 million.


Why does so many of the world population use social media? Are there scientific facts behind it or is it just for entertainment value?


Online MBA recently did a study on demographics that explain the top 7 reasons why American's belong to social networks, which were:

1. Stay in touch with friends (67 percent)
2. Stay in touch with family (64 percent)
3. Reconnect with old friends (50 percent)
4. Connect with people who share similar interests (14 percent)
5. Make new friends (9 percent)
6. Read comments from celebrities, athletes or politicians (5 percent)
7. Find potential romantic partners (3 percent)

Photo Credit 

Could this be the only reason we spend countless hours on the internet surfing the web. We want to stay connected to our friends and family? I have a feeling it might be a little deeper than that. 

I remember a few years ago before sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter were popular, the world seemed so big. I would chat with my close friends and family face-to-face and never feel like I am "missing-out" if I didn't attend an event or party. Now with the rapid growth of social networking sites, I am able to connect with people all around the world I never though possible. We can communicate with large powerhouse brands through comments on Facebook and have a glimpse into our favorite bloggers life through Instagram. These tools make the world seem so small. I can honestly say that If I go a few hours without checking my Facebook or keeping up with my Twitter updates, I begin to feel isolated and that I am missing out. It's that constant fear of missing that epic tweet or new picture comment that will ultimately leave you at the wayside while everyone else moves full force ahead without you. 

In an article from The Next Web, Deborah Mackay states that we use social media sites to seek out happiness. We are addicted to the happy feeling we get when we check our notifications or tweets, which is produced by Dopamine, as concluded by Susan Weinschenk. She states that "the speed of the Internet provides instant gratification and as a result creates a ‘dopamine induced loop". This is why we feel compelled to constantly check our Twitter feed, look at new Facebook notifications and find it impossible to ignore that new email or text message. It's called a dopamine induced loop. It also relates to the social learning theory, which parallels to the uses and gratifications theory. The outcome of visiting social media sites like Facebook and Twitter gives us a feeling of joy. Because these sites gave us joy the first time we visited them, we assume the next time we will get that same feeling, known as outcome expectation. We get immediate gratification when we log in to Facebook and see what are friends are up to, or when we Google a specific subject and find tons of information that leads to tons of other non-related information you were originally seeking. This sends us into a loop, where the dopamine feeds off of ours seeking information, once we start seeking we are then rewarded for our seeking and ultimately wants us to want more. The more this loop effect is in play, the harder and harder it is to stop.

All of this talk about feeling happy, instantly satisfying a need, and being plugged in all leads back to habit. Media Now mentions how "much media behavior is governed by habit, in which we suspend active observation of our new media consumption and just "automatically" turn to the sports page or begin our day by check our e-mail" (Straubhaar, LaRose, Davenport). I cannot begin to express how true this is for myself. I have an iPod touch and I often click on Facebook out of habit, not even realizing I am obsessively checking my newsfeed. It also happens when I turn on my computer, my default website I automatically click first is usually Facebook.

Maybe that is why more than 66% of the U.S population is currently using at least one social media website.

Resources: 

http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html

http://www.prdaily.com/socialmedia/Articles/11070.aspx

Straubhaar, J., Larose, R., & Davenport, L. (2009). Media now, understanding media, culture, and technology. (6 ed.). Boston : Wadsworth Pub Co.

A List of Social Media Sites

With hundreds of social media sites on the internet, I thought I'd narrow it down to some of the most popular.

As of March 2012, the 15 most popular social media sites are:

(1) Facebook as number one.
(2) Twitter
(3) LinkedIn
(4) MySpace
(5) Google+
(6) DeviantArt
(7) Livejournal
(8) Tagged
(9) Orkut
(10) CafeMom
(11) Ning
(12) Meetup
(13) myLife
(14) myYearbook
(15) Badoo

As the list goes on, the top sites become less popular. This shows you how dominant and popular sites like Facebook and Twitter really are.

Wikipedia lists over 300+ sites, and those are just the ones that are most commonly used.

Social Media Today posted an article that lists popular SM sites across the country. A popular site for the Chinese origin is Renren, a site similar to Facebook that appeals to college age students.

Do you have any cool sites that you visit regularly that haven't quite become mainstream yet?

Social Media Addiction: Are You At Risk?

A funny video poking fun at social media addictions.