# data[].attributes.headline
Opinion: Is Social Media Making us Lonely?

# data[].attributes.subject
Opinion: Is Social Media Making us Lonely?

# data[].attributes.body
Jamila Paredes

CON

This article talks about the cons. It explains that we are distancing ourselves from other people, and not being social. It also says that we are endlessly scrolling, and admiring other people's life. They also state that people get depression and feel isolated because they don't get any social interaction. And when people don't get any interaction, they rely on social media to stay connected which is not good.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As social media, mobile devices and new technology get better equipped and designed to help keep us better connected, in some ways we grow further apart. To start we are able to add people to view our sites yet keeping them emotionally distant. According to Strachan, when we "friend" people on Facebook, we are keeping them at an emotional distance. This is true because as we document our lives on the Internet we are still keeping that barrier. Social media sites such as 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' allow us to document every second of our lives on their websites. We can include pictures to show where we are, whom we are with and what we are doing. We can also use #hashtags and those allow us to relate our post or picture, whatever piece we are referencing, to another website, post or photo. These tools allow us to look into the lives of others who are doing the same things we are.

The way social media sites are distancing people from each other include allowing us to read and look at pictures of peoples' every day lives; that we no longer feel the need to personally be involved in their life. We are offered the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. (Strachan, 2012) This leads to isolation and depression of all individuals because they don't have any social interaction. They turn to social media because they desire to be connected to one another yet there are obstacles preventing this from happening. (Bain, 2013) The coffee shop meet ups to get together to catch up over the past week or month become obsolete due to the need to work longer hours, to make more money, to do more things. The hour long phone calls with friends from high school or college disappear because the idea that a text message or a post on their wall saying "I miss you" is all you have time for. According to Huff, social networks are more like mutual isolation networks that detach people from meaningful interactions with one another and make them less human.

Granted, I am no better than anyone else in this area but I am striving to include more coffee shop visits, stopping by friends houses for a meal or even talk on the phone for a couple hours in order to stay involved in friends' lives. We should put down our phones, turn off their computers, and learn to communicate with one another face-to-face. (Huff, 2011) Do we continue to stay online thinking that is the only way to stay connected or do we get offline and take a walk to get to know each other?

Strachan, Yukio. (2012) Does social media cause a more isolated society? Published on Digital Journal. Retrieved from http://digitaljournal.com/article/322982.

Bain, Joel. (2013) Social Media: Driving Us to Isolation & Loneliness Through Superficial Human Connection. Published on Sour Grapes Winery. Retrieved from
http://www.sourgrapeswinery.com/society/2013/11/22/social-media-driving-us-to-isolation-loneliness-through-supe.html
Huff, Ethan. (2011) Social Networking Leads to Isolation, Not More Connections, Say Academics. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/031128_social_networking_mental_health.html.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Social Networking Making Us Lonely? | Applied Social Psychology (ASP)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As social media, mobile devices and new technology get better equipped and designed to help keep us better connected, in some ways we grow further apart. To start we are able to add people to view our sites yet keeping them emotionally distant.

# data[].attributes.headline
Does social media make us more or less lonely? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Does social media make us more or less lonely? 

# data[].attributes.body
Aria

CON

This article talks about the cons of social media. It also says how it's making us lonely, depressed, and more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Humans are more connected to each other than ever, thanks to smartphones, the web and social media. At the same time, loneliness is a huge and growing social problem.

Why is this so? Research shows social media use alone can't cure loneliness - but it can be a tool to build and strengthen our genuine connections with others, which are important for a happy life.

To understand why this is the case, we need to understand more about loneliness, its harmful impact, and what this has to do with social media.

The scale of loneliness

There is great concern about a loneliness epidemic in Australia. In the 2018 Australian Loneliness Report, more than one-quarter of survey participants reported feeling lonely three or more days a week.

Studies have linked loneliness to early mortality, increased cardio-vascular disease, poor mental health and depression, suicide, and increased social and health care costs.

But how does this relate to social media?
Read more: How to be a healthy user of social media
More and more Australians are becoming physically isolated. My previous research demonstrated that face-to-face contact in Australia is declining, and this is accompanied by a rise in technology-enabled communication.

Enter social media, which for many is serving as a replacement for physical connection. Social media influences nearly all relationships now.

Navigating the physical/digital interface

While there is evidence of more loneliness among heavy social media users, there is also evidence suggesting social media use decreases loneliness among highly social people.

How do we explain such apparent contradictions, wherein both the most and least lonely people are heavy social media users?

Research reveals social media is most effective in tackling loneliness when it is used to enhance existing relationships, or forge new meaningful connections. On the other hand, it is counterproductive if used as a substitute for real-life social interaction.

Thus, it is not social media itself, but the way we integrate it into our existing lives which impacts loneliness.

I wandered lonely in The Cloud

While social media's implications for loneliness can be positive, they can also be contradictory.

Tech-industry enthusiasts highlight social media's benefits, such as how it offers easy, algorithimically-enhanced connection to anyone, anywhere in the world, at any time. But this argument often ignores the quality of these connections.

Psychologist Robert Weiss makes a distinction between "social loneliness" - a lack of contact with others - and "emotional loneliness", which can persist regardless of how many "connections" you have, especially if they do not provide support, affirm identity and create feelings of belonging.
Read more: A month at sea with no technology taught me how to steal my life back from my phone
Without close, physical connections, shallow virtual friendships can do little to alleviate emotional loneliness. And there is reason to think many online connections are just that.

Evidence from past literature has associated heavy social media use with increased loneliness. This may be because online spaces are often oriented to performance, status, exaggerating favourable qualities (such as by posting only "happy" content and likes), and frowning on expressions of loneliness.

On the other hand, social media plays a vital role in helping us stay connected with friends over long distances, and organise catch-ups. Video conferencing can facilitate "meetings" when physically meeting is impractical.

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram can be used to engage with new people who may turn into real friends later on. Similarly, sites like Meetup can help us find local groups of people whose interests and activities align with our own.

And while face-to-face contact remains the best way to help reduce loneliness, help can sometimes be found through online support groups.

Why so lonely?

There are several likely reasons for our great physical disconnection and loneliness.

We've replaced the 20th century idea of stable, permanent careers spanning decades with flexible employment and gig work. This prompts regular relocation for work, which results in disconnection from family and friends.

The way we build McMansions (large, multi-room houses) and sprawl our suburbs is often antisocial, with little thought given to developing vibrant, walkable social centres.
Read more: Size does matter: Australia's addiction to big houses is blowing the energy budget
Single-person households are expected to increase from about 2.1 million in 2011 to almost 3.4 million in 2036.

All of the above means the way we manage loneliness is changing.

In our book, my co-authors and I argue people manage their feelings differently than in the past. Living far from friends and family, isolated individuals often deal with negative emotions alone, through therapy, or through connecting online with whoever may be available.

Social media use is pervasive, so the least we can do is bend it in a way that facilitates our real-life need to belong.

It is a tool that should work for us, not the other way around. Perhaps, once we achieve this, we can expect to live in a world that is a bit less lonely.

Roger Patulny, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Wollongong

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
2020: Does social media make us more or less lonely? Depends on how you use it - University of Wollongong - UOW

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Humans are more connected to each other than ever, thanks to smartphones, the web and social media. At the same time, loneliness is a huge and growing social problem. Why is this so? Research shows social media use alone can't cure loneliness - but it can be a tool to build and strengthen our genuine connections with others, which are important for a happy life.

# data[].attributes.headline
Associations between social media use and loneliness in a cross-national population: do motives for social media use matter?

# data[].attributes.subject
Associations between social media use and loneliness in a cross-national population: do motives for social media use matter?

# data[].attributes.body
Aria

CON

This site talks about the cons of social media.

Social media makes us have loneliness, anxiety, and depression because when we see an edited post, it makes us feel like there is something we are missing out on.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tore Bonsaksen, a, b Mary Ruffolo, c Daicia Price, c Janni Leung, d Hilde Thygesen, e, f Gary Lamph, g Isaac Kabelenga, h, i and Amy Østertun Geirdal j

ABSTRACT

Background: We aimed to examine the association between social media use and loneliness two years after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Methods: Participants were 1649 adults who completed a cross-sectional online survey disseminated openly in Norway, United Kingdom, USA, and Australia between November 2021 and January 2022. Linear regressions examined time spent on social media and participants' characteristics on loneliness, and interactions by motives for social media use. Results: Participants who worried more about their health and were younger, not employed, and without a spouse or partner reported higher levels of loneliness compared to their counterparts. More time spent on social media was associated with more loneliness ( β = 0.12, p < 0.001). Three profile groups emerged for social media use motives: 1) social media use motive ratings on avoiding difficult feelings higher or the same as for maintaining contact; 2) slightly higher ratings for maintaining contact; and 3) substantially higher ratings for maintaining contact. Time spent on social media was significant only in motive profile groups 2 and 3 ( β = 0.12 and β = 0.14, both p  < 0.01). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that people who use social media for the motive of maintaining their relationships feel lonelier than those who spend the same amount of time on social media for other reasons. While social media may facilitate social contact to a degree, they may not facilitate the type of contact sought by those who use social media primarily for this reason.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, cross-cultural study, loneliness, moderation analysis, social media

Introduction

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown of society resulted in severe disruptions in many aspects of social life. As people were generally instructed to practice 'social distancing' to curb the virus transmission (World Health Organization, 2020), many restrictions were placed on people's opportunity to meet other people. Many usual arenas in society for meeting people, such as schools, workplaces, organized leisure, cafes, and restaurants, were temporarily closed, and transportation was restricted (Gostin & Wiley, 2020). This situation led to a growing concern about negative mental health effects of the well-intended measures to reduce the viral spread (Kaufman et al., 2020; Mi et al., 2020).

Loneliness refers to the subjective, distressing experience of having a lack or deficiency in one's social connection to others, indicating that relationships with others are missing or inadequate (Bekhet et al., 2008). Some authors have distinguished between different aspects of loneliness, and subtypes have included social loneliness, referring to having too few people in one's social network, and emotional loneliness, referring to having a lack of intimacy and attachment in relationships (Dahlberg & McKee, 2014; de Jong Gierveld & Van Tilburg, 2010; Dykstra & Fokkema, 2007). A vast amount of studies have identified loneliness to be an important precursor of mental health problems such as depression (Beutel et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2020; Luanaigh & Lawlor, 2008; Palgi et al., 2020; Santini et al., 2016; Victor & Yang, 2012), anxiety (Beutel et al., 2017; Palgi et al., 2020) and suicidal ideation and behavior (Beutel et al., 2017; Stickley & Koyanagi, 2016). Due to the social restrictions during the pandemic, a particular concern was that more people would struggle with loneliness over a longer period of time (Hoffart et al., 2022; Luchetti et al., 2020; Palgi et al., 2020). However, the evidence to support such worries have been mixed. A nationwide study in the USA showed no marked increase in loneliness, but rather a remarkable resilience in the response to the pandemic situation (Luchetti et al., 2020). During the first weeks of lockdown in the UK, a study showed relatively high levels of loneliness in the population, but little sign of worsening (Bu et al., 2020). In contrast, other studies have shown increasing levels of loneliness in various population subsets during the COVID-19 pandemic (Buecker & Horstmann, 2021; Lampraki et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2020). In view of its importance for the development of mental health problems and disorders, loneliness has been considered a major public health issue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In situations where stressful events and circumstances are unavoidable, such as during the pandemic, engaging with the community and receiving support from the network can serve as an important way of coping with stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Zacher & Rudolph, 2021). However, adherence to the social distancing regulations during the pandemic meant that the typical ways of coping by engaging with others - being together in smaller or larger groups - were difficult to use. Reduced access to other people that typically provide social support and enhance resiliency might significantly affect people's usual coping strategies and therefore leave individuals more vulnerable to experiencing loneliness.

Since their inception, social media have become widely adopted in people's everyday lives (Boulianne, 2015; Chou et al., 2009). Further, with the limited abilities to connect with others in person during social distancing and isolation mandates, social media have been increasingly used for connecting people in work, learning, and social interactions (Gao et al., 2020; Palgi et al., 2020; Wiederhold, 2020). However, the role of social media for people's mental health and wellbeing is disputed. While some studies have shown that social media allow people to maintain their social relationships, thereby representing one way of coping with loneliness and distress (Cauberghe et al., 2021; Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2003; Nowland et al., 2018; Thomas et al., 2020), other studies have found higher levels of social media use to be associated with poorer mental health (Gao et al., 2020; Geirdal, Ruffolo, et al., 2021) and higher levels of loneliness (Bonsaksen, Schoultz, et al., 2021; Helm et al., 2022). Thus, the coping potential of social media use to mitigate stress, is unclear.

