The Effects of Social Media on the Human Psyche by Keenan Hall A

The Effects of Social Media on The Human Psyche

Keenan Hall

A THESIS

submitted to

Oregon State University

Honors College

in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the

degree of

Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Business Management

(Honors Associate)

August 30, 2019

Commencement June 2020

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF

Keenan P. Hall for the degree of Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Business Management presented on August 30th, 2019. Title: The Effects of Social Media on The Human Psyche

Abstract

approved:______

Gary Micheau

This thesis is a study of the effects of social media and the influence it has over people and their wellbeing. The study within the thesis manipulates the social

media habits of Oregon State students, and looks at the changes in their

wellbeing. Throughout the background research the evidence supports a reasonable conclusion that social media has negative influences on individual wellbeing. The findings of the thesis research are, however, inconclusive, with

data that supports the idea that social media is negative for wellbeing, and

some data that contradict that idea.

Key Words: Social Media, Wellbeing, Instagram, Snapchat

Corresponding e-mail address: [email protected]

©Copyright by Keenan Hall

August 30th, 2019

The Effects of Social Media on The Human Psyche

Keenan Hall

A THESIS

submitted to

Oregon State University

Honors College

in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the

degree of

Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Business Management

(Honors Associate)

Presented on August 30th, 2019

Commencement June 2020

Honors Baccalaureate of Science in Business Management project of Keenan Hall

presented on August 30th, 2019.

APPROVED:

______

Gary Micheau Mentor, representing The College of Business

______

Betsy Rock, Committee Member, representing The College of Business

______

Anthony Klotz , Committee Member, representing The College of Business

______

Toni Doolen, Dean, Oregon State University Honors College

I understand that my project will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State

University, Honors College. My signature below authorizes release of my project to any

reader upon request.

______

Keenan Hall, Author

Table of Contents

Introduction……………………………………………………………………1

Background Research…………………………………………………………2

Definitions……………………………………………………………….3

Addiction………………………………………………………………...3

Wellbeing………………………………………………………………...4

Likes………………………………………………………………..……7

Positives………………………………………………………………….9

Thesis Statement………………………………………………………………11

Study Design…………………………………………………………………...12

Study Results……………………………………………………………….….14

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..18

References……………………………………………………………………...20

Page 1

Introduction:

It has become very clear to me through my own personal experience, that social media has some effects on how I feel about myself and others. Indeed, prior to the start of the Fall 2018 school term, personally, I would spend hours on social media each day. Often the first thing I would do in the morning would be to wake up, go onto my phone and cycle through Snapchat,

Instagram, and Twitter. I would do this until I was fully caught up on everything I missed in my sleep. Once that was completed, I could get out of bed, and start my day. However, throughout the day, almost religiously, I would check my phone and refresh my media platforms. I would do this on my walk to campus, while I was bored in class, during my meals, probably around 8-10 times throughout the day. Once the day was finished, I would lay in bed and do a deeper dive, I would make sure I had not missed anything until I was all caught up before falling asleep. This turned into an everyday routine for me, and I did not think much of it.

I often heard about how social media really was not good for anyone but never paid it much thought or action. One day after returning from a camping trip where I did not use my phone at all for a couple days, I read an article about how social media could negatively affect individuals. I was feeling so refreshed and rejuvenated from a break from the real world, and not having to be tied to my phone, that the article really stuck with me. Maybe it was time I changed some of my routines. I got to thinking about how I have struggled with my own personal demons when it comes to confidence issues in my image and dealing with the social scene of college. It made me think maybe less social media exposure could be a good answer to dealing with these challenges. At the start of the school year Fall 2018, I deleted my Snapchat and my Instagram. I spent months where I did not use them and felt positive effects from not using the platforms.

After doing my thesis research and gaining a better understanding on the effects social media has Page 2 on people and on me, I redownloaded the two apps. Being aware of how the platforms can cause negative effects, I wanted to try and be smarter with my social media habits. Since then, I have been careful about how I use social media, and have created better habits to where I can still use the platforms and decrease the negative effects they can cause.

