Blog #2: How Social Networking Has Impacted People

Social networking is a popular type of communication technology that connects people from long distances and brings them closer. Popular social networking sites include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. According to the class lecture about modern social networking, most social networking sites use microblogging and use images or video to convey a message. Most people use these sites to talk to family, friends, or share their art and thoughts. Online social network sites come with plenty of benefits and drawbacks. Some benefits that I can name are an increased self-esteem. When someone posts a selfie on social media, they wait for the likes and validation. When they receive the validation, they feel satisfied and feel good about themselves. Krause (2021) studied that the concept of self-esteem is important to our well-being. A high self-esteem has shown to have various benefits such as helping the person cope with setbacks and feeling better about their mental health. Low self-esteem has many risks for mental health. While there are many benefits for social networking, there are a couple of drawbacks. An excessive usage of social networking sites can cause a development of social media addiction. When the brain is used to being rewarded by validation, this can lead to an increase in dopamine secretion while using social networking sites. Krause’s (2021) study concluded that social networking site usage for social comparison are mainly related to negative effects on a user’s self-esteem. The usage of social networking sites depends on the individual, but negative effects are seen to be the most important. Cyberbullying and hateful feedback on sites can also contribute to low self-esteem, but the scholarly article suggests that it is rare. 

Social networking has both positive and negative impacts on people. It is mostly used for staying connected and meeting new people on the Internet. However, people who use it to compare their lives to others’ have the most risk of developing low self-esteem or a social media addiction. Moderation is always best in practice to prevent this. Putting your phone away and living in the real world instead of the digital world is helpful too. 

Krause, H.-V., Baum, K., Baumann, A., & Krasnova, H. (2021). Unifying the detrimental and beneficial effects of social network site use on self-esteem: a systematic literature review. Media Psychology, 24(1), 10–47. https://doi-org.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/10.1080/15213269.2019.1656646