I have been invited to speak to parents more and more lately and the one thing that seems to come up by several parents before, during, and after the session, FEAR. In fact, what I now include in my sessions is a breathing exercise. No joke. When parents take time out of their very busy schedules, when they have a million other things to do, it’s often because they are worried for the well being of their children. When I speak to educators, there is a similar fear: today’s kids are at risk because of social media.
In Social LEADia, I speak of fear of social media which infiltrates our classrooms and try to present examples of positives and I share much of the research I had done at the time. And while I admit we’ve still got lots and lots of issues to sift through when it comes to our use of social media, there are a few recent research studies which counteract the fear which typically dominate the headlines.
First, Janette Hughes shared a link to an experimental study out of the University of Kansas in which Jeffrey Hall and colleagues assigned participants to one of five groups: one was told to simply continue using social media as normal (specifically Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram), while the others were told to abstain from all four platforms for periods of 7, 14, 21 or 28 days. These are the points that stood out for me:
Many past psychological studies into social media have relied on correlational data, looking at how individual differences in social media use (or “screen time” more generally) relate to well-being. That makes sense: it’s far easier to look at existing patterns of use than to conduct a controlled experiment, particularly in a world where we are all using digital media every day. But it also makes it hard to separate out cause-and-effect — even if social media use is associated with poorer well-being, how can we be sure that already unhappy people are not simply using social media more often, for instance?
But the team found that there were no significant effects, regardless of how many weeks participants were off social media. “[D]ays when participants were free to use four types of social media and days when they abstained from using social media were indistinguishable in terms of end of day loneliness, affective well-being, and quality of day,” they conclude.
I was also tagged in a post by Karen Compton, based on new research from Scientific America. with a headline that echoes what many educators including myself have been saying for years:
Social Media Has Not Destroyed a Generation: New findings suggest angst over the technology is misplaced
The study is one out of the University of Oxford which states in the abstract:
Currently, society is concerned about teenage digital technology and social media use, which is feared to negatively impact well-being. While there has been a flurry of research in the area, remarkably little consensus has been reached. I argue in this thesis that such a lack of consensus stems from a lack of methodological rigour. Using innovations put forth by psychology’s recent credibility revolution, I devise an improved methodological framework for the study of emergent technologies. I then apply it to investigate digital technology and social media use’s association with decreased adolescent well-being, using large-scale secondary datasets from the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States.
The research found that “previous systematic reviews overestimated the negative link between digital technology use and well-being.”
In my own Masters Research paper, I was able to see first hand the positive impact adult mentoring had on students using social media to connect and learn.
Here are some of the other papers which have shown that social media can have a positive impact:
- A literature review by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety highlights evidence that young people recognize the positive role of the internet in relation to self-expression, developing understanding, bringing people together and respecting and celebrating differences.
- Research by UNICEF (2017) shows that use of technology is beneficial for children’s social relationships, enabling them to enhance existing relationships and build positive friendships online.
- A report by The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH, 2017) found that young people reading blogs or watching vlogs on personal health issues helped improve their knowledge and understanding, prompted individuals to access health services, and enabled them to better explain their own health issues or make better choices, and that young people are increasingly turning to social media as a means of emotional support to prevent and address mental health issues.
- Research by Ofcom showed that nine in ten social media users aged 12-15 state that using social media has made them feel happy or helped them feel closer to their friends. Two thirds of 12-15 year olds who use social media or messaging sites say they send support messages, comments or posts to friends if they are having a difficult time. One in eight support causes or organisations by sharing or commenting on posts.
- In a similar study in the US, Common Sense Media found that “Across every measure in our survey, teens are more likely to say that social media has a positive rather than a negative effect on how they feel” (2018, p. 3).
- In a 2019 UK Safer Internet Centre survey, 27 70% of young people surveyed said that being online helps them understand what’s happening in the world, with 60% noting they have only seen or heard about certain issues or news because they heard about them from the internet. 43% said they have been inspired to take action because of something they saw online, with 48% stating being online makes them feel that their voice or actions matter.
Maybe you are looking around you at people who really are struggling or you have seen negative stuff happen and are thinking, who cares about these studies. And maybe you are yelling at your screen because indeed it is way better for us to get in touch with nature, increase our physical activity and interact with people in person. And of course you are right.
I guess my point is, if we spend time and energy blaming social media for all the wrongs of our society, we are missing out on opportunities to support our kids and each other, which at the end of the day is what’s most important.
References:
North, Mitch, et al. “Abstaining From Social Media Doesn’t Improve Well-Being, Experimental Study Finds.” Research Digest, 28 Nov. 2019, digest.bps
Orben, A. (2019). Teens, screens and well-being: an improved approach (PhD thesis). University of Oxford.
RSPH (2017). Status of mind: Social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Available at: https://www. rsph.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/62be270a-a55f-4719-ad668c2ec7a74c2a.pdf
UNICEF (2017). How does the time children spend using digital technology impact their mental well-being, social relationships and physical activity? Available at: https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/Children-digitaltechnology-wellbeing.pdf