This personal experience with my social media practices is what has inspired me to write my thesis on the effects of social media on the human psyche. I truly believe that many people would feel better without social media, and while everyone no longer using social media is unrealistic. I do believe changing how we use social media can be a positive practice for users. I would like to test the idea that social media has negative effects on individual wellbeing throughout my thesis. More specifically, I believe that Snapchat and Instagram are the two with the most negative effects on individuals. In addition, I want to note that I think how a person uses social media has a lot to do with the effects it has on them, and that the mental health of the individual outside of social media is also a big factor in how social media will affect them. Background Research

There is an existing stream of research focused on the effects of social media. In order to dive into this literature, it is important to first define what social media is, as well as how to define wellbeing. After defining the terms of the research, the research will be broken into these subtopics. The addictive nature of social media, studies looking at the effects of social media, the role “likes” play in determining wellbeing, and the positives that can come from social media use.

Page 3

Definitions

] According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, social media refers to forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content

(such as videos). Most commonly though, people recognize social media from major companies like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. The definition according to Merriam Webster for wellbeing is the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous. In terms of this study I will define it more holistically. We will consider wellbeing as how individuals feel about themselves, others, and their outlook on the world. For example, if someone is confident in their appearance, feels connected to others, and has a positive and hopeful outlook on life, they would be considered having good wellbeing. Under these two definitions, we will start to look at current and past research on the effects of social media to gain a better understanding on its relationship to individual wellbeing.

Addiction

The first thing that should be addressed is the obsessive nature of social media. No matter whether social media is good or bad, too much of anything is not healthy. This is true for social media, and there have been studies that give plausible conclusions that social media is addictive.

There was a review study done by Nottingham Trent University, which looked over many studies, including one from Dr. Kimberly Young. Young was a psychology professor at the

University of Pittsburgh. According to Young, “From a clinical psychologist’s perspective, it may be plausible to speak specifically of ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’ (or more generally

‘SNS Addiction Disorder’) because addiction criteria, such as neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance, and concealing the addictive Page 4 behavior, appear to be present in some people who use SNSs excessively”[1]. For clarification,

SNSs stands for social networking sites, which includes all social media platforms that will be considered in this study. While the Young study was specifically about Facebook, it still sheds light on the potential possibility of addiction to social media in general. Young, who founded the

Center for Internet Addiction, is also a licensed psychologist, and considered an expert on internet addiction. After researching the effects of social media and devoting her work to finding the correlation between social media and addiction, Young sees it being very plausible that we as individuals can be addicted to social media. As mentioned before, addiction in any form is not healthy.

This possible addiction can be better understood when put into the context of how much time is really being spent on social media throughout the day. According to the GlobalWebIndex, which took the averages from many studies around the world, individuals spend on average about 2 hours and 15 minutes a day on social media [2]. It is clear that social media is a big presence in many people’s lives. While it may not be certain that social media is addictive, it is possible. Regardless, as a society we spend a lot of time on social media. Not only is social media a big part of our lives, it has continued to grow as something that takes up our lives.

According to the same GlobalWebIndex study above, the average time spent on social media has been increasing ever since 2012.

As seen from the past two studies, social media usage has continued to grow in our society, and possibly to an addictive level. It is safe to say it is a big influence in many people’s lives, and it is important to understand what comes from that influence. This would be a good time as the reader to reflect on your social media habits. Regardless of how you feel about social media, are you using it at an addictive level? While we can make a case for social media being Page 5 addictive and it being used in high volume, what are individuals getting out of all this time spent?