Experimental research has shown that students whose social media use was limited to 10 min per day over a three week period experienced significant reductions in depression and loneliness, compared to control group participants who used social media without restriction (Hunt et al., 2018). Further, associations between social media use and mental health outcomes may vary by a range of other factors. For example, a previous study found that older people (60 + years of age) using more types of social media experienced lower levels of social loneliness, whereas younger people (18-39 years of age) using more types of social media experienced higher levels of emotional loneliness (Bonsaksen, Ruffolo, et al., 2021). Such findings increase the complexity of this picture, demonstrating that associations may depend on participant characteristics, which aspect of social media use is considered, as well as nuances in the employed outcome measures.

Time spent using social media during a defined time interval is often used as a measure of social media use. However, a wide range of social media measures is used in research. While varied measurement methods may contribute to ambiguity in the interpretation of research findings (Petropoulos Petalas et al., 2021), they may also be useful for addressing aspects of social media use that are otherwise left unexplored. One line of research has focused on people's motives for using social media, and a previous study found that using Facebook for making new friends reduced loneliness, whereas using Facebook for social skills compensation increased loneliness (Teppers et al., 2014). Similarly, a recent study found that dissimilar motives for social media use were differently associated with mental health (Thygesen et al., 2022). Higher ratings on the 'personal contact' and 'maintaining relationships' motives for using social media were associated with better mental health, while higher ratings on the 'decrease loneliness' and 'entertainment' motives were associated with poorer mental health. Intrapersonal motives for social media use, including the desire to forget complications of everyday life and to pass time, have also been found to be the most important predictor for problematic social media use (Schivinski et al., 2020).

The world continues to respond to the pandemic, via vaccination roll out, lock downs and restrictions on travel. Years after the initial onset of the pandemic it is possible that associations between social media use and mental health outcomes - including loneliness - are different from what they were in the early stages. Such changes may be due to lifted restrictions on social interaction, new waves of virus transmission, having adapted to a new lifestyle, or a combination of these and other contributing factors. In addition, previous results concerned with the significance of motives for social media use justify exploring whether the association between time on social media and loneliness depend on the motives people have for using social media. Considering motives for engaging with social media may provide nuance to our understanding of how social media use relates to loneliness. In addition, it may contribute to specifying some of the conditions moderating the coping potential related to using social media during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim of the study

The aim of the study was to examine the association between daily time on social media and loneliness in a cross-national population two years after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, and to examine any moderation effect of motives for social media use. The research questions were:

1. What is the nature of the association between time spent on social media use and loneliness, as measured two years after the COVID-19 outbreak?

2. Do motives for social media use moderate the association between time spent on social media use and loneliness during the same period?

Methods

Design

The study reports from the third cross-sectional online survey disseminated openly by social media (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) in four countries (Norway, United Kingdom [UK], USA, and Australia) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This survey was open for the adult (≥ 18 years of age) general public's participation between November 2021 and January 2022, while the two previous surveys were administered in April/May 2020 and in November 2020, respectively.

Sample

The total number of participants was 1649, with 242 (14.7%) from Norway, 255 (15.15%) from the UK, 915 (55.5%) from the USA, and 237 (14.4%) from Australia. The age distribution showed that 42% of the participants were under the age of 40 years, 43% between 40 and 59 years, and 15% were 60 years or older. Women comprised the larger part of the sample (75%), while there were 336 (20%) men. Seventy-one (4%) identified their gender as 'other' or preferred not to respond to the question, and due to small cell sizes, these individuals were removed from all analyses where the gender variable was included.

Measures

An overview of all variables used in the study is shown in Table 1 .

Table 1

Variables

Categories

n (%)

Range

M (SD)

Outcome variable

Loneliness

The Loneliness Scale (de Jong Gierveld & van Tilburg, 2006) consists of six statements, all of which are rated from 0 (totally disagree) to 4 (totally agree). There are two different uses of the instrument. It is possible to construct two different scales, namely social loneliness (e.g. 'There are plenty of people I can rely on when I have problems') and 'emotional loneliness' (e.g. 'I experience a general sense of emptiness') (Bonsaksen et al., 2018; de Jong Gierveld & van Tilburg, 2006). However, including all items to construct a one-factor scale measuring loneliness as one overarching concept is also commonly used (Geirdal, Price, et al., 2021), and provided that we required an overall measure of loneliness, we used the one-factor approach in this study. Items with positive phrasing (e.g. having people to rely on) were reverse coded prior to analysis. Cronbach's α for the scale items was 0.83 indicating strong reliability. The score range was 0-24 with higher scores indicating higher levels of loneliness.

Main predictor variables

Daily social media use

The participants were asked to indicate the amount of time they had spent on social media on a typical day during the last month. In line with the work of Ellison and co-workers ( 2007), response options were less than 10 min (1), 10-30 min (2), 31-60 min (3), 1-2 h (4), 2-3 h (5), and more than three hours (6).

Motives for social media use

The participants were also asked about seven possible motives for using social media. These questions were adapted to a more general form based on Teppers and colleagues ( 2014) whose study was concerned with one particular social media. The items were phrased: 'Nowadays I use social media ... ' with the following endings: 'to feel involved with what's going on with other people' (personal contact motive), 'because it makes me feel less lonely' (decrease loneliness motive), 'so I don't get bored' (entertainment motive), 'to keep in contact with my friends' (maintaining relationships motive), 'because I dare say more' (social skills compensation motive), 'to be a member of something' (social inclusion motive), and 'to make new friends' (meeting people motive). Response options for these items were never (1), seldom (2), sometimes (3), often (4) and very often (5).

One previous study showed that ratings on motives were differently associated with mental health (Thygesen et al., 2022). Specifically, the personal contact and maintaining relationships motives for using social media were associated with better mental health, while the 'decrease loneliness' and 'entertainment' motives were associated with poorer mental health. Thus, we focused on these two motives. The sum of the 'personal contact' and 'maintaining relationships' motives was used as a measure of maintaining contact motives, while the sum of the 'decrease loneliness' and 'entertainment' motives was used as a measure of avoiding difficult feelings motives. The items included on each of the scales correlated well ( r = 0.53, p < 0.001 and r = 0.40, p < 0.001, respectively).

To categorize profiles of motives, a new variable was constructed as the difference between the participants' ratings on the maintaining contact and the avoiding difficult feelings motive. Based on the distribution of this variable, three similarly large profile groups were identified by using the visual binning procedure with two cut-points. Motive profile group 1 ( n = 686, 41.6%) rated the avoiding difficult feelings items higher or the same as the maintaining contact items. Motive profile group 2 ( n = 589, 35.7%) had slightly higher ratings (1 or 2 point difference) on the maintaining contact items than on the avoiding difficult feelings items, while motive profile group 3 ( n = 374, 22.7%) had substantially higher ratings (3 point difference or more) on the maintaining contact items than on the avoiding difficult feelings items.

Covariates

Sociodemographic characteristics

Sociodemographic variables included country (Norway UK, USA, Australia), age group (18-39, 40-59, 60 and above), gender, education level (lower vs bachelor's degree or higher), employment status (yes/no), and having a spouse/partner (yes/no).

Health worry

The participants were asked to rate their level of worry about their own health on one item. The item had the following response options: (1) not at all, (2) a bit, (3) pretty much, (4) very much, and (5) extremely.

Analysis

Comparisons between two groups were made using the independent t-test, while comparisons between several groups were made using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Bivariate associations between continuous variables were examined with Pearson's correlation coefficient r. Linear multiple regression analysis was used to examine adjusted associations between each of the independent variables and loneliness. An interaction term was included to examine whether the association between social media use and loneliness varied by motive profiles. Independent variables were entered in three blocks: (1) age group, spouse/partner, employment, and health worry; (2) daily time on social media; and (3) daily time on social media × motive profile group. If the interaction term was statistically significant, separate analyses were performed for each of the motive profile groups. Effect sizes are reported as standardized beta weights β, and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Missing data were removed from the analyses by casewise deletion. In preparation for the multivariate linear regression analysis, multicollinearity was checked with the variance inflation factor (VIF) (Hocking, 2013). All VIFs were between 1.02 and 1.12, indicating no problematic multicollinearity between the independent variables. While the distribution of loneliness scores deviated from the normal distribution (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test p < 0.001), this has been found to be common in large public health datasets without compromising the validity of parametric test results (Lumley et al., 2002). In addition, the loneliness variable showed only minor skewness (0.32, SE = 0.06), well within the recommended interval (George & Mallery, 2010). However, the standardized residuals of the dependent variable (between - 2.39 and 3.19) just exceeded the upper range of the recommended interval (i.e. between - 3 and 3) (Field, 2013), indicating a need for a cautious interpretation of the regression results.

Ethics

The study was conducted after receiving ethical approval from the following review boards: OsloMet (20/03676) and the regional committees for medical and health research ethics (REK; ref. 132066) in Norway, reviewed by the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences (IRB HSBS) and designated as exempt (HUM00180296) in USA, by Northumbria University Health Research Ethics (HSR1920-080) and University of Central Lancashire (Health Ethics Review Panel) (HEALTH 0246) in the UK, and by The University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committees in Australia (HSR1920-080 2020000956).

Results

Loneliness in sample subgroups

Table 2 displays the levels of loneliness in the sample subgroups with significance tests of differences. Participants from Norway reported lower levels of loneliness compared to participants from the other three countries. Participants who were younger, not employed, and without a spouse or partner reported higher levels of loneliness compared to their counterparts. There were no differences according to gender or education level.

Table 2

Subgroups

Loneliness M (SD)

p

Association between social media use and loneliness

Table 3 displays the results from the multiple linear regression analysis with the total sample. Adjusted for age, spouse/partner, employment and health worry, more time spent on social media was associated with more loneliness ( β = 0.12, p  < 0.001). Having a spouse or partner and having employment were associated with lower levels of loneliness, while higher levels of health worry was associated with higher levels of loneliness. Unadjusted associations between the study variables are displayed in Appendix 1.

Table 3

Independent variables

Model 1

Model 2

Model 3

R ² change

1.3%***

R ² change

4.0%***

Moderation analysis

The interaction between time on social media and motive profile included in Model 3 ( Table 3 ) was significant, so we proceeded with separate analyses for each of the three motive profile groups. The results are shown in Table 4 . For the participants in motive profile group 1 (social media use motive ratings on avoiding difficult feelings higher or the same as for maintaining contact), time spent on social media was not significantly associated with loneliness. For the participants in motive profile groups 2 and 3 (slightly, and substantially, higher ratings of using social media for maintaining contact, respectively), more time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of loneliness ( β = 0.12 and 0.14, respectively; both p  < 0.001).

Table 4

Independent variables

Motive profile 1

Motive profile 2

Motive profile 3

Explained variance
6.4%***

9.5%***

12.8%***

R² change
0. 2%

1.3%**

1.9%**

Explained variance
6.6%***

10.8%***

14.7%***

Discussion

Summary of main results

This study found that more time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of loneliness, even when adjusting for age group, living with spouse/partner, employment, and health worry. The association between social media use and loneliness was found to vary by the participants' motive profile for social media use. For participants with higher or the same ratings on using social media to avoid difficult feelings (compared with their ratings on using social media to maintain contact), there was no significant association between social media use and loneliness. For participants who reported higher levels of maintaining contact motives for social media use (compared to avoiding difficult feelings), relatively weak, but statistically significant associations were shown between more time spent daily on social media and higher levels of loneliness.

Association between social media use and loneliness

The study showed that higher levels of social media use were related to higher levels of loneliness. This finding is in line with the results of previous surveys conducted in earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (Bonsaksen, Schoultz, et al., 2021; Geirdal, Ruffolo, et al., 2021; Thygesen et al., 2022). The consistency of findings across studies using a variety of mental health-related outcomes supports the notion that high levels of social media use relate not only to loneliness, but to mental distress more in general. It also supports the notion that these associations are relatively stable across time - or, at least, across the extraordinary times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paradoxically, 'social' media appears, in effect, to hinder rather than promote people's social wellbeing. The underlying mechanisms may concern the addictive properties of social media (Hawi & Samaha, 2017; Verduyn et al., 2015), so people who have problems with self-regulation may be less able to 'log off' and experience social media fatigue and/or social media addiction as a result (Islam et al., 2020). It may also concern people's perception of social media content, which is often in the form of texts and photos conveying a positive message of joy, fulfilment, adventure, or success of some kind. More time spent digesting other people's happiness on social media may accelerate one's own feelings of loneliness and distress, possibly fueled by envy, as shown in a recent study (Wang et al., 2020). In the opposite case, observing social media posts displaying the challenges of others without being able to provide direct support may also contribute to increased feelings of loneliness.

While the general finding of a negative association between social media use and mental health is supported by a recent meta-review (Meier & Reinecke, 2021), such results appear to rely heavily on the employed methods of measurement (Meier & Reinecke, 2021; Petropoulos Petalas et al., 2021). Further, all cross-sectional studies are hampered with an inability to establish cause and effect relationships. Thus, the nature of cross-sectional associations may be reversed, i.e. people with higher levels of loneliness tend to use social media more often.

