Augmented Use of Social Networking Sites May Induce Negative Effects on Users’ Mental, Emotional Health

Courtesy of teendrugrehabs.com

An increase in social media use has triggered researchers to focus on the correlation between certain parts of the online experience, such as negative interactions via social networking sites, and increased levels of addiction, depression and low self-esteem in users.

Constant advancements in technology facilitate instant accessibility to social networking sites, which may contribute to the increased number of users who are addicted to these sites.

Across the globe, adolescents rely on social networking sites as a supplement, or even substitute, for basic social interactions. The interpersonal interactions users participate in online, such as "adding friends" and commenting on pictures, oversimplifies, yet mirrors what would normally be interpersonal interactions.

As some researchers note, the differentiation between online and offline interaction is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish. The nature of our constantly plugged-in society only fuels the fire, encouraging adolescents to connect with organizations and institutions, in addition to their numerous personal contacts on social networking sites.

Allison Druin, an information studies professor at the University of Maryland, attributes the rise in social media addiction to the endless access opportunities these sites provide to children and adolescents.

Addiction to social networking sites resembles drug and alcohol addiction.
Among social networking sites, Facebook is the most-used site in the world. More than 500 million users spend more than 700 billion minutes on Facebook each month. About half of these users log into the site at least once daily.

Various experts around the world have conducted research seeking correlations between psychological behavior and Facebook addiction.

A Turkish study created a Facebook Addiction Scale (FAS) to quantify addictive behaviors. The participants - all college students - rated each item on a scale of one to five. The items asked to users' feelings related to Facebook in terms of thought processing, behavior, attitude, loss of control, withdrawal, relapse and rejoining.

Researchers added up the score for all items; higher scores signified greater levels of addiction to social networking sites. The most frequent indicators of Facebook addiction were mood alteration and decreased performance on academic work.

Addiction to social networking sites resembles drug or alcohol addiction. Users displaying addictive tendencies generally experience similar symptoms as drug addicts or alcoholics. This was demonstrated in a study conducted at the University of Maryland.

The study required participants to abandon social media for an entire day in order to observe the physiological effects of separation. After 24 hours without access to Blackberries, laptops, iPods and television, participants reported feeling anxious, jittery and miserable, much like alcoholics and drug addicts.

Susan Moeller, study facilitator and journalism professor at the university, attributed the withdrawal symptoms to decreased communication with friends and family, rather than physically accessing the media. Facebook was the most predominantly missed social media source.

One study, which examined psychosocial behaviors of Internet use in seven European countries, broke down the demographics for Internet Addictive Behaviors (IAB). The study found that Dysfunctional Internet Behavior (DIB) is affected by several psychosocial factors. Reports of DIB were more frequent in adolescents whose parents had lower education levels, users who began using the Internet at younger ages, and users who frequented social networking and gaming sites most.

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The most common negative social networking experiences are denied friend requests, deleted posts and Top Friends rankings disparities.

Facebook allows users to maintain existing relationships, stay in touch with long-distance loved-ones, and network with new contacts. Research shows that Facebook may facilitate or intensify problems in social relationships and create negative sentiments for users. The negative social networking site experiences include:

• Denied or ignored friend requests.
• Deleted messages or identification tags.
• Ranking disparities on Top Friends applications.
• Personal surveillance of profiles.
• Ignored questions or comments.
• Disparaging remarks posted on message boards.
• User discovered gossip about himself/herself on a third party message board.
• Removed friends.
• Denied access to join a group/created undesirable group about the user.

As social networking sites have become a part of everyday life, the distinction between online and offline experiences is minimal. Druin explains how children who with the greatest exposure to technology take negative social networking experiences most personally, due to the nature of their highly connected childhoods.



In the same way older generations modeled behaviors from television shows, children and adolescents today model their behaviors after the norms on social networking sites. In previous generations, family and community were the primary underlying messages in the media. Family values were accentuated in television shows and other media outlets.

Conversely, today's adolescents have grown up with television shows that highlighted achieving fame. Some popular shows that glamorize fame include Hannah Montana and American Idol. The emphasis on acquiring fame - even if only for the metaphorical 15 minutes - is reflected through younger generations' social media use. Today, it is normal to find young children uploading a myriad of videos on YouTube in hopes becoming the next Justin Bieber.

