How does social media influence us?

The advent of social media has given us never before seen opportunities for communication. We were able to reconnect with old friends, classmates and relatives who had gone abroad. We began to learn the news faster, expanded our horizons. Now we can meet and communicate with people from other countries, we can exchange our thoughts, ideas, creativity with a huge number of people, receive their recognition and support.

All the more unexpected was the discovery that social networks can bring not only joy, but also disappointment, irritation, depression, and depression. Why has our relationship with social media become so conflicted that we sometimes want to retire, hit the logout button, and never go back in? Or just take some time off?

We rely too much on other people’s opinions

Passion for social networks weakens the ability to critical thinking. This conclusion is contained in a joint study of social psychologists from France, Great Britain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The authors emphasize that the more we rely on the opinion of our “friends” and the more often we view and distribute their records, the less we are ready to question what is written in them.¹.

And the less likely it is that in the future we will build our point of view on events without regard to the environment.

We envy others

We come to social networks primarily for the joy of communication. But we risk not getting it. After all, only communication of equal people can be truly alive and interesting. But when we see that users around us are actively posting new photos, talking about their successes, travels, new acquaintances, we get the impression that they live a more eventful life. Scientists are already talking about the “spiral of envy”: users who feel inferior, try to embellish their profiles and thereby cause the envy of others².

This explains, for example, the dislike of many users for “overshares” (from over – “too” and share – “share”) – those who post a lot of personal information on their page. Indeed, because of this, the illusion arises that the life of these people is more intense than our own.

We stop being in control

Psychologists from the University of Georgia have found that social networking creates a feeling of satisfaction, but only when our virtual environment is dominated by those people with whom we have already developed good trusting relationships.³. Social psychologist Susan Newman explains that status updates and “likes” give us the feeling that the people we care about are always “connected,” that they will support us. However, there is a downside: getting used to the support of friends, we lose control of ourselves and become vulnerable. Criticism and disagreement in this case can hurt us more.

We rediscover each other

In social networks, we are much more willing to share our experiences, thoughts and experiences. And sometimes it turns out that our behavior on the Web contrasts sharply with the image that we create in everyday communication. This is most noticeable when it comes to men. It turns out that men are more likely than women to publish their creative ideas, projects and works on the Web.

“When men write messages or posts, they feel much more comfortable than when they communicate with the interlocutor face to face,” says psychologist Seth Meyers. – The habit of communicating remotely, using electronic means, gives men the illusion of security. They can control the process of communication, manage it. This allows them to be more open in a situation of virtual communication.”⁴. As a result, a misunderstanding may arise in a couple, which eventually develops into reproaches: “Are you hiding something from me? You prefer to discuss things that are important to you with anyone, but not with me.

Today, researchers do not have an unequivocal answer to the question of whether social networks are an unambiguously positive phenomenon or, conversely, they are rather harmful. Yes, and it is unlikely to be found. After all, contradictions are also inherent in our communication in real life. In this sense, social networks are only a reflection of our fears, desires and needs.

“The number of likes is what gives us a sense of social recognition,” says Pamela Rutage, a media psychologist. “It happens because of the psychological strokes we get from others. A pedestrian nods at you when you let him pass at the crossing, someone likes your post – these are all things of the same order.

Social psychologist Susan Newman adds: “We are just beginning to understand how likes and tweets affect our psyches. Everything new and unexplored causes rejection precisely for this reason – because the rules and traditions have not yet been worked out, there are no clear boundaries between “possible” and “impossible”. And they can only be determined empirically.

¹ Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2013, vol. 11.

² 11th International Conference on Information Systems, 2013.

³ Journal of Consumer Research, 2013, vol. 40.

⁴ According to a Pew Research Center study published February 11, 2014 on pewresearch.org