Moderation analysis

For participants in Motive profile group 1, using social media predominantly to escape from burdensome feelings (boredom, loneliness), the perception of loneliness was not affected by time spent using social media. Entertaining oneself on social media can be time consuming, and given that escapism is the purpose, then time on social media does not seem to affect one's sense of connection or disconnection from other people. Conversely, for participants in Motive profile groups 2 and 3, who were more inclined to use social media for the purpose of staying in contact with people and use it as a means of 'relationship maintenance', levels of loneliness were higher for those with more frequent social media use. Possibly, people with such motives may be idealistic about the role of social media in connecting people. However, when using social media, they may not be met with the level of reciprocity they want or expect, and they may therefore be disappointed by the response (or lack of such) they receive and may feel lonelier as a result. They may also experience social media to be a poor substitute for face-to-face contact. Even if they do get positive responses and have reciprocity in their online relationships, the contact is still 'virtual' and may not feel as real, or as meaningful, as it would in real life (Yao & Zhong, 2014). Thus, for those with predominant 'maintaining contact' motives, spending more time on social media may be like striving for a type of contact that is difficult to fully accomplish online. More time spent striving for meaningful relationships on social media may therefore result in a deeper sense of loneliness.

Assuming that social media use also can function as a coping mechanism related to the stress experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, our findings may cautiously suggest a specific application of Lazarus and Folkman's ( 1984) stress, appraisal, and coping model, as shown in Figure 1 . While the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered a general stressor, our study does not provide evidence of how people have interpreted the situation (appraisal). Social media may have been used as both problem-focused coping (e.g. obtaining information about vaccines or social distancing requirements in a given area) and emotion-focused coping (e.g. having contact with family and friends), while they have assumingly also been used in ways that do not reflect coping with stress in any way. Loneliness, depicted as the outcome of the stress appraisal and - coping process, was more strongly associated with social media use (coping behavior) among those whose motives for using social media were predominantly to maintain contact with other people.

Loneliness according to country

Participants from Norway reported lower levels of loneliness compared to participants from the other three countries. This difference between Norway and the other involved countries mirrors the results of the study using data from the previous two surveys conducted in the four countries (Geirdal, Price, et al., 2021). Therefore, lower levels of loneliness in Norway compared to UK, USA, and Australia appear to be consistent across all stages of the pandemic. One possible explanation for the difference relates to variations in cultural norms and values, with norms and values being more aligned with 'collectivism' in Norway and more aligned with 'individualism' in the other countries. Research has shown lower levels of loneliness among citizens of countries classified as collectivistic, compared to citizens of individualistic countries (Barreto et al., 2021; Heu et al., 2019; Rokach, 2018; Taniguchi & Kaufman, 2021). Despite social restrictions, people in countries with a collectivist orientation may be more inclined to feel being part of a larger community, and they may therefore feel less lonely than their counterparts in countries more oriented towards individualism.

An alternative explanation concerns the social restrictions effective at the time of completing the survey, as they may also have been different in the four countries. Possibly, fewer restrictions in Norway at the time of completing the survey might also have contributed to lower levels of loneliness among the participants from Norway. In the case of any systematic differences in the reporting pattern regarding loneliness between participants from Norway and participants from the other countries (i.e. people in Norway being less open about feeling lonely), such reporting differences might also explain the lower levels of loneliness among the participants from Norway.

Loneliness associated with health worries

We found that individuals who were more worried about their health consistently had higher levels of loneliness. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, shelter-in-place restrictions have been relaxing for many locations around the world in different periods. People who are more worried about their own health may be more inclined to continue to self-isolate and engage in less social interactions, especially those with certain medical conditions that would make them vulnerable to more severe consequences if contracted with COVID-19. This reasoning is consistent with previous research findings from Norway, where stronger health anxiety was found to be related to less reduction in loneliness over time (Hoffart et al., 2022). Our findings indicate that resources allocated for mental health and social workers to reach out to individuals who have high levels of worries about their health to provide support, is warranted.

Study limitations

Our study is cross-sectional, and the findings cannot be used to infer causality. This applies to our finding that more time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of loneliness, especially in people who reported stronger motives of social media use for maintaining contact. We cannot infer that more time on social media use would result in higher levels of loneliness. It may be that people who have higher levels of loneliness to start off with were more likely to spend more time on social media in an effort to maintain contact, and we do not have information to inform how successful that had been, in terms of if levels of loneliness had already been reduced or if it increased compared to if they had spent less time on social media.

The recruitment of participants relied on disseminating the survey link via social media. Therefore, participants in this study might be particularly attentive towards social media postings in general, and possibly also towards content related to COVID-19. Based on the study, it is not known which social media platform(s) usage time participants reported. The sample composition was skewed, with more participants being female and from the USA, and fewer participants in the older age groups. The study sample is not representative of the general population in the involved countries.

Conclusion and implications

The study showed that more time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of loneliness, in particular for people who used social media as a means for maintaining relationships. In combination with studies conducted in earlier stages of the pandemic, the study suggests that the relationship between more frequent social media use and poorer mental health outcomes has been relatively consistent throughout the pandemic. A novel finding was the moderating effect of motives for social media use on the association between social media use and loneliness. The finding suggests that people whose motive for using social media is for maintaining their relationships with other people feel lonelier than those who spend the same amount of time on social media, but who do it for other reasons. While social media may facilitate social contact to a degree, they may not facilitate the type of contact sought by those who use social media primarily for maintaining contact with others.

Appendix 1. Pearson's r correlation coefficients indicating the strength of associations between variables employed in the study

Variables

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

Funding Statement

No funding was received for this study.

Declarations

Informed consent

All participants in this study electronically provided informed consent to participate.

Authors' contributions

AØG, MR, JL, and GL collected the data. TB performed the statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript. All authors interpreted the results, provided critical input to the different manuscript versions, and agreed to be responsible for the final manuscript version.

Data availability

The data underpinning the results of the study can be obtained from the corresponding author on reasonable request after the research project has been completed.

Institutional review board statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by an Institutional Review Board/Ethics committee. See details under Methods.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

References

Bonsaksen, T., Opseth, T. M., Misund, A., Geirdal, AØ, Fekete, O. R., & Nordli, H. (2018). The de Jong Gierveld loneliness scale used with Norwegian clubhouse members: Psychometric properties and associated factors. [International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 22(2), 88-100. Google Scholar]

Santini, Z. I., Fiori, K. L., Feeney, J., Tyrovolas, S., Haro, J. M., & Koyanagi, A. (2016). Social relationships, loneliness, and mental health among older men and women in Ireland: A prospective community-based study. [Journal of Affective Disorders, 204, 59-69. 10.1016/j.jad.2016.06.032 [PubMed] [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Stickley, A., & Koyanagi, A. (2016). Loneliness, common mental disorders and suicidal behavior: Findings from a general population survey. [Journal of Affective Disorders, 197, 81-87. 10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.054 [PubMed] [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Thomas, L., Orme, E., & Kerrigan, F. (2020). Student loneliness: The role of social media through life transitions. [Computers & Education, 146, 103754. 10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103754 [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Wang, W., Wang, M., Hu, Q., Wang, P., Lei, L., & Jiang, S. (2020). Upward social comparison on mobile social media and depression: The mediating role of envy and the moderating role of marital quality. [Journal of Affective Disorders, 270, 143-149. 10.1016/j.jad.2020.03.173 [PubMed] [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

World Health Organization . (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public. Last accessed October 26, 2022, from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

Yao, M. Z., & Zhong, Z.-j. (2014). Loneliness, social contacts and internet addiction: A cross-lagged panel study. [Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 164-170. 10.1016/j.chb.2013.08.007 [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Articles from Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine are provided here courtesy of European Health Psychology Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Associations between social media use and loneliness in a cross-national population: do motives for social media use matter?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background: We aimed to examine the association between social media use and loneliness two years after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Methods: Participants were 1649 adults who completed a cross-sectional online survey disseminated openly in Norway, ...

# data[].attributes.body
Anjali Raju

This article talks about the cons of social media.

The article talks about how social media makes us lonely and causes depression. It also shows that they did an experiment. People limited screen time and the effect was “Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social media use increases depression and loneliness | Penn Today

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram may not be great for personal well-being. For the first time, an experimental study shows a causal link between time spent on these social media and increased depression and loneliness.

# data[].attributes.body
This text cons of is social media making us less social

Riley

"Michelle Obama stated, “We have to get off the phone and knock on doors and talk to each other face to face…. We can’t rely on the internet to tell us about the world.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
To the Teacher

At its core, social media holds out the promise of connection. A key idea behind Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms is that we can create rich networks of friends, receive frequent updates from people in our lives, and build a sense of community.

On sites such as Facebook, it is common for someone to have hundreds of "friends." Yet, in reality, the experience does not always live up to the hype. Despite this ever-present promise of community, many people feel isolated and alone. Although people may have hundreds or even thousands of online "friends," they may have few actual people in real life that they can rely on. All of this raises the question, is social media strengthening our communities, or is spending time on our phones and computers actually harming our ability to connect in person?

This lesson consists of two readings. The first reading explores the experience of connection online, asking whether or not social media helps make us feel more connected to one another. The second reading examines the data regarding how social media affects our mental health, looking at studies of the possible positive and negative effects of social media usage, especially for young people. Questions for discussion follow each reading.

Note: This lesson is Part 1 of a series of lessons on social media.

Ask students to share one word or reaction they have when they hear the phrase "social media."

Alternatively, make a visual web of their reactions by writing the term "social media" in the center of the board, circling it, then asking students for their associations with the phrase. Write down students' associations without comment in the space surrounding the circled phrase, and connect their words with a line to the center. Once responses have slowed, step back and look at the web.

Ask students: What patterns do you see here? What does this web say about our reactions to social media?

Tell students that today we'll read and discuss two short pieces about social media and its impact, both positive and negative.

Reading One:
Experiencing Connection, On and Off-Line

At its core, social media holds out the promise of connection. A key idea behind Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms is that we can create rich networks of friends, receive frequent updates from people in our lives, and build a sense of community. On sites such as Facebook, it is not uncommon for someone to have hundreds of "friends." Yet, in reality, the experience does not always live up to the hype. Despite this ever-present promise of community, many people feel isolated and alone. Although people may have hundreds or even thousands of online "friends," they may have few actual people in real life that they can rely on.

All of this raises the question, is social media strengthening our communities, or is spending time on our phones and computers actually harming our ability to connect in person?

One commonly held view holds that spending too much time on social media is detrimental. Many influential people-ranging from Pope Francis, to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to actress and singer Selena Gomez-have warned that overuse of social media can be harmful and isolating. In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, Michelle Obama stated, "We have to get off the phone and knock on doors and talk to each other face to face.... We can't rely on the internet to tell us about the world."

For reasons like these, people of all ages have begun limiting their time on social media and focusing instead on building relationships in real life. In a 2017 article, Teen Vogue's Beauty and Health Director Jessica Matlin documented the increase in young people logging off. She writes about a student named Faith, 17, who moved from a Philadelphia suburb to a new school in New York City. Faith said that it was hard to make friends. She felt insecure about this, so she used her phone to share stories to make it seem to her friends back home that she was making lots of friends and having a great time. "In reality, I was struggling," she said. The story goes on to tell Faith's story since then:

Now that [Faith has] found her own crew, she's grown more skeptical about social media. She also doesn't feel compelled to get it all on film. At a Coldplay show, she sang instead of Snapped ("I'd rather enjoy the music"), and sitting down to a recent dinner, she and her friends piled their phones in the middle of the table ("It made the night so much better")....

"Young adults are beginning to take a more mindful approach to social media," says Jacqueline Nesi, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies teens and social media. "This may explain the rise in apps like SelfControl and Anti-Social." (Both prevent you from falling into a Facebook hole.) And that no-phones-at-dinner policy? Nesi says we are likely to see it popping up on more tables....

Ananda, 17, had the kind of Insta-following that any start-up would kill for. Before long, it became a total chore. What started as a place to share vegan recipes and cute outfits quickly became her "brand," something that demanded daily upkeep. Her fans constantly direct-messaged her with praise and invites to meet up.

"It was really sweet," she says. "At the same time, it was so time- and energy-consuming-it wasn't how I want to build friendships." As she started posting less, her following dropped. ("That gave me anxiety," she says.) Finally, she just closed her account. "I do miss it, but I have time to spend with my real friends."

"Social media relationships aren't real relationships," says Faith. "It's always weird when you see someone who follows you and you follow back, but you don't say 'hi' to each other when you see them in real life."

