Social Media + Interaction

Photo by William Hook, via Unsplash

The increasing presence of technology in everyday life has made it an essential part of how people interact with each other. Social media in particular has changed the dynamic of how people connect. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and countless more can unite people from across the globe, but at the same time isolate people sitting in the same room.

This section will explore the evolution of social media use, examine teenager's opinions of social media, and show the ways in which frequent technology use impacts people's relationships.

Since the early 2000's,social media use has taken off rapidly.

Younger users were the quickest to embrace it, and have consistently remained the biggest users. Older age corresponds with slower adoption and less use of social media, though the overall usage trend for all age groups is increasing over time.

The convenience of interacting with technology rather than the real world has led to a neglect of face-to-face contact and authentic experiences. Researchers have found that:

"people communicate more often with family and friends because of technology, but the quality of that communication may be weaker."

— Chandra Johnson, Deseret News (1)

Quick, impersonal contact is beginning to replace less-convenient — but more human — interactions.

"Families text rather than have conversations. We're living in a culture of sound bites, and that is not developing our verbal skills or our emotional intelligence."

— Dr. Kate Roberts, a school psychologist (1)

A 2014 study found...

- People who had a 10-minute conversation without their cell phones developed significantly higher levels of empathy with their partner (2).

- If either participant had a smartphone on the table between them or in his/her hand, the quality of the conversation was consistently rated lower (2).

As we saw in the first chart, younger generations, being more immersed in technology, are most strongly impacted by this shift in communication. The next chart examines teenagers' opinions about the impact of social media.

45%

consider social media to be mostly neutral

24%

feel it is mostly negative

31%

feel it is mostly positive

Now let's take a closer look at what led respondents to feel positive or negative about social media.

!

Out of the seven recurring reasons for social media being a positive influence, three related to connectivity and socializing.

!

The second-most-listed reason that teens consider social media to be negative is a perception that it harms in-person contact and relationships.

It is interesting to note that some of the responses in each group directly opposes responses in the other group. For example, teens cited their number one reason for considering social media positive to be that it promotes connectivity and relationships, whereas the respondents who felt that social media had a negative influence cited "lack of in-person contact/harms relationships" as the second-biggest problem.

This disparity could be due to people using social media differently, as well as simply having different opinions on healthy human contact. Differing opinions is one factor that made this analysis challenging, but interesting.

Levels of interaction with technology and social media differ between age groups
Younger age groups use social media more often than older age groups
While technology can be a great tool for connectivity, studies have shown that it interferes with the quality of face-to-face interactions
45% of surveyed teens reported that social media is not significantly positive or negative
Of the remaining group, most (31%) felt that social media was positive, while fewer (24%) found it to be a negative influence
The most frequent response (40%) as to why social media is positive, was that it promotes connectivity between friends and family
However, 17% of respondents who find social media to be a negative influence said that it prevents in-person contact and harms relationships
The most frequent response as to why social media is negative, was that it facilitates the spread of rumors and bullying

Takeaways

In conclusion...

We cannot say with certainty at this point that technology has a more negative or positive effect, but it has been shown that technology has the potential to interfere with the quality of in-person interactions.

While technology certainly has its benefits — like making connections, helping people share and simply being fun — it's also important to balance out the virtual world with face-to-face conversations and real experiences!

Social Media + Interaction

Photo by William Hook, via Unsplash

This section will explore the evolution of social media use, examine teenager's opinions of social media, and show the ways in which frequent technology use impacts people's relationships.

Since the early 2000's,social media use has taken off rapidly.

Younger users were the quickest to embrace it, and have consistently remained the biggest users. Older age corresponds with slower adoption and less use of social media, though the overall usage trend for all age groups is increasing over time.

The convenience of interacting with technology rather than the real world has led to a neglect of face-to-face contact and authentic experiences. Researchers have found that:

"people communicate more often with family and friends because of technology, but the quality of that communication may be weaker."

— Chandra Johnson, Deseret News (1)

Quick, impersonal contact is beginning to replace less-convenient — but more human — interactions.

​

"Families text rather than have conversations. We're living in a culture of sound bites, and that is not developing our verbal skills or our emotional intelligence."

— Dr. Kate Roberts, a school psychologist (1)

​

A 2014 study found...

- People who had a 10-minute conversation without their cell phones developed significantly higher levels of empathy with their partner (2).

- If either participant had a smartphone on the table between them or in his/her hand, the quality of the conversation was consistently rated lower (2).

As we saw in the first chart, younger generations, being more immersed in technology, are most strongly impacted by this shift in communication. The next chart examines teenagers' opinions about the impact of social media.

45%

consider social media to be mostly neutral

24%

feel it is mostly negative

31%

feel it is mostly positive

Now let's take a closer look at what led respondents to feel positive or negative about social media.

!

Out of the seven recurring reasons for social media being a positive influence, three related to connectivity and socializing.

!

The second-most-listed reason that teens consider social media to be negative is a perception that it harms in-person contact and relationships.

​

This disparity could be due to people using social media differently, as well as simply having different opinions on healthy human contact. Differing opinions is one factor that made this analysis challenging, but interesting.

​

Levels of interaction with technology and social media differ between age groups

Younger age groups use social media more often than older age groups

While technology can be a great tool for connectivity, studies have shown that it interferes with the quality of face-to-face interactions

45% of surveyed teens reported that social media is not significantly positive or negative

Of the remaining group, most (31%) felt that social media was positive, while fewer (24%) found it to be a negative influence

The most frequent response (40%) as to why social media is positive, was that it promotes connectivity between friends and family

However, 17% of respondents who find social media to be a negative influence said that it prevents in-person contact and harms relationships

The most frequent response as to why social media is negative, was that it facilitates the spread of rumors and bullying

Takeaways

In conclusion...

We cannot say with certainty at this point that technology has a more negative or positive effect, but it has been shown that technology has the potential to interfere with the quality of in-person interactions.

​

While technology certainly has its benefits — like making connections, helping people share and simply being fun — it's also important to balance out the virtual world with face-to-face conversations and real experiences!

​

​