Wellbeing

A study titled “Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young

Adults”[3] looked at how individuals felt about living in the moment, and how they felt about their overall life satisfaction while being active users of Facebook. The study took 82 people and had them fill out a questionnaire about wellbeing. Then over a two week period they were texted about five times a day with a link to fill out a small survey asking questions about how they feel in the moment, and how they feel about life. At the end of the two weeks, they filled out another questionnaire. The study found a statistically significant negative correlation between the use of

Facebook, and an individual's moment to moment happiness, as well as their overall life satisfaction. The study also found evidence to indicate that a plausible alternate interpretation of the results was not valid. The idea that Facebook use led to a decline in wellbeing because people are more likely to use Facebook when they feel bad was not supported. The study controlled for the variables of affect (i.e., mood), loneliness, and worry, and found that affect and worry did not predict how much a person used Facebook. But use of Facebook continued to predict decreases in wellbeing. While the other variables did not predict Facebook use, loneliness did. The study notes that further research needs to be done in order to see if the results can generalize over many different populations, and to see if the findings are true for other SNSs.

Another study this time conducted by researchers at the University of Toledo looked at the effects of social media, self-esteem, and self-comparison and why social media has a negative correlation with wellbeing [4]. The study highlights a common phenomenon called the social comparison theory. There is a natural tendency for us to compare ourselves to others while Page 6 we are on social media. When scrolling through the feeds we see what people want us to see. We are constantly taking in everyone’s best and “coolest” moments. It is a lot easier to start thinking you are not doing as well as others when constantly seeing everyone at their best.

This tendency is also discussed in an article in Psychology Today [5]. Social comparison theory was developed by Leon Festinger in 1954. He theorized that people compare themselves to others as a way of figuring out who we are and evaluating ourselves. The article also explains those who are comparison targets are almost always those in our immediate circle. That is, we tend to compare ourselves to our peers, family members, and friends and internalize those differences rather than comparing ourselves to strangers on the street. One can see how social media then cultivates an arena full of comparable targets. Comparing ourselves to others is not always bad—sometimes it can motivate us to get into better shape or work harder. However, the same article also refers to the fact that those who have low self-esteem are more likely to feel the negative effects of comparison and therefore social media can be something that increases a person’s depression and negative wellbeing. This is a point of interest. Is social media only bad for those who have low self-esteem? Are individuals with high self-esteem less affected by the negative possibilities of social media? This thesis and supporting research will attempt to shed light on these questions.

The study done by individuals from the University of Toledo took 145 undergraduates and found that the amount of time spent on Facebook was negatively correlated with self-esteem.

As mentioned before, the authors proposed that this relationship was driven by social comparison. After the first study, the team decided to do another study where they manipulated what 128 undergraduates saw on their social media feeds. As part of the manipulation, they either increased the amount of people the participants would see as someone that was more Page 7 active, successful and happier than them on their timeline (i.e., upward social comparison), or others that they could feel they were more successful than (i.e., downward social comparison).

The results showed that when an individual's feed is filled with more people that they will compare upward to (seeing someone more successful), as to someone they could compare down to, they will have lower self-esteem. The study shows that comparing ourselves to other people is a huge factor in our self-esteem, and social media is a breeding ground for these comparisons.

An important point to bring up here is that many people compare and strive to be like those with thousands of likes and followers on social media. But it we need to remember, when we are making these upward comparisons, we do not see everything behind the post. When we compare ourselves to the Instagram models and social media influencers, we think they have it figured out and have more satisfying lives than we do. However, that really is not the case. As seen in the documentary by Netflix, “The American Meme”, those individuals might have lower wellbeing than any of us. The documentary follows Paris Hilton, Josh Ostrovsky, Brittany

Furlan, and Kirill Bichutsky. These four individuals have thousands and even millions of followers on social media, and have become famous as a result of the tool of social media. They are examples of what many people want to have and be, and therefore they are common targets for many people’s upward comparisons. They get paid to post pictures, they get hundreds of thousands of likes, and they show off all the amazing things they get to do. From the outside looking in, it is the perfect life. The documentary reveals however, that these individuals are some of the people being the most negatively affected by social media. Throughout the documentary all four individuals discuss increased depression, the inability to truly connect with those around them, and the problems of living a life based off of numbers and likes. While this is a small sample of personal narratives, these anecdotes are important and should not be Page 8 discredited. Who and what we value on social media may not be the key to our wellbeing and happiness. Even those on social media that seem to have it best truly struggle with their own wellbeing too.