[ https://www.teenvogue.com/story/why-young-adults-are-taking-a-more-mindful-approach-to-social-media]

Despite such testimonies to the benefits of taking breaks from social media, not everyone agrees that online community is inherently unhealthy-or that offline friendships should count as being a valuable part on one's "real life," while online connections are disregarded. For years, young people have maintained that social media can provide real connection. In a 2018 article for The Washington Post, Common Sense Media parenting editor Caroline Knorr offered five benefits of social media. She wrote:

For a few years, many teens have been saying that social media - despite its flaws - is mostly positive. And new research is shedding light on the good things that can happen when kids connect, share and learn online. As kids begin to use tools such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and even YouTube in earnest, they're learning the responsibility that comes with the power to broadcast to the world....

It lets them do good. Twitter, Facebook and other large social networks expose kids to important issues and people from all over the world. Kids realize they have a voice they didn't have before and are doing everything from crowdfunding social justice projects to anonymously tweeting positive thoughts ....

It strengthens friendships. Studies, including Common Sense Media's " Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives" and the Pew Research Center's "Teens, Technology and Friendships" show that social media helps teenagers make friends and keep them.

It can offer a sense of belonging. While heavy social media use can isolate kids, a study conducted by Griffith University and the University of Queensland in Australia found that although American teens have fewer friends than their historical counterparts, they are less lonely than teens in past decades. They report feeling less isolated and have become more socially adept, partly because of an increase in technology use....

Online acceptance - whether a kid is interested in an unusual subject that isn't considered cool or is grappling with sexual identity - can validate a marginalized child.... One example occurred on a Minecraft forum on Reddit when an entire online community used voice-conferencing software to talk a teenager out of committing suicide.

[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2018/03/19/5-ways-social-media-can-be-good-for-teens/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.74d64c1a442a]

Such arguments suggest that social media use can have both positive and negative aspects. Whether we experience it as helpful or harmful has a lot to do with how we engage, who we relate with, and what boundaries we decide to set for ourselves in our daily lives. Instead of passively accepting the platforms as they are, we can be critical in how we engage, recognizing that if social media offers the promise of community, it is a community that we must create for ourselves.

For Discussion

1. How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?

2. What are your reactions to Faith's story about cutting back on social media and feeling closer to friends? Does her story resonate with you - or not?

3. Have you ever agreed to stow your phones when you're having a get-together with friends? If so, what effect did it have?

4. If you use social media, do you take breaks from it? Why or why not?

5. What are your thoughts about the five benefits of social media cited in the Washington Post? Do they resonate with you? Why or why not?

6. What are some arguments that social media decreases meaningful connection? Have you experienced any of these trends in your community?

7. What are some arguments that social increases connection and has positive benefits? Do these ring true in your experience?

8. Do you see generational differences in how different people look at the appropriate use of social media platforms? How would you characterize how your views might differ from those of your parents or teachers?

Reading Two:
The Research on Social Media and Mental Health

Reports about people's experiences on social media are often anecdotal. They rely on individual stories about how a given user might feel. But can we get a bigger picture take on social media's overall effect? What does the research say about social media's impact on our mental well-being?

In an article in the September 2017 issue of The Atlantic entitled "Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?," San Diego State psychology professor Jean Twenge examined some this research. Focusing most of her attention on the more negative impacts of social media on mental health, Twenge generated a media firestorm with her portrait of how social media increases our isolation. She wrote:

The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers' lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health. These changes have affected young people in every corner of the nation and in every type of household. The trends appear among teens poor and rich; of every ethnic background; in cities, suburbs, and small towns. Where there are cell towers, there are teens living their lives on their smartphone....

Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. It's not an exaggeration to describe iGen as being on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones....

The Monitoring the Future survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and designed to be nationally representative, has asked 12th-graders more than 1,000 questions every year since 1975 and queried eighth- and 10th-graders since 1991. The survey asks teens how happy they are and also how much of their leisure time they spend on various activities, including nonscreen activities such as in-person social interaction and exercise, and, in recent years, screen activities such as using social media, texting, and browsing the web. The results could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy.

There's not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness. Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they're unhappy than those who devote less time to social media. Admittedly, 10 hours a week is a lot. But those who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are still 47 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who use social media even less. The opposite is true of in-person interactions. Those who spend an above-average amount of time with their friends in person are 20 percent less likely to say they're unhappy than those who hang out for a below-average amount of time....

Teens who spend three hours a day or more on electronic devices are 35 percent more likely to have a risk factor for suicide, such as making a suicide plan. (That's much more than the risk related to, say, watching TV.)

[ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/]

Twenge's article, shared by many concerned parents, prompted a wave of responses from other psychologists. Many noted that the research is more nuanced than the uproar around the inflammatory article made it seem. In a 2017 article for Psychology Today entitled "No, Smartphones are Not Destroying a Generation," Assumption College psychology professor Sara Rose Cavanaugh questioned whether smartphones and social media were purely negative in their effects.

Emerging evidence indicates that like every other question psychologists can think to ask about human behavior, screen use and its association with psychological well-being varies based on a multitude of contextual and personal variables-for instance, how you use media, when you use it, and what else is going on in your life... [One study] by Andrew K. Przybylski and Netta Weinstein uses a careful design that takes into account these sorts of factors and concludes that "moderate use of digital technology is not intrinsically harmful and may be advantageous in a connected world."

Nowhere is Twenge's bias more obvious to me than in some research that she actually does review but then casts aside as seemingly irrelevant to her thesis... In the introduction to the piece she notes that this generation has sharply lower rates of alcohol use, teen pregnancies, unprotected sex, smoking, and car accidents than previous generations. This is what a destroyed generation looks like?

Moreover, there is good reason to think that smartphones and social media may have positive effects as well as negative effects. Routinely feeling connected to your social peers could have beneficial effects.... For instance, teens can find other teens interested in the same social movements, connect with teens across the globe on interests like music and fashion, and feel embedded in a social network filled with meaning.

[ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/once-more-feeling/201708/no-smartphones-are-not-destroying-generation]

Twenge herself acknowledges that social media may have contributed a decrease in some behaviors that have traditionally made parents and guardians anxious, writing that "Some generational changes are positive, some are negative, and many are both. More comfortable in their bedrooms than in a car or at a party, today's teens are physically safer than teens have ever been. They're markedly less likely to get into a car accident and, having less of a taste for alcohol than their predecessors, are less susceptible to drinking's attendant ills."

A final point to consider in the debate over social media and mental health is that the platforms themselves have agendas--since companies like Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook make more money when people use them more, regardless of the impact on happiness or mental health. In a 2018 article for the BBC, investigative reporter Hilary Andersson argued that social media companies are deliberately addicting users to their products for financial gain.

"Behind every screen on your phone, there are generally like literally a thousand engineers that have worked on this thing to try to make it maximally addicting" [said former Mozilla and Jawbone employee Aza Raskin.]

In 2006 Mr Raskin, a leading technology engineer himself, designed infinite scroll, one of the features of many apps that is now seen as highly habit forming. At the time, he was working for Humanized - a computer user-interface consultancy.

Infinite scroll allows users to endlessly swipe down through content without clicking.

"If you don't give your brain time to catch up with your impulses," Mr Raskin said, "you just keep scrolling."

He said the innovation kept users looking at their phones far longer than necessary. Mr Raskin said he had not set out to addict people and now felt guilty about it. But, he said, many designers were driven to create addictive app features by the business models of the big companies that employed them. "In order to get the next round of funding, in order to get your stock price up, the amount of time that people spend on your app has to go up," he said...."So, when you put that much pressure on that one number, you're going to start trying to invent new ways of getting people to stay hooked."

"You have a business model designed to engage you and get you to basically suck as much time out of your life as possible and then selling that attention to advertisers."

Facebook told the BBC that its products were designed "to bring people closer to their friends, family, and the things they care about." It said that "at no stage does wanting something to be addictive factor into that process"....

[Yet] last year Facebook's founding president, Sean Parker, said publicly that the company set out to consume as much user time as possible. He claimed it was "exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology."

[ https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959]

Ultimately, promises of connection offered by social media platforms are sales pitches. But real community is not a product that people can buy. Whether or not we use technology in creating our own communities, we can be aware that the platforms we might choose to use are by no means neutral.

For Discussion

1. How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?

2. According to the article, what does research indicate about the impacts of social media on young people?

3. Does the article reflect your own sense of social media's impact?

4. Some critics argued that the article entitled, "Has the Smartphone Destroyed a Generation?" was unduly sensationalist. What did you think?

5. Do you think social media is partly to blame for rising rates of depression and anxiety among young people? Why or why not?

6. What possible changes could be made in apps to make them less addicting?

7. Are there any changes you would make in how social media platforms are structured?

Ask for volunteers to share one thing they like about social media, and one thing they think should change about social media.
Research assistance provided by John Bergen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Does Social Media Make Us More or Less Connected?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To the Teacher At its core, social media holds out the promise of connection. A key idea behind Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms is that we can create rich networks of friends, receive frequent updates from people in our lives, and build a sense of community.

# data[].attributes.headline
Does Modern Social Media Make People Less

# data[].attributes.subject
Does Modern Social Media Make People Less

# data[].attributes.body
https://tohsthelancer.org/opinion/2022/04/14/does-modern-social-media-make-people-less-socially-active/

Nate

This Article is about the pros and cons of teens using social media.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As the world progresses and technology advances, social media has taken a big part in many people's lives. It's not just a place to connect with friends and be updated on the latest trends, but a huge way of connecting for many people.

But there is a split part to social media. With the benefits to it, there are also downfalls where people, especially teens, have become less socially active in recent years.

" Today's social media makes it unrealistic for everyone, especially younger teenagers. Which can cause them to be scared to be judged by others, which can interfere with their communication,"said senior Amie Mendez.

This is a big part of the downfall of social media putting a strain on younger generations with unrealistic standards. It closes people off from reality making them less eager to engage in that reality in fear of not being able to stand up with social media standards.

But some may argue that social media doesn't isolate teens but rather can make new relationships and can expand social circles.

"Some social media give people the chance to meet people from other places that they otherwise wouldn't have known," said senior Hailey Starr.

More than before, people have been able to get in contact with others halfway around the world and have been able to create lasting relationships, without even having to leave their homes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Does Modern Social Media Make People Less Socially Active?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As the world progresses and technology advances, social media has taken a big part in many people's lives. It's not just a place to connect with friends and be updated on the latest trends, but a huge way of connecting for many people. But there is a split part to social media.

# data[].attributes.body
Ethan

The article talks about the cons of social media.

The article talks about how social media cause loneliness and other affects on people. It also talks about how it causes isolation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the 21st century, social media has seamlessly woven itself into the fabric of our daily lives. What began as a simple information exchange has evolved into a virtual meeting space, retail hub, and a crucial marketing tool. The roots of social media lie in the fundamental human need to communicate, propelled by advancements in digital technology. Social media has its roots in the basic human urge for communication, which has been fueled by developments in digital technology. As we watch this ongoing growth, important concerns about how it affects billions of lives and how businesses are adjusting to the digital consumer lifestyle-particularly in the dynamic social media marketing services landscape-become evident.

Originally designed to promote relationships, social media now poses a conundrum: does it make us more connected, or does it leave us more alone? Though technology helps build relationships, there have been questions raised about how it affects real connections. As social media services in Mumbai leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for brand engagement, the potential downside of social media-induced isolation cannot be overlooked.

Are we compromising the depth of in-person encounters in the name of digital measures? Social media profiles are carefully maintained, which could unintentionally encourage emotions of inferiority and social comparison. Has our sense of connection or isolation increased in our hyperconnected world?

For those deeply involved in social media services in Mumbai, the nuanced art extends beyond crafting catchy content and visuals. It involves weaving narratives that resonate, fostering genuine connections, and addressing the potential downsides of digital interaction.

As we navigate the ever-evolving social media landscape, achieving a balance between digital engagement and authentic human connection becomes crucial. While social media stands as a powerful communication and marketing tool, its impact on our social fabric demands a responsible approach. A Social Media Agency in Delhi plays a pivotal role in advocating for this thoughtful balance, recognizing the paramount importance of genuine connections in the digital era.

In the ever-expanding realm of social media services in Mumbai, professionals are grappling with the dual nature of these platforms. Beyond the surface allure of likes and shares, there lies the challenge of preserving the essence of authentic communication. Crafting narratives that cut through the digital noise, marketing professionals play a crucial role in ensuring that content resonates on a human level, fostering connections that extend beyond the virtual space.

Moreover, as businesses in Delhi navigate the vibrant social media marketing landscape, they find themselves at the intersection of innovation and responsibility. While leveraging platforms for brand engagement and market expansion, there's a growing awareness of the need to prioritize genuine connections over mere metrics. A Social Media Agency in Delhi becomes a guiding force, steering businesses towards strategies that not only elevate their digital presence but also contribute positively to the social fabric.

