In the 80s, if you wanted to see your neighbours shiny new BMW, you had to pretend you were trimming the lavender hedge. Now evidence of his latest acquisition is for all to see on his Facebook wall.
You watched in envy as the youngest Petersen from across the road, carried beach umbrellas and beach bats to their car in preparation for their Natal South Coast holiday.
We still envy others. The scope is just considerable larger thanks to social media like Facebook. Sure, thirty years ago you knew what your neighbours were up to. But now you also know about your long lost cousin in Australia’s diving expedition on the Great Barrier Reef or your school friend’s apparently successful business – the same friend you haven’t seen in 20 years.
In 2013 Ethan Kross, a psychologist from the University of Michigan did research on a group of students and came to the conclusion that using Facebook made them alone and sad. Kross and his colleagues studied their subjects over two weeks and frequently asked them questions to establish their mental state. (Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults: Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, Park J, Lee DS, Lin N, et.al (2013))
Does this mean social media is inherently bad for us? Not entirely, but we need to be attentive as to how we use it and its effect on our lives.
As early as 1998 Robert Kraut, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University found that subjects became progressively more depressed and isolated when they spent more time on the internet. The cause for our addiction to social media lies in our innate social make-up. We want to make connections with other people, but inevitably we also end up compare our lives to theirs.
Sharing information activates the part of our brain associated with reward processing. Sharing with others is a normal, acceptable, social action, passively being exposed to a large amount of information about those we are connected to on social media, and would normally not even be aware of, is not. What we don’t realise is that this information has been carefully selected and posted to present the best possible image. It’s not a realistic representation of someone’s life.
According to Mai-Ly Steers’ article “Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms”, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, social comparison is nothing new. Social media’s arrival just intensified the phenomenon.
“It doesn’t mean Facebook causes depression, but that depressed feelings and lots of time on Facebook and comparing oneself to others tend to go hand in hand”, says Steers.
[SOURCES: www.livescience.com; www.sciencedaily.com; www.newyorker.com; http://blogs.plogs.org]
As jy in die 80s jou buurman se blink-nuwe BMW wou sien, moes jy maak asof jy die laventel-heining snoei. Deesdae is sy Facebook-muur besaai met fotos van sy kopie.
Jy’t mismoedig geraak toe jy gesien het die jongste Petersentjie oorkant die pad dra alweer strandsambrele en -rakette aan kar toe vir hul Natalse Suidkus-vakansie.
Ons beny nogsteeds ander. Die omvang is net groter as gevolg van sosiale media platforms soos Facebook. Hoewel jy dertig jaar gelede van jou bure se doen en late geweet het, weet jy nou ook van jou langverlore neef in Australië se vakansie by die Great Barrier Reef of die skoolmaat – wat jy 20 jaar gelede gesien het – se oënskynlik suksesvolle besigheid.
In 2013 het Ethan Kross, ʼn sielkundige van die Universiteit van Michigan, na aanleiding van sy navorsing, bevind dat Facebook `n groep studente wel hartseer en alleen laat voel het. Oor ʼn tydperk van twee weke het Kross en sy kollegas ʼn groep studente bestudeer, vrae gevra en tot hierdie gevolgtrekking gekom. (Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults: Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, Park J, Lee DS, Lin N, et.al (2013))
Beteken dit dat sosiale media inherent sleg is vir ons? Nie heeltemal nie, maar ons moet let op hoe ons dit gebruik en watter invloed dit op ons lewens het.
Reeds in 1998 het Robert Kraut, ʼn navorser by die Carnegie Mellon Universiteit, bevind dat mense meer alleen en depressief raak hoe meer tyd hulle op die internet spandeer. Die rede hiervoor lê in die mens se ingebore sosiale aard. Ons wil konneksies maak met ander, maar daarmee saam is dit onvermydelik dat ons onsself vergelyk met ander.
Hoewel die deel van inligting met ander mense die area van ons brein aktiveer wat gepaard gaan met belonings en bevrediging, word ons ook blootgestel aan ʼn magdom inligting oor die mense aan wie ons verbind is op sosiale media: inligting waarvan ons andersins nie van bewus sou wees nie. Ons besef nie dat hierdie inligting baie fyn uitgesoek en selektief geplaas word om net die beste beeld voor te hou nie. Dis nie realisties nie.
Volgens Mai-Ly Steers se artikel, “Seeing Everyone Else’s Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms”, gepubliseer in die Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology is die konsep van vergelyking op sosiale vlak niks nuuts nie. Die koms van sosiale media sfeer vergroot egter die speelveld.
“It doesn’t mean Facebook causes depression, but that depressed feelings and lots of time on Facebook and comparing oneself to others tend to go hand in hand”, sê Steers.
[BRONNE: www.livescience.com; www.sciencedaily.com; www.newyorker.com; http://blogs.plogs.org]
