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Feb. 11, 2022 Campus Voices | News | Collegiate Health | Entertainment | Español | Stang Stories
SOCIAL MEDIA AND reported. In 2018, a University of Pennsylvania study found that unlimited social media use can lead to negative mental health outcomes. It suggested that limiting the use of social networking platforms can mitigate the psychological harms they can cause. Two groups of people were studied, one that used social media as normal, and one that limited their use to 10 minutes each day on each separate platform. “Experimentally limiting social media usage on a mobile phone to 10 minutes per platform per day for a full three weeks had a significant impact on well-being. Both loneliness and depressive symptoms declined in the experimental group,” the study stated. Although many negative effects of social networking have been recently documented, some professors on campus view it as a mixed bag of risks and benefits. David Carlston, chair of the psychology department on campus, discussed both sides of social media use. “On the positive side, social media can PHOTO BY COLIN STEVENSON | THE WICHITAN provide a place of belonging and connection Assistant sociology professor Isaac Christiansen said “[Social media] are for-profit companies that for individuals. Social connection and group benefit the more people spend time on their phone, the more money they make, the better they are membership are often strongly associated with self-esteem. As we are accepted and to sell your posts and you to advertisers,” Feb. 10. valued by members of our social circle, our worldview is confirmed and, more importantSAMUEL KOONE However, while Barnes stated that social ly, we are able to accept and value ourselves… MANAGING EDITOR media is a positive force in her life, she under- On the other hand, excessive or problematic ocial media is present seemingly every- stands how it could be harmful to some. She social media use can be associated with a vawhere and Midwestern State is no excep- expressed that online presences can create un- riety of mental health difficulties, including tion. Student organizations post updates realistic expectations that are difficult to live low self-esteem. Social media use increases on Instagram, MSU posts campus updates up to. out awareness of what others are doing that we on Facebook and Twitter and future gradu“People like to compare themselves to mod- might not otherwise have known about. As a ates search for jobs on LinkedIn. Social me- els on Instagram and that blows their self-es- result, I may now feel excluded or left out…The dia use is almost inseparable from a college teem. People like to act like they have this or content that appears on social media is seleclifestyle. Online platforms help students keep that because this person has this or they want tive, often edited, and, often, doesn’t reflect the up with campus events, stay in contact with to have it… copycatters, you know,” Barnes whole picture. Consuming high levels of social their friends and stay informed about cur- said. media changes our perception of normality rent events. However, social media use has a In September of 2021, the Wall Street Journal and establishes a nearly impossible standard more sinister side that users are only recently made waves by reporting on Facebook compa- to measure up to,” said Carlston. becoming acquainted with. Negative mental ny research that demonstrated that their subIsaac Christiansen, assistant professor of health effects of many platforms are becoming sidiary platform, Instagram, was causing men- sociology, said that some of the harms social more substantially documented and evaluated tal health issues for teen girls. This research media causes can be traced back to one of its by the public eye. Is social networking worth was displayed on easy-to-digest infographics primary purposes; to create profit. He stated its potential pitfalls? Tori Barnes, social work that displayed statistics regarding a myriad that this can lead to social media having some freshman, emphasized some of the positive as- of sensitive issues and their correlations with addictive properties. pects of social media. Instagram usage, including self-harm, suicidal “I think that’s very true. I think it’s extraor“I use Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Tik- ideation and body image. dinarily dangerous. I was just watching with tok… all the time. [My favorite] would have “The tendency to share only the best mo- my own family. I’ve watched it with many difto be Facebook because I get to scroll, I get to ments, a pressure to look perfect and an addic- ferent people. It’s visible, people don’t interact laugh, I get to react… you get to do a lot of stuff tive product can send teens spiraling toward with each other, they’re stuck on their phones... you don’t get to do on Snapchat, Instagram, eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their It’s deliberate. I mean, these are for-profit comwhen you’re on Facebook… social media af- own bodies and depression, March 2020 inter- panies that benefit the more people spend time fects my mood in a good way because it’s fun- nal research states. It warns that the Explore on their phone, the more money they make, ny. Some stuff is really funny and if I’m mad, I page, which serves users photos and videos the better they are to sell your posts and you go to social media and start laughing,” Barnes curated by an algorithm, can send users deep to advertisers. With that dynamic, it just led said. into content that can be harmful,” the Journal to a pernicious political economy…Human be-
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A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study suggeste cause, Feb. 10.