In conclusion, the harmonious dance between social media dynamics, connectivity, and authenticity requires continuous reflection. As we embrace the opportunities presented by these digital platforms, it's imperative to ensure that our interactions enhance rather than hinder the richness of our social bonds. A thoughtful and responsible approach, championed by a Social Media Agency in Delhi, underscores the significance of fostering genuine connections in this transformative digital age.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Social Media Making Us Antisocial? - Chimp&z Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the 21st century, social media has seamlessly woven itself into the fabric of our daily lives. What began as a simple information exchange has evolved into a virtual meeting space, retail hub, and a crucial marketing tool. The roots of social media lie in the fundamental human need to communicate, propelled by advancements in ...

# data[].attributes.body
This texts states pros

Riley

In this text it has a graph to show what people do the most on their phone. The graph showed that many people use their phone for texting and calling/facetiming their loved ones/friend family.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social media has become an unavoidable component of contemporary life. In a world where some of the most successful entrepreneurs are social media influencers and everything from professional networking to finding the love of your life now has a home in the vast metaverse of social media, having an online persona seems to be becoming more and more integral by the day.

# data[].attributes.body
Noah Agha

-Con

In this article it says, from recent Harvard study it shows that 36% of all Americans (including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children) feel serious loneliness. Also it says the average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Social media has become an integral part of modern life, allowing people to connect with friends and family, share their thoughts and experiences and stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends. While it has undoubtedly brought many benefits, including greater social connectivity, it has also been associated with increased loneliness and feelings of isolation.

According to a recent Harvard study, 36% of all Americans - including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children - feel "serious loneliness." Most of us indeed choose Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter over playing the guitar, going for a walk with a friend or belting out some karaoke tunes.

In this article, we will explore the relationship between social media and loneliness and why it is important to be mindful of the potential risks.

In 2023, the average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow us to maintain contact with people we may not regularly see in our day-to-day lives. We can catch up with old friends, stay in touch with family members who live far away and connect with people who share our interests and hobbies.
Related: Can Social Media Have Negative Effects on the Brain?
However, this virtual connection is not the same as face-to-face interaction, which is essential for building and maintaining close relationships. Even though we may be able to stay in touch with more people through social media, we may feel less connected to them than we would if we saw them in person.

The problem with social media is that it can create an illusion of social connection that is not necessarily accurate. We may have many followers or friends on social media, but how many of those connections are truly meaningful? Many people may feel like they are part of a large community online, but this can mask the fact that they do not have close, personal relationships in their offline lives. Research has shown that people who spend more time on social media tend to have fewer close relationships and lower levels of social support than those who spend less time on these platforms.

64% of Americans say social media has a mostly negative effect on how things are going in the U.S. today. Social media can also lead to feelings of envy and jealousy, which can contribute to loneliness. When we see the carefully curated and edited posts of our friends and acquaintances, it is easy to feel we are missing out on something.

We may feel that everyone else is living a more exciting, fulfilling life than we are, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. Social media can create a sense of social comparison that is difficult to escape, and this can be detrimental to our mental health.

Loneliness is not just a psychological state; it can also have physical consequences. Chronically lonely people may be more susceptible to health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure and weakened immune systems. They may also be at a higher risk for depression and anxiety. Given the potential negative consequences of loneliness, it is important to be mindful of social media's impact on our social connectedness.
Related: 7 Social Media Blunders That Are Burning Your Brand (and How to Avoid Them)
So, what can we do to mitigate the risks of social media-induced loneliness? First and foremost, we need to recognize that social media is not a substitute for real-life social interaction. While it can be useful for staying in touch with people, it should not be our only means of social connection. We need to make an effort to spend time with people in person, whether meeting up for coffee or attending a social event. Even if we cannot see our friends and family members as often as we would like, we can still make an effort to stay connected through phone calls, video chats and other forms of communication.

It is also important to be mindful of social media's impact on our mental health. If we feel jealous or inadequate after scrolling through our social media feeds, we may need to take a break from these platforms.

We can also make an effort to curate our social media feeds to include positive and uplifting content rather than negative and triggering. Research published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that limiting people's time on social apps like Facebook and Snapchat to 10 minutes per day significantly reduced feelings of loneliness and depression. According to the researchers, the sweet spot may be about 30 minutes or less per day.

Finally, we need to recognize that loneliness is a common experience and that it is okay to reach out for help. Whether that means talking to a trusted friend or family member, joining a social group or community organization or seeking professional help from a therapist or counselor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Social Media Making You Less Social and More Lonely? | Entrepreneur

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In a time where we seem more social every day, it also seems like we are lonely and disconnected.

# data[].attributes.body
Maddox Poon

(PRO & CON)

One half of the article talks about how social media is bad, whilst the other talks about how it is good. The first half talks about how people are spending too much time on social media and not spending time with family and friends. It also talks about how social media does not make meaningful relationships and how it gives people social anxiety due to not having face to face conversations. The other half talks about how it is possible for people to stay in touch with old friends and people can contact people in different regions.

Maddox

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Yes - social media is making us less social:

By following friends on social media and not communicating with them privately, we can only know the things they post on their accounts. We may not know much about what is really happening in their lives. That means we will have no meaningful connections with friends.

The convenience of contacting people online made us prefer it over meeting them outside.

A few people now have social anxiety due to not having enough face to face interactions. When we avoid talking to people for a long time, automatically we develop a fear to involve in small talk.

Trolling in social media is a big menace. It is affecting the self-esteem of many people and is also making them avoid forming social connections.

In the present time, several people are addicted to smartphones and especially social media. This leaves them with no time to interact with people in real life. Even when they are speaking with people face to face, they are getting distracted by their phones and are not concentrating on the conversation.

These days, when youngsters meet or go out together, most probably they are either taking pictures or recording videos. This is affecting their ability to maintain social connections.

In the book "iGen", it was mentioned that in the next decade we may see more young people who know just the right emoji for a situation-but not the right facial expression. This can become true if we prefer virtual life over real life.

No - social media is not making us less social:

Due to social media, now we have the opportunity to connect with many people, even if they do not live in our area. Before social media, we could interact with people from either our locality or the places we go.

During the covid pandemic time, social media helped people in maintaining their social life.

Social media made it possible to stay connected with friends and loved ones all the time. We can easily know what is happening in their lives. It allowed us to communicate with multiple people at the same time by sharing posts.

Through close-knit communities or micro-communities based on shared interests on social media along with private messaging, social media gave us an opportunity to build real connections with people we can really relate to.

Conclusion:

It completely depends on how we use social media. If we use it properly, we can join close-knit communities people based on shared interests. There is a need to guide adolescents about the effect of social media on our social lives. If we think we are getting addicted to social media and are preferring it over real-life interactions, we can go for a digital detox to learn to use social media properly.

Your Turn...

Do you think social media is making us less social? Tell us your thoughts on this topic through the comment section below. And subscribe to our blog to read answers to the trending GD topics.

Copyright @ Group Discussion Ideas.
Purpose: GD in College, GD in School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is social media making us less social? ~ Group Discussion Ideas

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Through close-knit communities or micro-communities based on shared interests on social media along with private messaging, social media gave us an opportunity to build real connections with people we can really relate to.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health

# data[].attributes.subject
The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health

# data[].attributes.body
CONS

This article talks about how social media affects your mental health and how social media can hurt feelings create loneliness and cause health issues. This article just shows that social media is really not good for you.

Elle.Ulsaker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Here's How Social Media Affects Your Mental Health | McLean Hospital

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Using social media can directly impact emotional wellness, physical, and mental health. Here are the signs that you are affected.

# data[].attributes.headline
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.subject
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.body
Aria

CON

This website talks about how technology is making us less social. The article states that middle schoolers and high schoolers are answering their texts in the middle of the night, which means they are not getting the proper sleep that they should get. Social media makes us feel lonely, which can make us ignore others and can make us have anxiety. Also, the text says "I did a case study of a young woman who has 2,000 followers on Instagram. She'll ask about a problem at 9:00 at night, and at 2:00 in the morning she's getting responses, and she's awake to get those responses. This is 2:00 in the morning for a lot of kids." This means kids use social media to talk about their feelings, not having face-to-face conversations. This is why social media is making us less social.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Chances are that you have a smartphone, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page and that you have found yourself ignoring a friend or family member who is in the same room as you because you are totally engrossed in your social technology. That technology means never having to feel alone or bored. Yet ironically, it can make us less attentive to the people closest to us and even make it hard for us to simply be with ourselves. Many of us are afraid to make this admission. "We're still in a romance with these technologies," says Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We're like young lovers who are afraid that talking about it will spoil it." Turkle has interviewed, at length, hundreds of individuals of all ages about their interactions with smartphones, tablets, social media, avatars and robots. Unlike previous disruptive innovations such as the printing press or television, the latest "always on, always on you" technology, she says, threatens to undermine some basic human strengths that we need to thrive. In the conversation that follows, which has been edited for space, Turkle explains her concerns, as well as her cautious optimism that the youngest among us could actually resolve the challenges.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:
What concerns you most about our constant interaction with our social technologies?
TURKLE: One primary change I see is that people have a tremendous lack of tolerance for being alone. I do some of my fieldwork at stop signs, at checkout lines at supermarkets. Give people even a second, and they're doing something with their phone. Every bit of research says people's capacity to be alone is disappearing. What can happen is that you lose that moment to have a daydream or to cast an eye inward. Instead you look to the outside.

Is that an issue for individuals of all ages?
Yes, but children especially need solitude. Solitude is the precondition for having a conversation with yourself. This capacity to be with yourself and discover yourself is the bedrock of development. But now, from the youngest age-even two, or three, or four-children are given technology that removes solitude by giving them something externally distracting. That makes it harder, ironically, to form true relationships.

Maybe people just don't want to be bored.
People talk about never needing to have a lull. As soon as it occurs, they look at the phone; they get anxious. They haven't learned to have conversations or relationships, which involve lulls.

Are we valuing relationships less, then?
People start to view other people in part as objects. Imagine two people on a date. "Hey, I have an idea. Instead of our just looking at each other face-to-face, why don't we each wear Google Glass, so if things get a little dull, I can just catch up on my e-mail? And you won't know." This disrupts the family, too. When Boring Auntie starts to talk at the family dinner table, her little niece pulls out her phone and goes on Facebook. All of a sudden her world is populated with snowball fights and ballerinas. And dinner is destroyed. Dinner used to be the utopian ideal of the American family having a canonical three-generation gathering.

What about people who take their phones to bed? They're asleep, so why would they feel alone?
I have interviewed enough middle school and high school kids: "So tell me, do you answer your texts in the middle of the night?" "Oh, yeah." I call it "I share, therefore I am," as a style of being.

If you're sharing in the middle of the night and responsive to people in the middle of the night, you're in a different zone. And all these people feel responsible to respond. The expectation is constant access. Everyone is ready to call in the advice and the consent of their peers. I did a case study of a young woman who has 2,000 followers on Instagram. She'll ask about a problem at 9:00 at night, and at 2:00 in the morning she's getting responses, and she's awake to get those responses. This is 2:00 in the morning for a lot of kids.

Where does this lead for someone who lives that way?
If you don't call a halt to it, I think you don't fully develop a sense of an autonomous self. You're not able to be in personal relationships, business relationships, because you don't feel fully competent to handle major things on your own. You run into trouble if you're putting everything up, ultimately, for a vote.

You're crowdsourcing your life.
You're crowdsourcing major decisions. I hope it's likely, however, that a person reaches a point where they're on a job-they're not twentysomething, they're thirtysomething-and this starts to become less comfortable, and they develop emotional skills that they really haven't worked on.

What about our interactions with automated personalities and robots?
When we started looking at this in the 1970s, people took the position that even if simulated thinking might be thinking, simulated feeling was not feeling. Simulated love was never love. But that's gone away. People tell me that if Siri [the iPhone voice] could fool them a little better, they'd be happy to talk to Siri.

Isn't that like the movie Her?
Absolutely. The current position seems to be that if there's a robot that could fool me into thinking that it understands me, I'm good to have it as a companion. This is a significant evolution in what we ask for in our interactions, even on intimate matters. I see it in kids. I see it in grown-ups. The new robots are designed to make you feel as though you're understood. Yet nobody is pretending that any of them understands anything.

What line does that cross-that there's no empathy?
There's no authentic exchange. You're saying empathy is not important to the feeling of being understood. And yet I interviewed a woman who said to me that she's okay with a robot boyfriend. She wants one of these sophisticated Japanese robots. I looked at her and said, "You know that it doesn't understand you." She said, "Look, I just want civility in the house. I just want something that will make me feel not alone."

People are also good with a robot that could stand in as a companion for an older person. But I take a moral position here because older people deserve to tell the story of their life to someone who understands what a life is. They've lost spouses; they've lost children. We're suggesting they tell the story of their life to something that has no idea what a life is or what a loss is.

It's crucial to understand that this changing interaction is not just a story about technology. It's a story about how we are evolving when we're faced with something passive. I hope we're going to look closer at people's willingness to project humanity onto a robot and to accept a facade of empathy as the real thing because I think that such interactions are a dead end. We want more from technology and less from each other? Really?

