User:SonnyBarnes1010/Social media and psychology

Neuroscience

The neural systems being strengthened to support social media use rely on three domains; social cognition, self-referential cognition, and social reward processing.

When someone posts something, they think of how their audience will react, while the audience thinks of the motivations behind posting the information. Both parties are analyzing the other's thoughts and feelings, which coherently rely on multiple network systems of the brain which are: the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, bilateral temporoparietal junction, anterior temporal lobes, inferior frontal gyri, and posterior cingulate cortex. All of these systems work to help us process social behaviors and thoughts drawn out on social media.

Social media requires a great deal of self-referential thought. People use social media as a platform to express their opinions and show off their past and present selves. In other words, as Bailey Parnell said in her Ted Talk, we're showing off our "highlight reel" (4). When receiving feedback from others, we obtain more reflected self-appraisal and then start to compare our social behaviors or our "highlights" to other users. Self-referential thought involves activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex. The brain uses these particular systems when thinking of oneself.

Social media also provides us with a constant supply of rewards that keeps us coming back for more. Whenever we receive a like or a new follower, it activates the brain's social reward system which includes the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, and ventral tegmental area.

Narcissism and social medial use

There are several personality disorders, one being narcissistic personality disorder.

Psychology of social networking

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations who communicate and interact with each other. Social networking sites – such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn – are defined as technology-enabled tools that assist users with creating and maintaining their relationships. A study found that middle schooler's reported using social media to see what their friends are doing, to post pictures, and to connect with friends. Human behavior related to social networking is influenced by major individual differences. Meaning that people differ quite systematically in the quantity and quality of their social relationships. Two of the main personality traits that are responsible for this variability are the traits of extraversion and introversion.

The Lens Social Media Creates

A 2017 Washington Post study found that 55% of people who got plastic surgery did so to appear better in selfie pictures. Social media has created an environment in which one looks at themself through a unique lens. This lens may showcase whether the person is deemed worthy and whether they meet the requirements to fit into modern day society. At its core, social media is a place where people compare themselves and constantly attempt to better their online appearance as evidenced by the aforementioned study conducted in the Washington Post. There is not one set lens that people use to compare themselves, rather people can view themselves in any manner that is applicable to their lives. This the reason that people that come from poorer backgrounds and broken families are more likely to abuse social media. According to the study Sociodemographic factors and social media use in 9-year-old children: the Generation R Study, children from poorer backgrounds or broken homes are significantly more likely to abuse social media and use it. In the study they were found to have a more negative impacts to their lives when compared to children coming from wealthier and more stable families. This is because they are using it as an escape or that they are viewing social media through their lens and our developing mental health problems when they see people that have perceived better lives than them.

Suicide

As found in a journal article from the American Academy of Pediatrics cyberbullying can lead to "profound psychosocial outcomes including depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and, tragically, suicide." (800–804). This introduces relationship between social networking and suicide. Cyberbullying on social media has a strong correlation to causes of suicide among adolescents and young adults. Results of a study by Hinduja and Patchin examining a large sample of middle school-aged adolescents found that those who experienced cyberbullying were twice as likely to attempt or be successful in committing suicide.In a study done by The 2019 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) indicates that, nationwide, about 16 percent of students in grades 9–12 experienced cyberbullying. By time they reach high school. Famous case of Amanda is just another one among many cyberbullying cases that lead to suicide, these cases call for our attention that all social media platforms are capable enough to push, specially, young people towards taking these severe measures. Repeated bans in India, China and other countries on social media platform,TikTok, put forth a question, Should we be afraid of TikTok? Platform Ask.fm has repeatedly showed this dark side of social media where teenagers get comments like 'kill yourself you look so ugly' casually. There are cases of targeted hate messages which lead the victim(s) to take their own life. Ease of getting away from the consequences of one's words is made convenient from social media. Stalking, cyberbullying, self harm, suicide are direct effects of features like sharing live location etc. on social platoforms like SnapChat, Facebook etc. Social media is designed in a way where people share their private data which makes them prone to harmful situations and easy target to predators.

