Unit 10

Question 1

What is most social media research regarding?

Answer 1

-impact on well-being
(does it displace other good things in our lives - is one of)
(what’s being left out of the online interactions)

Question 2

What 2 types of well-being can social media impact?

Answer 2

-physical
-psychological (emotional/affective & cognitive)
^are related to each other - impact each other

Question 3

What is cognitive?

Answer 3

• how you are thinking about your life

Question 4

What is affective?

Answer 4

-your feelings or emotions

Question 5

If ask youth if social media has an impact what do they think?

Answer 5

-think it has a positive effect
-allows you to connect, find info
(some do think negative tho)
-45% said neither

Question 6

What are the direct effects on physical well-being from online?

Answer 6

• 14-22yr olds - access health info online - b/c it’s accessible, anonymous, available 24/7 -may lead to changes in behaviour (13-18yr olds have said they have)
• physical injury - inflamed tendon -text-messagers thumb

Question 7

Indirect effects on physical well-being from online?

Answer 7

• sleep (both physical & psychological)

- adolescents need sleep

Question 8

How does phones/online/social media indirectly impact sleep?

Answer 8

• displacement -(sleep w/ media use)
• emotionally arousing content/interactions makes it difficult to fall asleep
• bright light - (e-book on Ipad took longer to fall asleep & more sleepiness the next day)

Question 9

What is the consensus on social media and psychological well-being?

Answer 9

• no consensus
• hotly debated - mixed research
• most research has focused on young adults

Question 10

How can social media affect your mood? (affective)

Answer 10

-emotional contagion -(emotional states can be transferred to others - can catch from social media?)

Question 11

What is a study w/ emotional contagion? Issues?

Answer 11

• Facebook Mood Study
• done by fb team and other researchers
• 700,000 users - manipulated what they saw for a week - experimental - positivity was reduced and negative emotions reduced -then rated emotional content of your own posts
• when seeing les negative stuff posted less negative, (& same w/ less positive)
• very controversial - ethics - consent
• effects large enough? -tiny effect
• meaningful w/in population?

Question 12

Does social media impact depression?

Answer 12

• mixed findings
• early days of internet were linked w/ depression
• correlational have found mixed (direction? Small relationship)
• longitudinal - more info on direction - more on ‘within’ - still mixed findings (between individual effects but not within effects)
• experimental - also mixed

Question 13

What’s an example of an experimental study & social media?

Answer 13

-undergrads -3 weeks - normal use & limit to 10min/day - found those who had higher baseline depression rate when in experimental there was a decline in depressive symptoms -but those w/ low depression at start had no impact

Question 14

What is another example of an experimental study on depression & social media?

Answer 14

• randomly assigned undergrads
• normal use or no social media for either, 1,2,3,4 weeks
• found no difference btw normal use or treatment groups

Question 15

Summary of social media & experimental designs on well-being?

Answer 15

• 12 studies that reduced social media had a positive impact on well-being
• 5 had no effect
• 1 said negative effect (ie reducing social media negatively impacted well-being)

Question 16

Why might the experimental studies results vary so much?

Answer 16

• 3rd variables?
• time duration of reduction (seems to have benefits to reduce for a short period of time, but what about longer?)
• more benefits for reduction than full abstention

Question 17

What is cognitive well-being?

Answer 17

how you think about your well-being - your life satisfaction

Question 18

Life satisfaction & media?

Answer 18

• some find relationship w/ life satisfaction and social media use - but life satisfaction less impacted (?) b/c more stable than moods/emotions
• but findings are mixed

Question 19

well-being & social media?

Answer 19

• no consistent pattern

- not strongly tied to well-being - small effect (meta-analysis)

Question 20

2 types of how we use social media?

Answer 20

• active - facilitates exchanges w/ others: chatting, posting, sharing
• passive - lurking, consuming info w/o exchanges

Question 21

study -correlational - w/ types of use and social media?

Answer 21

• 14-16yr olds - time on social media -active or passive, and relationship to depression -those who did more passive use had positive correlation w/ depression & anxiety
• active had less strong of a relationship, but did have less depression & anxiety
• (active use is more rare)

Question 22

study - experimental - types of use and social media?

Answer 22

-young adults - undergrads - Facebook - randomly assigned passive or active use - for 10min -then measured mood & well-being - immediately after & at end of day - no diff at baseline - no effect immediately - but was an effect at end of the day - passive dropped in well-being -(active slight increase but not strong) - maybe why mixed effects in other studies (can also boost)

Question 23

What about Asian Americans and their experiences of discrimination in Covid?

Answer 23

-those who had experienced were linked w/ greater social media use - diff types had diff effects - if messaging & posting = increased social support & linked to improved well-being - if passive/browsing - increased worry of discrimination & decreased well-being

Question 24

When might types of use not help with benefitting well-being?

Answer 24

• Displacement theory

- if it displaces or distracts from face-to-face -which is linked w/ poorer social connections & well-being

Question 25

How does Social Comparison relate to social media?