Do avatars and virtual reality present the same issues?
In these cases, we are moving from life to the mix of your real life and your virtual life. One young man put it very succinctly: "Real life is just one window, and it's not necessarily my best one." People forgot about virtual reality for a while, but the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook raised it again-Mark Zuckerberg's fantasy that you will meet up with your friends in a virtual world where everybody looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, you live in a beautiful home, and you present only what you want to present. We're evolving toward thinking of that as a utopian image.

But skeptics say your avatar is not different from the real you.
Well, we do perform all the time. I'm trying to do my best Sherry Turkle right now. But it's a little different from me hanging out in my pajamas. What's different with an avatar or on Facebook is that you get to edit. A woman posts a photo of herself and then works on the color and background and lighting. Why? Because she wants it a certain way. We've never before been able to have it the way we wanted it. And now we can. People love that.

I asked an 18-year-old man, "What's wrong with conversation?" He said, "It takes place in real time. You can't control what you're going to say." It was profound. That's also why a lot of people like to do their dealings on e-mail-it's not just the time shifting; it's that you basically can get it right.

One reason for the rise of humans is that functioning in groups gives each member a better chance to succeed. Will the move toward living online undermine those benefits?
Oh, this is the question before us. Are we undermining, or are we enhancing our competitive advantage? A lot of my colleagues would say we're enhancing it. The Internet is giving us new ways of getting together, forming alliances. But I think we are at a point of inflection. While we were infatuated with the virtual, we dropped the ball on where we actually live. We need to balance how compelling the virtual is with the realities that we live in our bodies and on this planet. It is so easy for us to look the other way. Are we going to get out there and make our real communities what they should be?

Your critics say there's nothing to worry about because this "new technology" situation is not really new. We went through this with television-you know, TV is there to watch your kids so you don't have to.
First of all, television can be a group exercise. I grew up in a family that sat around a TV and watched it together, fought about what was on the TV together, commented on it together. But when everybody watches their own show in their own room, so to speak, that stops. Technology that is always on and always on you-that is a quantum leap. I agree that there have been quantum leaps before: the book. The difference with "always on," however, is that I really don't have a choice.

You mean, you could turn off the TV and still function.
I cannot live my professional life or my personal life without my phone or my e-mail. My students can't even obtain their syllabus without it. We don't have an opt-out option from a world with this technology. The question is, How are we going to live a more meaningful life with something that is always on and always on you? And wait until it's in your ear, in your jacket, in your glasses.

So how do we resolve that?
It's going to develop as some sort of common practice. I think companies will get involved, realizing that it actually isn't good for people to be constantly connected. Our etiquette will get involved; today if I get a message and don't get back to people in 24 hours, they're worried about me, or they're mad that I haven't replied. Why? I think we will change our expectation of having constant access.

Any suggestions for how we can get started?
One argument I make is that there should be sacred spaces: the family dinner table, the car. Make these the places for conversation because conversation is the antidote to a lot of the issues I'm describing. If you're talking to your kids, if you're talking to your family, if you're talking to a community, these negative effects don't arise as much.

And we should be talking more about the technologies?
My message is not antitechnology. It's pro conversation and pro the human spirit. It's really about calling into questions our dominant culture of more, better, faster. We need to assert what we need for our own thinking, for our own development, and for our relationships with our children, with our communities, with our intimate partners. As for the robots, I'm hoping that people will realize that what we're really disappointed in is ourselves. It's so upsetting to me. We're basically saying that we're not offering one another the conversation and the companionship. That, really, is the justification for talking to a robot that you know doesn't understand a word you're saying. We are letting each other down. It's not about the robots. It's about us.

So who is going to stop this train we are on?
The most optimistic thing I see is the young people who have grown up with this technology but aren't smitten by it, who are willing to say, "Hold on a second." They see the ways in which it's undermined life at school and life with their parents. This is where I'm guardedly hopeful.

I have so many examples of children who will be talking with their parents; something will come up, and the parent will go online to search, and the kid will say, "Daddy, stop Googling. I just want to talk to you." When I go to the city park, I see kids go to the top of the jungle gym and call out, "Mommy, Mommy!" and they're being ignored. They object to being ignored when they're five, eight or nine. But when I interview these kids when they're 13, 14 or 15, they become reflective. They say, "I'm not going to bring up my children the way I'm being brought up." They're going to have rules, like no phones at dinner.

I also see evidence that dealing with some of this technology is feeling to them like work-the whole notion that you have to constantly keep up your Facebook profile. So I think there's every possibility that the children will lead us. They see the costs. They think, "I don't have to give up this technology, but maybe I could be a little smarter about it."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chances are that you have a smartphone, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page and that you have found yourself ignoring a friend or family member who is in the same room as you because you are totally engrossed in your social technology. That technology means never having to feel alone or bored.

# data[].attributes.headline
Opinion: Social Media is making us less social

# data[].attributes.subject
Opinion: Social Media is making us less social

# data[].attributes.body
Noah Agha

-Con

This article is talking about the cons of being on your phone, This article talks about body language, feeling separated, uninterrupted attention, loneliness, and even sickness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As a member of Generation Z, I've had my nose burrowed in my phone since I entered middle school. The constant texting, Snapchatting and staying up to date on others' lives rapidly became the norm for not only me but my entire generation.

While social media allows our society to interact virtually with one another, the idea that social media makes us "social" is deceptive, as it does quite the opposite.

The wave of anti-socialness that hit this generation is due to a sharp decline in people interacting in person. Communicating in the virtual world gradually replaced face-to-face conversation. It seems more convenient to send someone a text, rather than call or find time to meet them in person.

The problem with digital communication isn't just reading words sent on a screen. A large portion of interaction comes from what is not said in nonverbal clues and body language. These include hand gestures, faces made or posture throughout a conversation. Without being able to see one another, we don't know the full extent of what someone is trying to say.

When you lose body language, tone and non-verbal cues, misunderstandings and conflicts are much more prone to happen. Overtime, we lose our ability to detect these communication patterns or their value. By only understanding a fraction of an interaction, social media makes us increasingly less social.

Additionally, the lack of genuine and full interactions over social media has significantly increased loneliness. While we can technically interact with others via social media at any time of the day, that doesn't replace the emotional gratification that in-person interactions possess. It was found that people who spend time on social media double the chances of feeling socially isolated from their peers. This isolation tends to push people back to social media to make friends since it doesn't involve the unfamiliarity of face-to-face interactions. It's a vicious cycle of isolation.

Loneliness is mentally draining, contributing to mental health illnesses like anxiety and depression. But, loneliness can also cause serious physical repercussions. These include heart disease, high blood pressure and weakened immune systems. These physical and mental problems that ensue from social media make this generation that much less social with one another as they face these detrimental consequences.

Social media creates the assumption that we have these meaningful connections when we get followers that like and comment on our posts, but this is not remotely the same as having a genuine relationship with someone.

Many people are quick to brag about their large community of supporters on social media of whom generate uninterrupted attention. At the end of the day, though, lots of these people don't have close to the same amount of people cheering them on in their personal life.

Just because someone will comment on every picture you post, doesn't mean you talk to them or have a genuine connection with them at all. This is backed up by studies showing that people who spend more time on social media don't have as many close relationships in their lives and have even lower levels of social support.

Social media still brings about countless benefits for its users, and that's not to be discounted. People across the globe are now able to interact with one another, which can help keep long-distance relationships and friendships alive. Social media also gives its users a platform to speak up for a variety of causes, bringing awareness to countless issues. However, social skills outside the online world are practically nonexistent, which remains a major pitfall in social media.

Overall, our need for social interaction has seemingly been filled by social media, but the reality is much more complex. Social media has made people less social by limiting the need for face-to-face interaction, honest dialogues and meaningful connections. While we cannot change social media, we can acknowledge these downfalls and work to build and maintain meaningful relationships without social media.

Kennedy Lawrence is a sophomore journalism major. Reach her at kennedylawrence@dailynebraskan.com .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
OPINION: Social media is making us less social

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nebraska students and Gen Z as a whole have become increasingly antisocial due to social media platforms' gradually replacement of face-to-face interaction.

# data[].attributes.body
-Janvi

This article shows to cons of social media.

In this article, it talks about how to control your social media time so it doesn't affect your mental health. They also talk about an experiment they did at Harvard. Which contributes to how social media is bad.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.

The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness, is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School

Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health, plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise, pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Does social media make you lonely? - Harvard Health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Do you feel you spend too much time on social media? Does the time you do spend on social media leave you feeling depressed, anxious, or lonely? Being more aware of how much time you spend and how it makes you feel, and taking steps to limit your usage, could ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.subject
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.body
Sydney Feldman

(CON)

This website is saying that Social Media is making us less social. It said that a lot of people don't respond when their on there phone and you are trying to talk to them. Another example is it says that when kids are on social media they can get anxiety easily. It is making bad feelings like loneliness, sickness, confusion and more. Social Media is making us less social.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Chances are that you have a smartphone, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page and that you have found yourself ignoring a friend or family member who is in the same room as you because you are totally engrossed in your social technology. That technology means never having to feel alone or bored. Yet ironically, it can make us less attentive to the people closest to us and even make it hard for us to simply be with ourselves. Many of us are afraid to make this admission. "We're still in a romance with these technologies," says Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We're like young lovers who are afraid that talking about it will spoil it." Turkle has interviewed, at length, hundreds of individuals of all ages about their interactions with smartphones, tablets, social media, avatars and robots. Unlike previous disruptive innovations such as the printing press or television, the latest "always on, always on you" technology, she says, threatens to undermine some basic human strengths that we need to thrive. In the conversation that follows, which has been edited for space, Turkle explains her concerns, as well as her cautious optimism that the youngest among us could actually resolve the challenges.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:
What concerns you most about our constant interaction with our social technologies?
TURKLE: One primary change I see is that people have a tremendous lack of tolerance for being alone. I do some of my fieldwork at stop signs, at checkout lines at supermarkets. Give people even a second, and they're doing something with their phone. Every bit of research says people's capacity to be alone is disappearing. What can happen is that you lose that moment to have a daydream or to cast an eye inward. Instead you look to the outside.

Is that an issue for individuals of all ages?
Yes, but children especially need solitude. Solitude is the precondition for having a conversation with yourself. This capacity to be with yourself and discover yourself is the bedrock of development. But now, from the youngest age-even two, or three, or four-children are given technology that removes solitude by giving them something externally distracting. That makes it harder, ironically, to form true relationships.

Maybe people just don't want to be bored.
People talk about never needing to have a lull. As soon as it occurs, they look at the phone; they get anxious. They haven't learned to have conversations or relationships, which involve lulls.

Are we valuing relationships less, then?
People start to view other people in part as objects. Imagine two people on a date. "Hey, I have an idea. Instead of our just looking at each other face-to-face, why don't we each wear Google Glass, so if things get a little dull, I can just catch up on my e-mail? And you won't know." This disrupts the family, too. When Boring Auntie starts to talk at the family dinner table, her little niece pulls out her phone and goes on Facebook. All of a sudden her world is populated with snowball fights and ballerinas. And dinner is destroyed. Dinner used to be the utopian ideal of the American family having a canonical three-generation gathering.

What about people who take their phones to bed? They're asleep, so why would they feel alone?
I have interviewed enough middle school and high school kids: "So tell me, do you answer your texts in the middle of the night?" "Oh, yeah." I call it "I share, therefore I am," as a style of being.

If you're sharing in the middle of the night and responsive to people in the middle of the night, you're in a different zone. And all these people feel responsible to respond. The expectation is constant access. Everyone is ready to call in the advice and the consent of their peers. I did a case study of a young woman who has 2,000 followers on Instagram. She'll ask about a problem at 9:00 at night, and at 2:00 in the morning she's getting responses, and she's awake to get those responses. This is 2:00 in the morning for a lot of kids.

Where does this lead for someone who lives that way?
If you don't call a halt to it, I think you don't fully develop a sense of an autonomous self. You're not able to be in personal relationships, business relationships, because you don't feel fully competent to handle major things on your own. You run into trouble if you're putting everything up, ultimately, for a vote.

You're crowdsourcing your life.
You're crowdsourcing major decisions. I hope it's likely, however, that a person reaches a point where they're on a job-they're not twentysomething, they're thirtysomething-and this starts to become less comfortable, and they develop emotional skills that they really haven't worked on.

What about our interactions with automated personalities and robots?
When we started looking at this in the 1970s, people took the position that even if simulated thinking might be thinking, simulated feeling was not feeling. Simulated love was never love. But that's gone away. People tell me that if Siri [the iPhone voice] could fool them a little better, they'd be happy to talk to Siri.

Isn't that like the movie Her?
Absolutely. The current position seems to be that if there's a robot that could fool me into thinking that it understands me, I'm good to have it as a companion. This is a significant evolution in what we ask for in our interactions, even on intimate matters. I see it in kids. I see it in grown-ups. The new robots are designed to make you feel as though you're understood. Yet nobody is pretending that any of them understands anything.

