Study Explores bond Between Isolated Behavior & Social Media

Social media has been so interwoven all through our lives that it has become next nature. It has given us a way of distribution all that we are doing. We waste so much time doing that that we sometimes don’t understand that we are not actually doing anything. It is the paradox that anyone with access to a device and an internet link feels deeply.

While it can be true that social networking is helpful to some degree and there are countless case studies about social media and the impact it has on businesses, social media might not really be that social. The American Journal of Preventative Medicine has affirmed this fact in a research study that focused on a group with an age range of 19 to 32.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh gathered 1,787 participants and asked each about how they feel about their place in society and about their social media habits. The responses were self-reported, limited by factors such as memory, biases and couldn’t be pegged to any one age group. The findings however, seemed to point towards the conclusion that participants with a higher usage of social networks tend to think of themselves as socially isolated in the “real world”. This included people that used the most common platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other sites like Reddit.

Questions:

So, what does all of this data mean? How do we use it to help solve a problem? What causes what? Are lonely people lonesome on social media too? Do otherwise socially healthy people become introverted on social media? There really are no clear answers to these questions yet and it opens up the floodgates to even more specific questions. Some are analyzing the data in an attempt to answer this question by examining the kind of social media that people engage in, as well as their role on platforms. Do people actively engage with others, post updates and talk with friends? Do they scroll passively and sit back and observe others?

This is certainly an interesting exploration into the behaviors we engage in both on and off social media. As more studies and results come forth. We will have a better grasp on the impact social media has in our daily lives.