AR4: Is Facebook really that good?

How might social networking cause you to feel worse than direct contact with people? Where might this study be right and how might they have gotten it wrong?

            When you have direct contact with people you feel a sense of belonging. When you only interact with people through social media your feelings of belonging are only an illusion. Without direct contact people eventually start to feel lonely and depressed. I have found through this article: http://proxygsu-geo1.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=2013-00788-001&site=eds-live&scope=site,  that people who display insecure attachment behavior affect a host of other things, extroversion, interpersonal competency, and Facebook use all displaying negative effects in these people. I took this to mean that people who display insecure attachment behavior tend to display less extroversion, less interpersonal competency and less Facebook usage over time. In the study that we talked about in class this seemed to be the overall results.

            The effects found in the article we read do have an opposite side. In this article: http://proxygsu-geo1.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=69897573&site=eds-live&scope=site, it was discovered that some people attain great pleasure from getting on Facebook. These people have shown biological signs that using Facebook can evoke different psychophysiological states characterized by high positive valence and high arousal. This view is opposite of the article in that this article claims that it is actually a positive thing for the youth of today to participate in social media interconnections.

I feel like though this article speaks in opposition with the original article that I would have to agree with the negative aspect of social media use. Too many people use Facebook and other social media sites as an excuse to claim that they are connecting with their peers. In reality this is not only untrue but is an illusion that people are allowing themselves to believe. The lonliness that some people feel while using Facebook is brought on by the life they think that other people are having. When they see their friends posting pictures and having fun, they begin to wonder what they are missing and start to get depressed. As the depression deepens it starts to become a real mental problem and can really start to interfere with people’s lives. This article: http://proxygsu-geo1.galileo.usg.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=2013-25137-002&site=eds-live&scope=site, attests to what I have been saying and shows scientific evidence that social networking can cause people to negatively compare themselves with other and places those people at risk for rumination and depressive symptoms.

References:

Kross   E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, Park J, Lee DS, et al. (2013) Facebook  Use Predicts Declines in Subjective WellBeing in Young Adults. PLoS ONE 8(8): e69841. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841

Feinstein, B. A., Hershenberg, R., Bhatia, V., Latack, J. A., Meuwly, N., & Davila, J. (2013). Negative social comparison on Facebook and depressive symptoms: Rumination as a mechanism. Psychology Of Popular Media Culture, 2(3), 161-170. doi:10.1037/a0033111

Jenkins-Guarnieri, M. A., Wright, S. L., & Johnson, B. D. (2013). The interrelationships among attachment style, personality traits, interpersonal competency, and Facebook use. Psychology Of Popular Media Culture, 2(2), 117-131. doi:10.1037/a0030946

Mauri, M. (2011). Why Is Facebook So Successful? Psychophysiological Measures Describe a Core Flow State While Using Facebook. Cyberpsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 14(12), 723-731.