What line does that cross-that there's no empathy?
There's no authentic exchange. You're saying empathy is not important to the feeling of being understood. And yet I interviewed a woman who said to me that she's okay with a robot boyfriend. She wants one of these sophisticated Japanese robots. I looked at her and said, "You know that it doesn't understand you." She said, "Look, I just want civility in the house. I just want something that will make me feel not alone."

People are also good with a robot that could stand in as a companion for an older person. But I take a moral position here because older people deserve to tell the story of their life to someone who understands what a life is. They've lost spouses; they've lost children. We're suggesting they tell the story of their life to something that has no idea what a life is or what a loss is.

It's crucial to understand that this changing interaction is not just a story about technology. It's a story about how we are evolving when we're faced with something passive. I hope we're going to look closer at people's willingness to project humanity onto a robot and to accept a facade of empathy as the real thing because I think that such interactions are a dead end. We want more from technology and less from each other? Really?

Do avatars and virtual reality present the same issues?
In these cases, we are moving from life to the mix of your real life and your virtual life. One young man put it very succinctly: "Real life is just one window, and it's not necessarily my best one." People forgot about virtual reality for a while, but the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook raised it again-Mark Zuckerberg's fantasy that you will meet up with your friends in a virtual world where everybody looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, you live in a beautiful home, and you present only what you want to present. We're evolving toward thinking of that as a utopian image.

But skeptics say your avatar is not different from the real you.
Well, we do perform all the time. I'm trying to do my best Sherry Turkle right now. But it's a little different from me hanging out in my pajamas. What's different with an avatar or on Facebook is that you get to edit. A woman posts a photo of herself and then works on the color and background and lighting. Why? Because she wants it a certain way. We've never before been able to have it the way we wanted it. And now we can. People love that.

I asked an 18-year-old man, "What's wrong with conversation?" He said, "It takes place in real time. You can't control what you're going to say." It was profound. That's also why a lot of people like to do their dealings on e-mail-it's not just the time shifting; it's that you basically can get it right.

One reason for the rise of humans is that functioning in groups gives each member a better chance to succeed. Will the move toward living online undermine those benefits?
Oh, this is the question before us. Are we undermining, or are we enhancing our competitive advantage? A lot of my colleagues would say we're enhancing it. The Internet is giving us new ways of getting together, forming alliances. But I think we are at a point of inflection. While we were infatuated with the virtual, we dropped the ball on where we actually live. We need to balance how compelling the virtual is with the realities that we live in our bodies and on this planet. It is so easy for us to look the other way. Are we going to get out there and make our real communities what they should be?

Your critics say there's nothing to worry about because this "new technology" situation is not really new. We went through this with television-you know, TV is there to watch your kids so you don't have to.
First of all, television can be a group exercise. I grew up in a family that sat around a TV and watched it together, fought about what was on the TV together, commented on it together. But when everybody watches their own show in their own room, so to speak, that stops. Technology that is always on and always on you-that is a quantum leap. I agree that there have been quantum leaps before: the book. The difference with "always on," however, is that I really don't have a choice.

You mean, you could turn off the TV and still function.
I cannot live my professional life or my personal life without my phone or my e-mail. My students can't even obtain their syllabus without it. We don't have an opt-out option from a world with this technology. The question is, How are we going to live a more meaningful life with something that is always on and always on you? And wait until it's in your ear, in your jacket, in your glasses.

So how do we resolve that?
It's going to develop as some sort of common practice. I think companies will get involved, realizing that it actually isn't good for people to be constantly connected. Our etiquette will get involved; today if I get a message and don't get back to people in 24 hours, they're worried about me, or they're mad that I haven't replied. Why? I think we will change our expectation of having constant access.

Any suggestions for how we can get started?
One argument I make is that there should be sacred spaces: the family dinner table, the car. Make these the places for conversation because conversation is the antidote to a lot of the issues I'm describing. If you're talking to your kids, if you're talking to your family, if you're talking to a community, these negative effects don't arise as much.

And we should be talking more about the technologies?
My message is not antitechnology. It's pro conversation and pro the human spirit. It's really about calling into questions our dominant culture of more, better, faster. We need to assert what we need for our own thinking, for our own development, and for our relationships with our children, with our communities, with our intimate partners. As for the robots, I'm hoping that people will realize that what we're really disappointed in is ourselves. It's so upsetting to me. We're basically saying that we're not offering one another the conversation and the companionship. That, really, is the justification for talking to a robot that you know doesn't understand a word you're saying. We are letting each other down. It's not about the robots. It's about us.

So who is going to stop this train we are on?
The most optimistic thing I see is the young people who have grown up with this technology but aren't smitten by it, who are willing to say, "Hold on a second." They see the ways in which it's undermined life at school and life with their parents. This is where I'm guardedly hopeful.

I have so many examples of children who will be talking with their parents; something will come up, and the parent will go online to search, and the kid will say, "Daddy, stop Googling. I just want to talk to you." When I go to the city park, I see kids go to the top of the jungle gym and call out, "Mommy, Mommy!" and they're being ignored. They object to being ignored when they're five, eight or nine. But when I interview these kids when they're 13, 14 or 15, they become reflective. They say, "I'm not going to bring up my children the way I'm being brought up." They're going to have rules, like no phones at dinner.

I also see evidence that dealing with some of this technology is feeling to them like work-the whole notion that you have to constantly keep up your Facebook profile. So I think there's every possibility that the children will lead us. They see the costs. They think, "I don't have to give up this technology, but maybe I could be a little smarter about it."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social Technologies Are Making Us Less Social

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chances are that you have a smartphone, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page and that you have found yourself ignoring a friend or family member who is in the same room as you because you are totally engrossed in your social technology. That technology means never having to feel alone or bored.

# data[].attributes.headline
How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers

# data[].attributes.subject
How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers

# data[].attributes.body
CONS

Social media IS making us less social. Social media is creating loneliness and physical consequences. Social media is harming us and we were spending way too much time on it. The average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily.

Elle. Ulsaker

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many parents worry about how exposure to technology might affect toddlers developmentally. We know our preschoolers are picking up new social and cognitive skills at a stunning pace, and we don't want hours spent glued to an iPad to impede that. But adolescence is an equally important period of rapid development, and too few of us are paying attention to how our teenagers' use of technology - much more intense and intimate than a 3-year-old playing with dad's iPhone - is affecting them. In fact, experts worry that the social media and text messages that have become so integral to teenage life are promoting anxiety and lowering self-esteem.

Young people report that there might be good reason to worry. A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24-year-olds in the UK how social media platforms impacted their health and well-being. The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image, and loneliness.

Indirect communication

Teens are masters at keeping themselves occupied in the hours after school until way past bedtime. When they're not doing their homework (and when they are) they're online and on their phones, texting, sharing, trolling, scrolling, you name it. Of course before everyone had an Instagram account teens kept themselves busy, too, but they were more likely to do their chatting on the phone, or in person when hanging out at the mall. It may have looked like a lot of aimless hanging around, but what they were doing was experimenting, trying out skills, and succeeding and failing in tons of tiny real-time interactions that kids today are missing out on. For one thing, modern teens are learning to do most of their communication while looking at a screen, not another person.

"As a species we are very highly attuned to reading social cues," says Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD, a clinical psychologist and author of The Big Disconnect. "There's no question kids are missing out on very critical social skills. In a way, texting and online communicating puts everybody in a context where body language, facial expression, and even the smallest kinds of vocal reactions are rendered invisible."

Lowering the risks

Certainly speaking indirectly creates a barrier to clear communication, but that's not all. Learning how to make friends is a major part of growing up, and friendship requires a certain amount of risk-taking. This is true for making a new friend, but it's also true for maintaining friendships. When there are problems that need to be faced - big ones or small ones - it takes courage to be honest about your feelings and then hear what the other person has to say. Learning to effectively cross these bridges is part of what makes friendship fun and exciting, and also scary. "Part of healthy self-esteem is knowing how to say what you think and feel even when you're in disagreement with other people or it feels emotionally risky," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair.

But when friendship is conducted online and through texts, kids are doing this in a context stripped of many of the most personal - and sometimes intimidating - aspects of communication. It's easier to keep your guard up when you're texting, so less is at stake. You aren't hearing or seeing the effect that your words are having on the other person. Because the conversation isn't happening in real time, each party can take more time to consider a response. No wonder kids say calling someone on the phone is "too intense"- it requires more direct communication, and if you aren't used to that it may well feel scary.

If kids aren't getting enough practice relating to people and getting their needs met in person and in real time, many of them will grow up to be adults who are anxious about our species' primary means of communication - talking. And of course social negotiations only get riskier as people get older and begin navigating romantic relationships and employment.

Cyberbullying and the imposter syndrome

The other big danger that comes from kids communicating more indirectly is that it has gotten easier to be cruel. "Kids text all sorts of things that you would never in a million years contemplate saying to anyone's face," says Donna Wick, EdD, a clinical and developmental psychologist. She notes that this seems to be especially true of girls, who typically don't like to disagree with each other in "real life."

"You hope to teach them that they can disagree without jeopardizing the relationship, but what social media is teaching them to do is disagree in ways that are more extreme and do jeopardize the relationship. It's exactly what you don't want to have happen," she says.

Dr. Steiner-Adair agrees that girls are particularly at risk. "Girls are socialized more to compare themselves to other people, girls in particular, to develop their identities, so it makes them more vulnerable to the downside of all this." She warns that a lack of solid self-esteem is often to blame. "We forget that relational aggression comes from insecurity and feeling awful about yourself, and wanting to put other people down so you feel better."

Peer acceptance is a big thing for adolescents, and many of them care about their image as much as a politician running for office, and to them it can feel as serious. Add to that the fact that kids today are getting actual polling data on how much people like them or their appearance via things like "likes." It's enough to turn anyone's head. Who wouldn't want to make themselves look cooler if they could? So kids can spend hours pruning their online identities, trying to project an idealized image. Teenage girls sort through hundreds of photos, agonizing over which ones to post online. Boys compete for attention by trying to out-gross one other, pushing the envelope as much as they can in the already disinhibited atmosphere online. Kids gang up on each other.

Adolescents have always been doing this, but with the advent of social media they are faced with more opportunities - and more traps - than ever before. When kids scroll through their feeds and see how great everyone seems, it only adds to the pressure. We're used to worrying about the impractical ideals that photoshopped magazine models give to our kids, but what happens with the kid next door is photoshopped, too? Even more confusing, what about when your own profile doesn't really represent the person that you feel like you are on the inside?

"Adolescence and the early twenties in particular are the years in which you are acutely aware of the contrasts between who you appear to be and who you think you are," says Dr. Wick. "It's similar to the 'imposter syndrome' in psychology. As you get older and acquire more mastery, you begin to realize that you actually are good at some things, and then you feel that gap hopefully narrow. But imagine having your deepest darkest fear be that you aren't as good as you look, and then imagine needing to look that good all the time! It's exhausting."

As Dr. Steiner-Adair explains, "Self-esteem comes from consolidating who you are." The more identities you have, and the more time you spend pretending to be someone you aren't, the harder it's going to be to feel good about yourself.

Stalking (and being ignored)

Another big change that has come with new technology and especially smart phones is that we are never really alone. Kids update their status, share what they're watching, listening to, and reading, and have apps that let their friends know their specific location on a map at all times. Even if a person isn't trying to keep his friends updated, he's still never out of reach of a text message. The result is that kids feel hyperconnected with each other. The conversation never needs to stop, and it feels like there's always something new happening.

"Whatever we think of the 'relationships' maintained and in some cases initiated on social media, kids never get a break from them," notes Dr. Wick. "And that, in and of itself, can produce anxiety. Everyone needs a respite from the demands of intimacy and connection; time alone to regroup, replenish and just chill out. When you don't have that, it's easy to become emotionally depleted, fertile ground for anxiety to breed."

It's also surprisingly easy to feel lonely in the middle of all that hyperconnection. For one thing, kids now know with depressing certainty when they're being ignored. We all have phones and we all respond to things pretty quickly, so when you're waiting for a response that doesn't come, the silence can be deafening. The silent treatment might be a strategic insult or just the unfortunate side effect of an online adolescent relationship that starts out intensely but then fades away.

"In the old days when a boy was going to break up with you, he had to have a conversation with you. Or at least he had to call," says Dr. Wick. "These days he might just disappear from your screen, and you never get to have the 'What did I do?' conversation." Kids are often left imagining the worst about themselves.

But even when the conversation doesn't end, being in a constant state of waiting can still provoke anxiety. We can feel ourselves being put on the back burner, we put others back there, and our very human need to communicate is effectively delegated there, too.

What should parents do?