 

Scholars in British Columbia have found decreased empathy in individuals who are constantly plugged-in. This is because the parts of the brain that control empathy can only learn when individuals "do nothing." Today's adolescents are constantly engaged with the Internet and social media through mobile devices, tablets and laptops. Thus, younger generations have more difficulty differentiating between negative social experience online and offline, because social networking has become an integral part of their reality.


Psychological effects of using social networking sites depend on users' purpose for logging on.

Users participate in social networking for two purposes: social relationships and parasocial relationships. Social relationships are defined by reciprocity of interaction between users. Friends connecting and interacting with each other on social networking sites have social relationships. Parasocial relationships lack this reciprocity in online interaction. "Ordinary" users who follow celebrities without returned awareness of their profiles have parasocial relationships, or one-sided relationships.

Researchers found that individuals using social networking sites to network benefit from building large human networks, strengthening social bonding and promoting social trust. Social networking solely for entertainment purposes typically evidence higher levels of loneliness, Internet addiction and social distrust.

Druin explains that based on some user's specific needs, social media outlets can function as support groups. Though social networking sites use may incite positive reinforcement through forums and chatrooms, negative experiences are always a prevalent threat for users.

Self-identity fulfillment helps predict social networking site users' addictive tendencies.

In order to predict addictive behaviors, researchers completed a study to find a relationship between active members of social networking sites and addictive characteristics. The study focused on individuals between the ages of 17 and 24 years old -  a demographic group with significant individuals exposure to technology for the majority of their lives.

Two characteristics researchers focused on were feelings of self-identity and belongingness. Self-identity refers to an individual's perception in relation to certain behaviors. Belongingness was defined as the necessity for "being involved with, accepted by and valued by others."

The study found that placing high value on feelings of self-identity and belongingness was a predictor of addictive tendencies. Users who self-identified as active members of social networking sites and felt a need to belong to the social networking community were more likely to exhibit addictive behaviors.

This study was conducted in 2009 and the demographics for social networking site users have changed drastically since then. In the video below, Mashable gives a more contemporary depiction of who is using social media today and how they are doing so.



More than 4,700 participants from 120 different nations responded to Mashable's survey. Some noteworthy figures included:

• Roughly 40% of respondents were introduced to social media via Facebook.
• More than 77% of respondents use 2 to 5 social networking sites.
• 43% of respondents indicate Facebook is "a necessity."

Exposure to harmful material on social networking sites affects behavioral outcomes.

Courtesy of mirror.co.uk

In March 2014, UK resident Danny Bowman attempted suicide because of his obsession with taking "selfies." Bowman, who was 19 years old at the time, was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Though Bowman's case was not a unique occurrence, it raised questions about the connection between social media addiction and other psychological issues.

Seventy percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 access social media daily, according to a survey conducted by CASA Columbia.  The survey revealed the following statistics about teenagers who access social media on a daily basis:

• They are five times likelier to use tobacco.
• They are three times likelier to use alcohol.
• They are twice as likely to use marijuana.

Forty percent of the survey participants reported seeing individuals under the influence on social media. Users exposed to such images were four times likelier to use marijuana than those who had not been exposed. This statistic reflects a potential negative effect social networking sites may have on the psychological and emotional state of children and adolescents.

The Internet is an ever-expanding universe, providing endless sources of information to its users. With every technological advancement, children are exposed to the Internet at a younger age. The increased prevalence of adolescent members on social networking sites may affect children's psychological development and understanding of social norms.

Researchers will continue to observe the correlations between social networking site usage and detriments to users' mental health. As technology continues to become a more integral part of modern society, researchers will be provided with more opportunities to support the current theories - social networking sites can have serious negative effects on the mental and emotional states of their users.

Quiz 11 with Zach39

Question 3.





Question 4.