Self-identity

One's self-identity, also commonly known as self-concept, can be defined as a collection of beliefs an individual has about his or herself. It can also be defined as an individual's answer to "Who am I?". Social media offers a means of exploring and forming self-identity, especially for adolescents and young adults. Early adolescence has been found to be the period in which most online identity experimentation occurs, compared to other periods of development. Researchers have identified some of the most common ways early adolescents explore identity are through self-exploration (e.g. to investigate how others react), social compensation (e.g. to overcome shyness), and social facilitation (e.g. to facilitate relationship formation). Additionally, early adolescents use the Internet more to talk to strangers and form new relationships, whereas older adolescents tend to socialize with current friends." Individuals have a high need for social affiliation but find it hard to form social connections in the offline world, and social media may afford a sense of connection that satisfies their needs for belonging, social feedback, and social validation."

Of the various concepts comprising self-identity, self-esteem and self-image, specifically body image, has been given much attention in regards to its relationship with social media usage. Despite the popularity of social media, the direct relationship between Internet exposure and body image has been examined in only a few studies. In one study looking at over 150 high school students, survey data regarding online social networking use and body image was collected. With students reporting an average of two to three hours per day online, online social media usage has been significantly related to an internalization of thin ideals, appearance comparison, weight dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness. In a more recent study that focused more specifically on Facebook usage in over 1,000 high school girls, the same association between amount of use and body dissatisfaction was found, with Facebook users reporting significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction than non-users. Current research findings suggest that a negative relationship between self-image and social media usage for adolescents. In other words, the more an adolescent uses social media, the more likely he or she is to feel bad about themselves, more specifically regarding how they look.

Types of social media engagement may differently affect self-esteem in youth. There are unsaid social understanding on social media that make people come as 'uncool' or 'deseperate', as a study research points out that liking, commenting on others' s posts is predicted to reduce the appearance of self-esteem. Social media use decrease future appearance confidence in young women especially. This has increased the negative effects of the beauty standard that many women and young girls struggle to live up too with social media causing it to become worse for them. This has led them to be more negatively affected by social media and to lash out using the device. According to the study done in Italy with students that were 11, 13, and 15 years old, “Girls reported higher cyber-victimization and problematic social media usage than boys (9.1% vs 6.0% and 10.2% vs 6.1%, respectively)." Social media has created a new lens that many people look at themselves and creates unrealistic standards for them.Discoveries highlight the requirement for future examination to analyze online media use in more nuanced ways, as explicit web-based media practices, rather than generally speaking recurrence of utilization, may contrastingly influence prosperity. Online social media users, guardians, experts and policymakers should be aware that different kinds of social media use, may lower or enhance children and adolescents’ self-esteem.

Spelling and Grammar Mistakes Fixed

There are unsaid social understanding on social media that make people come as 'uncool' or 'desperate', as a study research points out that liking, commenting on others' s posts is predicted to reduce the appearance of self-esteem.

Ease of getting away from the consequences of one's words is made convenient from social media. Stalking, cyberbullying, self harm, suicide are direct effects of features like sharing live location etc. on social platforms like SnapChat, Facebook etc. Social media is designed in a way where people share their private data which makes them prone to harmful situations and easy target to predators.

Repeated bans in India, China and other countries on social media platform, TikTok, put forth a question, Should we be afraid of TikTok?

These emotional reactions were do to certain parts of the show, reactions to characters, and commenting on the overall show. In this way, social media enhanced people's social interactions just as if they were face-to-face co-viewing television

The relationship of virtual and real is closely intertwined and it has direct and in certain cases devastating effect on people's relationships and their belongingness to their groups.

Miller states that "several studies, teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms where shown to have substantially (from 13 to 66 percent) higher rates of reported depression than those who spent the least time"