Both experts interviewed for this article agreed that the best thing parents can do to minimize the risks associated with technology is to curtail their own consumption first. It's up to parents to set a good example of what healthy device usage looks like. Most of us check our phones or our email too much, out of either real interest or nervous habit. Kids should be used to seeing our faces, not our heads bent over a screen. Establish technology-free zones in the house and technology-free hours when no one uses the phone, including mom and dad. "Don't walk in the door after work in the middle of a conversation," Dr. Steiner-Adair advises. "Don't walk in the door after work, say 'hi' quickly, and then 'just check your email.' In the morning, get up a half hour earlier than your kids and check your email then. Give them your full attention until they're out the door. And neither of you should be using phones in the car to or from school because that's an important time to talk."

Not only does limiting the amount of time you spend plugged in to computers provide a healthy counterpoint to the tech-obsessed world, it also strengthens the parent-child bond and makes kids feel more secure. Kids need to know that you are available to help them with their problems, talk about their day, or give them a reality check.

"It is the mini-moments of disconnection, when parents are too focused on their own devices and screens, that dilute the parent-child relationship," Dr. Steiner-Adair warns. And when kids start turning to the internet for help or to process whatever happened during the day, you might not like what happens. "Tech can give your children more information that you can, and it doesn't have your values," notes Dr. Steiner-Adair. "It won't be sensitive to your child's personality, and it won't answer his question in a developmentally appropriate way."

In addition Dr. Wick advises delaying the age of first use as much as possible. "I use the same advice here that I use when talking about kids and alcohol - try to get as far as you can without anything at all." If your child is on a social media platform, Dr. Wick says that you should friend them and monitor their page. But she advises against going through text messages unless there is cause for concern. "If you have a reason to be worried then okay, but it better be a good reason. I see parents who are just plain old spying on their kids. Parents should begin by trusting their children. To not even give your kid the benefit of the doubt is incredibly damaging to the relationship. You have to feel like your parents think you're a good kid."

Offline, the gold standard advice for helping kids build healthy self-esteem is to get them involved in something that they're interested in. It could be sports or music or taking apart computers or volunteering - anything that sparks an interest and gives them confidence. When kids learn to feel good about what they can do instead of how they look and what they own, they're happier and better prepared for success in real life. That most of these activities also involve spending time interacting with peers face-to-face is just the icing on the cake.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does social media affect behavior negatively?

How does social media affect social skills?

How does social media affect teenagers' mental health?

Is social media harmful?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers - Child Mind Institute

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How does social media affect teens? Experts say kids are growing up with more anxiety and less self-esteem due to social media. Read advice for parents from specialists in our article.

# data[].attributes.headline
Social media making millennials less social: Study

# data[].attributes.subject
Social media making millennials less social: Study

# data[].attributes.body
MacKenzie

Con

It talks about how millennials are spending a lot of time on their phones

# data[].attributes.body
Paola Chaves (Mott/Dimakos)

CON

This website is saying Is Social Media is making us less social but it also says that it she is guilty about all the electronics like for example, its saying we become "anti social" and it says you can become lonely if we use it to much and it also says if you can lose your ability to detect things

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The more I sit here thinking about this question, the more I want to believe that Social Media is making us more social. And, in all reality, I think it is. But there are some serious red flags that we need to be aware of and some pitfalls we need to avoid falling victim to.

# data[].attributes.body
is social media making us less social

This text talks about the cons and pros of using social media and telling us if it's making us less social.

Riley alvarez

The writer talks about how people think they are hyper social

It also tells us how it contributes to loneliness. It's causing a phenomenon known as social Isolation. It also talks about how it is not making us less social if people use it to communicate by making online groups to chat and talk about sobjects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Social Media is making us less social when used to compare oneself to others, contributing to higher levels of loneliness and lower levels of well-being among frequent users. It can be social when ...

# data[].attributes.body
Noah Agha

Con

This article talks about Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that researchers have linked to social media.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Disrupted sleep, lower life satisfaction and poor self-esteem are just a few of the negative mental health consequences that researchers have linked to social media. Somehow the same platforms that can help people feel more connected and knowledgeable also contribute to loneliness and disinformation. What succeeds and fails, scientists say, is a function of how these platforms are designed. Amanda Baughan, a graduate student specializing in human-computer interaction at the University of Washington, studies how social media triggers what psychologists call dissociation, or a state of reduced self-reflection and narrowed attention. She presented results at the 2022 Association for Computing Machinery Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Baughan spoke with Mind Matters editor Daisy Yuhas to explain how and why apps need to change to give the people who use them greater power.

[ An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
You've shown how changing social media cues and presentations could improve well-being, even when people strongly disagree on issues. Can you give an example?
The design of social media can have a lot of power in how people interact with one another and how they feel about their online experiences. For example, we've found that social media design can actually help people feel more supportive and kind in moments of online conflict, provided there's a little bit of a nudge to behave that way. In one study, we designed an intervention that encouraged people who start talking about something contentious in a comment thread to switch to direct messaging. People really liked it. It helped to resolve their conflict and replicated a solution we use in-person: people having a public argument move to a private space to work things out.
You've also tackled a different problem coming out of social media usage called the 30-Minute Ick Factor. What is that?
We very quickly lose ourselves on social media. When people encounter a platform where they can infinitely scroll for more information, it can trigger a similar neurocognitive reward system as in anticipating a winning lottery ticket or getting food. It's a powerful way that these apps are designed to keep us checking and scrolling.

The 30-Minute Ick Factor is when people mean to check their social media briefly but then find that 30 minutes have passed, and when they realize how much time they have spent, they have this sense of disgust and disappointment in themselves. Research has shown that people are dissatisfied with this habitual social media use. A lot of people frame it as meaningless, unproductive or addictive.
You've argued this experience is less a matter of addiction and more an issue of dissociation. Why?
Dissociation is a psychological process that comes in many forms. In the most common, everyday dissociation, your mind is so absorbed that you are disconnected from your actions. You could be doing the dishes, start daydreaming and not pay attention to how you are doing the dishes. Or you might seek immersive experiences-watching a movie, reading a book or playing a game-that pass the time and cause you to forget where you are.

During these activities, your sense of reflective self-consciousness and the passage of time is reduced. People only realize that they dissociated in hindsight. Attention is restored with the sense of "What just happened?" or "My leg fell asleep while we were watching that movie!"

Dissociation can be a positive thing, especially if it's an absorbing experience, meaningful activity or a needed break. But it can also be harmful in certain cases, as in gambling, or come in conflict with people's time-management goals, as with social media scrolling.
How do you measure people's dissociation on social media?
We worked with 43 participants who used a custom mobile app that we created called Chirp to access their Twitter accounts. The app let people interact with Twitter content while allowing us to ask them questions and test interventions. So when people were using Chirp, after a given number of minutes, we would send them a questionnaire based on a psychological scale for measuring dissociation. We asked how much they agreed with the statement "I am currently using Chirp without really paying attention to what I'm doing" on a scale of 1 to 5. We also did interviews with 11 people to learn more. The results showed dissociation occurred in 42 percent of our participants, and they regularly reported losing track of time or feeling "all-consumed."
You designed four interventions that modified people's Twitter experience on Chirp to reduce dissociation. What worked?
The most successful were custom lists and reading history labels. In custom lists, we forced users to categorize the content they followed, such as "sports" or "news" or "friends." Then, instead of interacting with Twitter's main feed, they engaged only with content on these lists. This approach was coupled with a reading history intervention in which people received a message when they were caught up on the newest tweets. Rather than continuing to scroll, they were alerted to what they had already seen, and so they focused on just the newest content. Those interventions reduced dissociation, and when we did interviews, people said they felt safer checking their social media accounts when these modifications were present.

In another design, people received timed messages letting them know how long they had been on Chirp and suggesting they leave. They also had the option of viewing a usage page that showed them statistics such as how much time they'd spent on Chirp in the past seven days. These two solutions were effective if people opted to use them. Many people ignored them, however. Also, they thought the timed messages were annoying. Those findings are interesting because a lot of the popular time-management tools available to people look like these time-out and usage notifications.
So what could social media companies be doing differently? And is there any incentive for them to change?
Right now there is a lot working against people who use social media. It's impossible to ever fully catch up on a social media feed, especially when you consider the algorithmically inserted content such as Twitter's trending tweets or TikTok's "For You" page. But I think that there is hope that relatively simple tweaks to social media design, such as custom lists, can make a difference. It's important to note that the custom lists significantly reduced dissociation for people-but they did not significantly affect time spent using the app. To me, that points out that reducing people's dissociation may not be as antithetical to social media companies' revenue goals as we might intuitively think.
What's most important for people using social media now to know?
First, don't pile a bunch of shame onto your social media habits. Thousands of people are employed to make you swipe your thumb up on that screen and keep you doing what you're doing. Let's shift the responsibility of designing safe and fulfilling experiences from users to the companies.

Second, get familiar with the well-being tools that are already offered. TikTok has a feature that, every hour, will tell you that you've been scrolling for a while and should consider a break. On Twitter, custom lists are a feature that already exists; it's just not the default option. If more people start using these tools, it could convince these companies to refine them.

Most important, vote for people who are interested in regulating technology because I think that's where we're going to see the biggest changes made.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy-And Simple Ways to Fix It

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Research suggests platform designs make us lose track of time spent on them and can heighten conflicts, and then we feel upset with ourselves

# data[].attributes.headline
Name of Article: Is Social Media Making You Less Social & More Lonely?

# data[].attributes.subject
Name of Article: Is Social Media Making You Less Social & More Lonely?

# data[].attributes.body
Your name

Tell if it's pro, con, or both.

Summary

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Social media has become an integral part of modern life, allowing people to connect with friends and family, share their thoughts and experiences and stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends. While it has undoubtedly brought many benefits, including greater social connectivity, it has also been associated with increased loneliness and feelings of isolation.

According to a recent Harvard study, 36% of all Americans - including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children - feel "serious loneliness." Most of us indeed choose Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Twitter over playing the guitar, going for a walk with a friend or belting out some karaoke tunes.

In this article, we will explore the relationship between social media and loneliness and why it is important to be mindful of the potential risks.

In 2023, the average person spends 2 hours and 31 minutes on social media daily. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow us to maintain contact with people we may not regularly see in our day-to-day lives. We can catch up with old friends, stay in touch with family members who live far away and connect with people who share our interests and hobbies.
Related: Can Social Media Have Negative Effects on the Brain?
However, this virtual connection is not the same as face-to-face interaction, which is essential for building and maintaining close relationships. Even though we may be able to stay in touch with more people through social media, we may feel less connected to them than we would if we saw them in person.

The problem with social media is that it can create an illusion of social connection that is not necessarily accurate. We may have many followers or friends on social media, but how many of those connections are truly meaningful? Many people may feel like they are part of a large community online, but this can mask the fact that they do not have close, personal relationships in their offline lives. Research has shown that people who spend more time on social media tend to have fewer close relationships and lower levels of social support than those who spend less time on these platforms.

64% of Americans say social media has a mostly negative effect on how things are going in the U.S. today. Social media can also lead to feelings of envy and jealousy, which can contribute to loneliness. When we see the carefully curated and edited posts of our friends and acquaintances, it is easy to feel we are missing out on something.

We may feel that everyone else is living a more exciting, fulfilling life than we are, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy and loneliness. Social media can create a sense of social comparison that is difficult to escape, and this can be detrimental to our mental health.

Loneliness is not just a psychological state; it can also have physical consequences. Chronically lonely people may be more susceptible to health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure and weakened immune systems. They may also be at a higher risk for depression and anxiety. Given the potential negative consequences of loneliness, it is important to be mindful of social media's impact on our social connectedness.
Related: 7 Social Media Blunders That Are Burning Your Brand (and How to Avoid Them)
So, what can we do to mitigate the risks of social media-induced loneliness? First and foremost, we need to recognize that social media is not a substitute for real-life social interaction. While it can be useful for staying in touch with people, it should not be our only means of social connection. We need to make an effort to spend time with people in person, whether meeting up for coffee or attending a social event. Even if we cannot see our friends and family members as often as we would like, we can still make an effort to stay connected through phone calls, video chats and other forms of communication.

It is also important to be mindful of social media's impact on our mental health. If we feel jealous or inadequate after scrolling through our social media feeds, we may need to take a break from these platforms.

We can also make an effort to curate our social media feeds to include positive and uplifting content rather than negative and triggering. Research published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology found that limiting people's time on social apps like Facebook and Snapchat to 10 minutes per day significantly reduced feelings of loneliness and depression. According to the researchers, the sweet spot may be about 30 minutes or less per day.

Finally, we need to recognize that loneliness is a common experience and that it is okay to reach out for help. Whether that means talking to a trusted friend or family member, joining a social group or community organization or seeking professional help from a therapist or counselor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Is Social Media Making You Less Social and More Lonely? | Entrepreneur

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In a time where we seem more social every day, it also seems like we are lonely and disconnected.