Sharon69 Learned That Multi-Tasking Doesn't Exist in Information Technology Class

Sharon69 shares the most interesting topic she learned in Professor Yaros's Information Technology class in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

ANALYSIS OF TWEET BY DYMOND24

I disagree that the story Dymond tweeted is unbalanced. The article, which was published by the Washington Post, is balanced because the article presents all sides of the story equally. The focus of the story is the victim's family and children and repercussions they will all face. The author explains how Caleb Crew changed his story from not guilty to guilty, offers an explanation for why he committed the crime and states his sentence.

Source: Washington Post

What makes this story unbalanced? The author provides information about both the victim and the perpetrator, who happen to be a husband and a wife. The story covers their volatile history and even explains how Andrea Crew had recently dropped domestic abuse charges against her husband, not long before he killed her. The timeline of events is clear. Images of Crew's attorney's reactions at court are engrained in the audience's brain. The article ends with a future-action kicker explaining the effect this incident will have on their couple's children.

Whats the News?
The article has the news qualities of human interest and proximity. Firstly, murder almost always includes human interest. We see this from the comments section below the article. People share the reactions to the article; these reactions include relating to the perpetrator's "temper" and sympathizing with the victim and her family. The story has proximity because the crime was committed in Fairfax, Virginia. Crew's sentencing is scheduled to be held on January 9 in Fairfax, Virginia.

Try Tweeting Something Less Newsy
While the story Dymond posted would be classified as hard news, here's an example of a feature news story. This story does not have any real news qualities, except that it is unique to a specific audience niche. This article tells a story of two collaborators who met on an "artistic blind date." The article goes on to list details about their shows. The tweet Dymond could write about this article could be something along the lines of "@aaronposner and @lauraeason may have met in college and are receiving recognition for their artistic masterpieces. http://wapo.st/1wdkbeF"

Study Shows Media Consumption and Usage is Affected by Accessibilty, Consumer Choice and Tools

by Natasha42 and Emily8

The Internet provides endless resources and tools for Americans to consume news via different platforms and interact socially via mobile devices. In comparison with the United States, some other countries have limited on the accessibility to social networks and new sources, thus their digital interactions are varied.

U.S. Media Consumption Depends on Accessibility

Media consumption in the United States depends on the capabilities of each device and the media outlet's capabilities of of sending information to that device. For example, more traditional news outlets like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal depend more on their hard-copy sales, rather than disseminating news digitally. In the American market for digital news, outlets face a much higher competition between each other because of the amount of outlets, media organizations and capabilities available. Yahoo, which is considered a "pure player," is most popular not only in the United States, but also in other countries in Western Europe and Asia.

U.S. Social Network Choice Depends on Reason for Consumption

The most widely used social networks in the U.S. are Facebook and YouTube. The United States government does not put restrictions on citizens' use of these sites, with few exceptions pertaining to privacy, vulgarity and security. However, in other countries the governments may control citizens' access to these sites and therefore access to news outlets. According to Reuters, "news lovers" love Twitter, which is why it is used more in European countries. The interests of the users and the reasons for which media consumers use specific sites affect how much they use certain platforms. In the United States, less people are concerned with the news and are more concerned with social interaction.

Applications Are Becoming More Popular for News Sites Internationally

Smartphones and tablets user are using apps as opposed to mobile sites to gain new information. Users in denmark lead the way with 19% of users using news apps followed by the U.K. with 16%. 50% of Users in the U.K. are mainly using app as opposed to mobile sites on desktop applications. This as increase dramatically over the years. In smart phones it has increased 6% and in the growing tablet industry it has incread 9%. This impacts the news industry as they must now shift from focusing on developing their moblie sites to developing their apps.

Global Media Consumption is Based Need, Frequency and Platform

Global Media Consumption Based on Need, Frequency and Platform from npaulmen

What is your definition of interactivity?

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Internet Users' Privacy Concerns Increase Based on Data Collectors' Transparency

After the Snowden incident of 2013, the conversation about transparency and surveillance in our nation became widely discussed. Many US citizens became angry and held negative perceptions of our government upon finding out about its collecting data without users' permission. Thus, the 2014 online study conducted to find out about the public’s level of privacy concern based on their knowledge of the data collectors was highly relevant.