Likes

More discussion of social media being negative can be found through social media expert

Bailey Parnell, who has also studied the effects of social media on individual wellbeing. Parnell was named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women, she is an award winning digital market, public speaker, and business women. Parnell gave a TEDx talk about the effects of social media, entitled “Is Social Media Hurting Your Mental Health?”[6]. In her talk, Parnell discusses the stresses that result from social media usage. As mentioned before, the idea that we are comparing ourselves to someone else's “highlight reel,” their best moments versus our ordinary moments can have negative effects. In addition, she also talks about the dependency for likes

(i.e., Instagram/Facebook likes, favorites on Twitter) and comments from others on our posts.

She refers to likes and comments as a social currency. Parnell explains that we are setting ourselves up for problems because we are letting others determine our value. Social media users have finite attention and they can “like” things they think deserve that attention and to what they think has value. Parnell says this is great for products and for selling things, but it is a problem with people. On social media the product is ourselves, and when people do not give us likes, they are saying they do not value what we had to share. Almost everyone I know is guilty of chasing likes or approval with social media. Some individuals wait for the “right time” to post, and others will even delete photos that do not get enough likes to save their image. Social media has created an environment where individual self-esteem can be directly related to likes on social media and Page 9 for those who feel like they are not getting enough likes, this leads to serious problems for their wellbeing.

This phenomena surrounding likes goes all the way to a scientific level. New York

University professor Adam Alter wrote a book titled “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive

Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked” [7]. In the book, he discusses the fact that when people like our Instagram posts our bodies releases dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical associated with pleasure in our brain. He illustrates the idea that because we have no idea how many likes a photo will get, we are always watching and waiting to see what will happen. With each new like more dopamine is produced. Most people would agree, it feels really good to get a lot of likes on a photo. Alter says getting likes on Instagram is much like taking a drug in terms of how our brain understands it. This again being another idea that social media can be addictive in nature, and the lack of likes can correlate to lower wellbeing.

This may be a good time to pause. So far, it is clear that social media has become a big part of society, and it is continuing to grow as time goes on. There are also a lot of findings that social media can be negative for individuals, especially those who are already inclined to have low self-esteem and depression. In addition, the individuals who seem to have it best, oftentimes truly do not. I believe there is a strong case for how social media is a negative influence on individual wellbeing. One can research on his or her own, but the truth is, it is difficult to make a compelling case for the positive effects of social media, or find research that indicates that it has a beneficial effect on individuals. Most studies have found some sort of negative relationship between social media usage and individual outcomes. Despite social media usage having a correlation with depression, anxiety, and reduced happiness; social media has continued to grow Page 10 in usage and popularity. Why is there a constant growth? And are there any positives that can come from social media?

Positives

While a majority of research comes to the conclusion that social media has harmful impacts, there is not denying that there are some positives that come from social media. While these positives seem to be outside of the scope of my research on wellbeing, they are still worth mentioning. One of the first positives is the ability to share information in real time. Social media can create a platform where information can be shared quickly and effectively. An example of this happened at Oregon State University. On February 27th, 2018, an individual had been making a lot of posts on Twitter alluding to the fact he was going to shoot up the school. While the individual and the posts he was making were harmful, with the use of social media, members of the OSU community were able to share warnings about this individual’s threats. Because of the spreading of this message, Oregon State was made aware of the situation and officers arrested the individual [6]. Without social media, this individual may not been arrested, and he could have gone undetected until he committed the act. Social media can also be used as a tool to help positive social movements gain momentum. This can be seen in many different places and for many different causes. One example of this was when the NFL started a campaign using social media to help raise funds for veterans in the United States. Every time an individual on

