Contradiction 1
Social media makes people more lonely
My first contradiction within media is that
social media makes people lonelier and more disconnected from people. I chose
this topic because it is very interesting to me and is spoken about a lot. The
idea is that social media was originally created to help people communicate and
be connected to each other, however it actually separates people and means that
people are less likely to talk in real life.
Research
77% of Americans have social media.
Studies have linked social media to:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Poorer
sleep
-
Lower self esteem
- Inattention
-Hyperactivity
Most studies are however observational, which
means that it can’t prove that it is social media directly.
A new study however does show that there is a
link between depression and social media.
The study had 143 students from the University
of Pennsylvania. They were randomly split into two groups, one who continued
their social media habits, and the other had a set limit on their social media
use.
For three weeks the group with limited social
media was allowed 30 mins per day, 10 mins each for Facebook, Instagram and
Snapchat.
To ensure the study worked properly the
researchers checked the participants usage data.
The results were that the group with limited
social media had better mental health outcomes.
The baseline examination they took were in:
- Social
support
- Fear
of missing out
- Loneliness
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Self-esteem
- Autonomy
- Self-acceptance
By the end the loneliness and depression decreased
in the limited social media group.
“What we found overall
is that if you use fewer social media, you are actually less depressed and less
lonely, meaning that the decreased social media use is what causes that
qualitative shift in your well-being,” said Jordyn Young, a co-author of the
paper and a senior at the University of Pennsylvania.
Why?
“What happens many
times when they log on is that you kind of activate a lot of social
comparison,” said Oscar Ybarra, PhD, a professor of psychology at the
University of Michigan. “People don’t necessarily have to be super aware that
this is occurring, but it does. You log on, you’re generally dealing with very
curated content on the other side.”
I
think the reasoning behind social media creating more mental health issues is
that the things that you see on them is not realistic, instead is an idealistic
version of what the person’s life actually is like. Since it is so fake it makes
unrealistic standards and people then start to feel depressed or low self-esteem
due to their life not looking like others.
Another
reason that social media can make you lonelier is that people are less likely
to meet up in person, as it is so easy and accessible to just message over
social media. This can make people feel as if they don’t have a real connection
with the people that they talk to.
I found this article super helpful with finding some information on this topic:
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