Answer 25

- context/opportunity to compare ourselves - judge how we're doing -available - public - lots of ppl -ppl in similar shoes to you - can curate themselves - asynchronicity & cues management - more upward? - more upward can lead to poorer mental health - can lead to more envy - but depends on type of use & on what's being viewed (more envy for upward)

Question 26

study of social comparison & social media?

Answer 26

-college students w/ range of depression - had them view someone who was rated as attractive or someone unattractive - when attractive (for everyone) increased envy - more pronounced for those w/ high levels of depression

Question 27

So overall what are two main mechanisms of social media? (a 3rd?)

Answer 27

- social relationships - social comparison - FOMO

Question 28

What is FOMO? What is it linked with?

Answer 28

- kind of anxiety for when missing out on something that is socially rewarding - differs in individuals - some can be higher in it - it's a trait - having higher fomo is linked w/ lower self-esteem, lower well-being, lower life satisfaction - fomo is correlated w/ social media use - seems to predict social media use as well - but maybe a spiral (fomo drives to social media, social media increases fomo)

Question 29

What is a possible reason why active use is better for mental health?

Answer 29

-possibly more disclosure? makes you closer with ppl

Question 30

Are more ppl active or passive users?

Answer 30

-passive

Question 31

What study contradicts passive vs. active?

Answer 31

- Valkenburg, Beyens, Pouwels - october 2021 - found evidence that didn't support passive social media use hypothesis - (80% of the 20% who were passive user, didn't have worse mental health) - those who had high browsing enjoyment experienced better mental health -those low still had positive effect to well-being (9% of them)

Question 32

So is it proven that active use is better than passive?

Answer 32

- quite a bit of research thought yes -but then recent study shows it's not a given - jury is still out - (maybe now ppl are so used to social media it's normal & seamless)

Question 33

So overall does social media lead to poorer mental health?

Answer 33

-no not necessarily - there is a small relationship but found mostly through correlational

Question 34

What is an example of social media well-being & correlational?

Answer 34

- Facebook - 14 days -young adults - Kross et al (2013) - found lower life satisfaction, lower mood, more loneliness & more facebook use correlated w/ more facebook use - at end of 14 days, less life satisfaction - cycle - more upset, more go on facebook, then more upset - BUT older finding, correlational, small effects

Question 35

What is recent research finding about social media use and well-being? Why?

Answer 35

- might not be an effect -is there is, small and nearly insignificant - complex relationship, context, content, differences in platforms, reasons for use, types of use, maybe more focus on positive mental health in general now

Question 36

Summary of social media & well-being

Answer 36

-many studies have found link btw social media & mental health - but it is exceedingly small -when it is bigger, usually relating to something else, underlying thing -ex. screen use is a symptom of existing mental health issue

Question 37

How about social media in time of COVID?

Answer 37

-Social Determination Theory - need for relatedness -social media can provide opportunities to connect - if satisfied then associated w/ better physical & mental health

Question 38

How about social media in time of COVID?

Answer 38

- Social Determination Theory - need for relatedness -social media can provide opportunities to connect - if satisfied then associated w/ better physical & mental health - can also frustrate it - (maybe competence too, seeing others accomplishments when you're stuck in covid -pressure)

Question 39

What was the CyberTeens project?

Answer 39

- 997 students - 2 highschools (one in school, other online and in school) in BC - longitudinal - online questions - mixed-methods - 3 key themes - indifferent, disconnected, and connected - only 28% were disconnected (64% connected (& 69% of those mentioned importance of tech) - helped satisfy need for relatedness - thos disconnected were at risk - peer attachment secuirty made a difference (less likely to feel disconnected) and FOMO (even if had peer security, if had FOMO then more likely to feel disconnected) - problematic smartphone use, screen time, and parent attachment security weren't helpful - FOMO was a predictor - fear more important than the security (fear of losing security probably)

Question 40

Summarize Coyne

Answer 40

- 8 year longitudinal - (time on) social media and (impact on) well-being -13 years old to 20 (500) - girls on SNS more - use more social media as grow up - did between & within - between effects of social networking & anxiety - but not within - depressive symptoms unrelated to future networking except depression at age 16 predicted social networking at age 17 - causal - displacement theory -uses and gratification theory - social media not a social risk factor for the development of depression and anxiety - limitations: - self-report -bias -social media effect might appear later in life

Question 41

Summarize Parent, Dadgar, Xiao, Hesse, Shapka - COVID

Answer 41

- social disconnection during covid - attachment, FOMO, smartphone use - mixed methods - 2 schools -online survey -open-ended question -3 themes: socially connected, disconnected, indifferent - secure peer attachments is portective factor - but FOMO was independent risk (didn't matter if had secure peer) -perceived peer secuirity - attachment theory - screen time application -smartphone addiction scale - - 28% felt disconnect,, 64% felt connected (emphasis on tech) - disconnect risk for mental health issues etc. - rural & urban made difference (rural was protective) but diff school situation (in full time) - fomo - predictor of social disconnection -can fear losing secure attachments - smartphone use and & problematic use not associated w/ disconnection - limitations: - not ethnically diverse - ppl who didn't repond, underrepresented -self-report - impossible to have causal because it was cross-sectional -used overall screen time not specific activities on phone