Twitter tweeted using the hashtag #salutetoservice, the NFL donated $5 to nonprofits supporting veterans, including the Wounded Warrior Project. As a result of this campaign, the NFL raised about $5,800,000 dollars [7]. This is just one example of how social media has been used to raise awareness and money for good causes, but there are countless examples of other causes that have been funded and helped through social media. Page 11

The last way one can see positive effects from social media comes from the very nature and purpose of social media, which is to connect us to others. Thanks to social media, people are able to talk to their friends from across the world. We are able to see major life events from some family members that we do not see often. This is definitely a good thing, but this is where the line between positive and negative social media usage can start to blur. While the benefits associated with raising funds for a good cause or sharing important information quickly are clear, our ability to connect to everyone can be a double-edged sword. Social media can be a positive tool to create closer bonds between us and others, but it can also lead to negative effects on wellbeing, as discussed.

Taken together, prior research indicates that there are often negative effects of social media use related to how individuals feel about themselves and their outlook on life while social media is a tool that can bring about positive things, it is clear most of us use it in ways that may also harm our personal wellbeing. Going forward, the goal of my thesis research was to examine whether changing individuals’ social media habits relates to positive changes in their wellbeing.

Thesis Statement

I believe out of all the major social media platforms, Snapchat and Instagram lead to the most negative effects on an individual’s wellbeing. I chose this as my thesis statement and the focus of my research because of the idea that these two SNSs have the most visual content.

When it comes to comparing ourselves to others, visual evidence is often the most compelling and these two platforms are strictly visual content. I also find in my own experience that these two SNSs are used the most to show the things that individuals want others to think is “cool.”

When looking at the other two SNS that will be in the study, I do not find these to be as potentially harmful to individuals’ wellbeing. Twitter is a mix of visual and written content, and Page 12 the main theme on Twitter is that one can make jokes about themselves and not have to care too much about their own image or be forced to see images of other people at their best. This is not the case however for Instagram and Snapchat. On those two SMSs it is a constant feed of an individual’s peers doing the “coolest” things and sharing it with others. Most of the time, people are checking social media when they are home alone and not out doing fun things themselves, which leads to a negative comparison. In addition, Instagram has the “like” feature, which has shown to have an impact on some individuals depending on how many likes they get. So with this personal hunch of mine, I created a study to test my idea that Instagram and Snapchat are more harmful for individuals’ wellbeing than the other two major SMSs, Twitter and Facebook.

Study Design

Study Overview: The goal of the study is to examine the effects of social media on the psyche of college students and see if the decrease in usage has a correlation with how students feel about themselves, others, and the world.

Participants:

Participants will be undergraduates from Oregon State University, all coming from the College of Business. There is no specification on age, race, gender, or major. Anyone who is willing to participate and passes the eligibility screener will be allowed to participate.

Experiment design:

Step 1. I will ask for participants through business classes. I will use a recruitment survey to find eligible participants. I will enroll all students willing to participate who actively use the four social media platforms being studied (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram) and randomly assign them to different experimental groups. The groups will be as follows:

No change in social media behavior (control) Page 13

No social media at all

Snapchat and Instagram only

Twitter only

Facebook and Twitter only

The five groups are designed to test the idea that Instagram and Snapchat being the most visual platforms are the worst for individual wellbeing. No change in social media at all will be the control. No social media at all will test if all social media has negative effects. The Snapchat and

Instagram only group is to measure how these users compare to the rest of the groups and test the hypothesis. The idea that Twitter is the platform with the least visual comparison and therefore the least negative is why there is a Twitter only group. The Facebook and Twitter group is to see if the hypothesized higher scores in the Twitter only group are due to a lack of Snapchat and

Instagram or if Twitter by itself is a less negative platform. For example, if the Twitter only group and the Twitter/Facebook group score similarly, and significantly higher on wellbeing than the Snapchat and Instagram group, one can say the difference is due to the lack of Snapchat and Instagram not because of Twitter. However, if the Twitter only group scores higher than the

Twitter/Facebook group, but both still score higher than the Snapchat and Instagram group, one can say that Twitter is the least negative platform.