The study essentially sought to find how ubiquitous surveillance affects users’ concerns about the privacy of their personal information. For the purposes of this study, ubiquitous surveillance was defined as “increasing penetration of computerized data capture on a daily basis.” Transparency was defined as “disclosing any piece of information available to the person being surveilled that concerns the identity, purposes or practices of the involved data collectors.”

In some methods of data collection users have exhibited positive perceptions; these methods include online marketing, shopping and job applications. When users see how and why their information is being used, they react positively. For example, users partake in online shopping and companies collect information about what kind of apparel specific customers like. If the customers are aware that companies are tracking their style, they would be less concerned because they were aware of these conditions and the company had no malicious intentions.

The hypothesis was based on the idea that if users were aware of the data collectors identity and intentions, concern levels were lower. The hypothesis stated that data collectors' transparency fosters positive reactions and opaqueness yields negative reactions from users. This study dealt with how transparency differs across different “domains of ubiquitous surveillance” and how different levels of transparency affect users’ privacy concerns.

Survey Uses Nine Scenarios to Tests Users' Concern Levels

The experiment was a non-random convenience sample. The study took the form of an online questionnaire, distributed to 1,911 native Finnish-speakers. The average age of respondents was 36 years old and 68 percent of respondents were female. Researchers conducted nine separate surveillance scenarios, which were set up by alternating users' knowledge of the identity and intention of data collectors.

Identity types for data collectors included private, organization and hidden. The three different intention types for data collectors were negative, neutral and hidden. The study measured the general concern for privacy, concern for the particular data exposed, experiential states (frustration, anxiety) and behavioral responses (inhibition of regular behavior).

The nine different scenarios were rated by average level of users' concern. The graph below depicts the varying levels of concern based on average values.

Data Collectors' Transparency Generates Positive Reactions in Internet Users

Overall, the study found that transparency decreases the level of concern in respondents. Essentially, if people know who is collecting their data and why and what purpose it serves, they are less concerned about their privacy. The study found that the highest level of concern is associated with scenarios in which the data collectors had negative intentions. Most people felt more concerned if they did not know the identity of the data collector. Thus, the hypothesis was proven to be correct.

The study's findings were not surprising, as most individuals naturally feel more threatened when they face uncertainty associated with possible threats; in this case respondents’ privacy was being threatened. The findings of the study suggest that data collectors should unveil their identities and intentions in order to maintain low levels of concern.

Students' Most and Least Used Technology Uses in Academic Settings

Students' Technology Use in Academic Settings | Create Infographics

Visualization Post 1: Technology in Education

Student Access to Technology

This graphic is effective in its depiction of how different age groups implement technology in the classroom through a combination of numbers and shapes. The balance between figures and data help viewers process the information more efficiently because it is laid out in a clear format. Furthermore, the color scheme is not too distracting, though it would be clearer if it were color-coded by device.

Six basic principles of graphic design include:

1. Balance
2. Proximity
3. Alignment
4. Repetition
5. Contrast
6. Space

This graphic implements most of these principles through it's shapes, colors and numbers. Contrast is achieved through the color scheme. Alignment is achieved through the rows and columns. Repetition is achieved through the scheme. The rows and columns are evenly spaced out.

Education in Technology 

If we are to examine the relationship between education and technology, we must examine the access that students have to different forms of technology. This graphic, published in September 2013 by Project Tomorrow shows just that. Breaking down students by age groups and device type, the visualization shows how children from different age groups use technology.

This graphic clearly communicates the effect technology may have on education in the future because it shows trends of technology use by generation. For example, one-third of 12th-graders own personal laptops and/or smartphones. Those numbers are almost exactly the same for ninth-graders and sixth-graders. Moreover, twenty percent of third-graders own personal smartphones. These numbers reflect how a significant percentage of students have access to mobile devices at all times.

Schools are beginning to provide students with technology as well, though these numbers are much lower than personal usage numbers. Students in third grade have the highest percentage of school provided laptops at 13 percent. Though this number is low, it will probably become a trend as technology advances and becomes more affordable. 

Average Work Week Jumped to 47 Hours

I would share with my social network the article about the average work week increase. I think this is an interesting article because my colleagues and peers will soon be entering the full-time workforce and this piece of information is relevant to our futures.