Step 2. Once in the groups, participants will track how much time they spend daily on each platform for the next week through a time log. At the beginning of the first week, participants will complete a questionnaire and then respond to the questions to set a baseline for their wellbeing. Participants will repeat the questions at the end of two weeks. Answers will be tracked to assess for changes in their responses and wellbeing. The independent variables will be Page 14 the type of social medias the students will get to use for the period of the study. The dependent variable will be how they fill out the questionnaires and their measure of wellbeing.

Step 3. Once the data has been collected, I will analyze it for differences between the groups to test the hypothesis that the biggest change in wellbeing comes from those who are no longer using Snapchat and Instagram. I will analyze the data by tracking the changes in responses from groups as a whole.

Study Results

The study commenced with an announcement sent out to all students in the pool of candidates. In the announcement, students were provided a link to see if they were eligible to participate in the study (using the four platforms). After a two week waiting period for candidates to respond, there were 72 eligible students. These 72 students were then randomly grouped into the five study groups. The control and the no social media group each had 15 participants, while the other groups had 14 participants each. There was no particular reason behind those two groups getting an extra person, other than random selection. Once grouped, each set of participants got an email letting them know they were going to be a part of the study, as well as the study procedures. All students were given a link to fill out the questionnaire and the time log. Of the 72 students eligible who wanted to participate in the study, only 43 filled out the first survey and began the study. Of the 43 that started the study, only 22 finished it by completing the exit questionnaire. An interesting note is that some students reached out via email and said they opted not to do the study or not complete it after realizing which group they had been placed into. They did not want to give up some of their social media platforms. The Page 15 experimental group assigned no social media use for two weeks only had two individuals complete the study or a 13% retention rate. All other groups had five individuals complete the study at a 36% retention rate or 33% rate for the no change group.

All participants were asked to rate certain statements. Examples; how connected they feel to others, how satisfied are they with their lives, how much do they care about their image/how confident are they in their image, how much they care about social media, what they view on it, and how much sleep were they getting. Also in the survey was a Positive and Negative Affect

Schedule(PANAS), which has been a tool used by therapists to measure changes in positive and negative emotions by their clients. The tool lists terms that a participant rates on a Liker1 scale from 1-5 (1 = Not at all; 5 = Extremely). For example, participants were asked to indicate the extent they had been feeling scared, interested, determined, upset, using the scale 1-5. There were 20 terms in total. Each term is considered positive or negative and then the positive term scores are added up and then the negative term scores are added up. Then once the survey is repeated at a different time, the differences in scores is compared to see if there is any change in the individual between attempts.

The control group, that had no change to their social media behavior saw little change in their wellbeing over the two weeks. However, the only small and noticeable difference was when asked to rank how satisfied they are with their life on a scale of 1-7, the mean dropped from 6 to

5.25 over two weeks. All other questions did not see a change in the two means greater than 1.

Due to the small sample size in all groups, any changes less than 1 point will not be mentioned because any change smaller than that could be considered random.

The experimental group of no social media had some notable changes. After two weeks, the group reported less anxiety by 2 points, a decrease in social media bringing them happiness Page 16 by 1.5 points, and a decrease in how important they think social media is by 1.5 points. They also saw an increase in how strong they felt, and a decrease in how ashamed and guilty they felt throughout the two week study. The group saw an increase of 1 point in how satisfied they were with their lives. It is important to note that this group only had two participants tracked from start to finish. It was one individual reporting major changes in their wellbeing that caused the group mean to change; the other individual stayed the same over the two week period, but had high scores related to positive wellbeing to begin with.

The group of just Snapchat and Instagram saw no major changes and few subtle changes.

The changes that were 1 point or greater were a decrease in how often they think about what they viewed on social media and how important they think social media is both by 1 point. The group that only got to use Facebook and Twitter reported no changes in answers greater than 1 point.

The group that was assigned only Twitter saw no major changes except for feeling less hostile by

1 point.

From the section that does not include the PANAS, there is no evidence to say that

Snapchat and Instagram are worse for wellbeing compared to other social due to no major changes in the groups that used any kind of social media. However, due to the positive changes in scores for the group that used no social media, there is evidence to say social media is bad for wellbeing. The next step is to look into the PANAS scores.

Here are the scores for the PANAS, which were measured by each group’s mean:

Table 1. PANAS All Experimental Groups

Group Positive Positive Positive Negative Negative Negative Affect Affect Affect Affect Affect Affect (Time 1) (Time 2) Difference (Time 1) (Time 2) Difference (T1-T2) (T1-T2)

No Change 37.7 33.6 4.1 22.9 18.95 3.95 Page 17

Group

No Social 36 39.5 -3.5 23 21.5 1.5 Media

Snapchat+ 32.9 38.4 -5.5 33.1 25.35 7.75 Instagram

Twitter+ 33.4 32.8 .6 20.1 20.55 -.45 Facebook

Twitter 34.75 36.8 -2.05 25.05 20.25 4.8

When reading the table, one can see the scores each experimental group had the first time they filled out the survey, the scores from the second time, and the differences between the scores for both positive and negative terms. All scores are the means for the specific group. A negative difference in scores shows an increase in the second attempt. For example, the no social media group had more positive feelings on average, going from 36 to 39.5 with a difference of -

3.5. (36-39.5). A positive number in the differences indicates a decrease in the scores. For example, the no social media group felt less negative going from 37.7 to 33.6, a difference of

+4.1(37.7-33.6). When looking at the groups, the PANAS results contradict the original hypothesis that Snapchat and Instagram are bad for wellbeing. The group saw an increase in positive feelings by 5.5, and a decrease in negative feelings by 7.75, both being the biggest improvements to wellbeing. While that result was surprising, the Twitter only group saw positive changes in wellbeing with an increase in positive feelings by 2.05, and a decrease in negative feelings by 4.8, which supports the idea that Twitter may not be as harmful as a some social media. As mentioned the no social media group also saw positive changes in wellbeing which supports the idea that social media in general may be harmful to wellbeing. Page 18

The last factor to be analyzed is the relationship between what was on participants’ feeds, and the dependent variables. Each participant was asked what dominates their timelines, either people, or accounts. “People” was defined as friends, celebrities, influencers. “Accounts” was defined as parody, sports, news, and brands. Out of 22 of the participants that finished the study, only 4 said their feeds are dominated by accounts as opposed to people. The idea being, individuals with feeds dominated by people would have lower scores of wellbeing compared to those with feeds dominated by accounts due to less visual comparison of peers.

Figure 2. Social Media feeds Accounts Vs. People PANAS

Group First Exit Overall First Exit Overall Survey Survey Change in Survey Survey Change in Total Score Total Score Total Total Score Total Score Total Positive Positive Positive Negative Negative Negative Scores Scores (First-Exit) (First-Exit)

People 34.97 37.56 -2.59 25.4 22.25 3.15

Accounts 33.75 28.75 5 21.41 18.25 3.16

This table reads like the previous table in Figure 1. Where negative scores in the difference show an increase in feeling, and positive scores in the difference show a decrease feelings. The results show that individuals with people dominating their feeds actually saw positive changes in wellbeing, increasing positive feelings, and decreasing negative feelings. While those with accounts dominating their feeds saw a decrease in both positive and negative feelings. These scores are based off of all survey participants and are not by experimental group. Conclusion

The first point that needs to be addressed is that due to the low number of participants who actually completed the study, all findings should be considered but with that qualification. Page 19

Further research needs to be conducted to determine whether the findings reported here would be replicated in larger samples.

When looking at the original hypothesis, the study cannot determine that Snapchat and

Instagram are the worst social media for wellbeing. The data from the PANAS scores actually contradicts this idea. However, when looking at social media as a whole, the study shows support that social media is a negative influence on wellbeing. In addition, no group had a significant change in the amount of time they spent on social media throughout the two weeks, and while time spent on social media seems to relate to wellbeing in outside research, there was no finding of that in this study.

What are the explanations for contradictory findings throughout the study itself, and some findings contradicting outside research? I think the biggest explanation is the lack of participants. Only having two individuals in one group, and only having five for others leaves a lot of room for variability. As seen with the no social media group, one participant’s answers greatly changed the groups answers. Even with only 5 individuals in a group, one dramatic difference can skew the results. As mentioned before, some participants also dropped out of the study once they found out what group they had been place into. It may be that those who liked their assignment stayed in, and those who had unhealthy addictions to social media dropped out.

Therefore, the final sample may not be representative of a true random sample of college students.

My recommendations going forward would be to rerun this study but only if there is a statistically appropriate pool of participants completing the study. The study would need 100 participants who actually complete it to be able to confidently say the findings are significant. Page 20

Further, additional time for the study (four weeks instead of two) to allow greater time to reflect changes.

. Regardless, if an individual spends time doing outside research on their own, they will be confronted with an overload of data to confirm the hypothesis that social media in most cases is a negative influence on individual wellbeing. I would encourage anyone reading this to reflect on their own habits, and to experiment with their social media usage in order to find the interaction that is least detrimental to their wellbeing.

References

1. Young, K. Facebook Addiction Disorder? The Center for Online Addiction: Bradford, PA,

USA, 2009. Available online: http://www.netaddiction.com/index.php?option=com_blog&view=comments&pid=5&Itemid=0 accessed on 29 November 2010.

2. Young, Katie. “Social Media Captures Over 30% of Online Time.” GlobalWebIndex Blog, 1

Mar. 2018, blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/social-media-captures-30-of-online-time/.

3. Kross E, Verduyn P, Demiralp E, Park J, Lee DS, Lin N, et al. (2013) Facebook Use Predicts

Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. PLoS ONE 8(8): e69841. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069841

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4. Vogel, Erin & Rose, Jason & Roberts, Lindsay & Eckles, Katheryn. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. 3. 206-222.

10.1037/ppm0000047.

5. Webber, Rebecca. “The Comparison Trap.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201711/the-comparison-trap.

6. Talks, TEDx, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 22 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czg_9C7gw0o.

7. Alter, Adam L. Irresistible: the Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us

Hooked. Penguin Books, 2018.

8. Bailey, Everton. “Former Oregon State University Student Arrested, Accused of Threatening

Campus Shooting.” OregonLive.com, OregonLive.com, 27 Feb. 2018, www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2018/02/police_arrest_person_suspected.html.

9.“Salute to Service Award.” NFL.com History, National Football League, 2018, www.nfl.com/salute?campaign=tw-nf-sf201325122- sf201325122&sf201325122=1&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral.

Appendix

Figure 1. PANAS All Experimental Groups

No Change 37.7 33.6 4.1 22.9 18.95 3.95 Group Page 22

No Social 36 39.5 -3.5 23 21.5 1.5 Media

Snapchat+ 32.9 38.4 -5.5 33.1 25.35 7.75 Instagram

Twitter+ 33.4 32.8 .6 20.1 20.55 -.45 Facebook

Twitter 34.75 36.8 -2.05 25.05 20.25 4.8

Figure 2. Social Media feeds Accounts Vs. People PANAS

People 34.97 37.56 -2.59 25.4 22.25 3.15

Accounts 33.75 28.75 5 21.41 18.25 3.16

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