The Nature of Social Networking: Is it Hindering or Helping Society?

By Nikki Novick

Anywhere you look around on Duquesne University’s campus --in the cafeteria, the library, and even in classrooms – students are lost inside the virtual worlds that they hold in their hands, disconnected from everything that is happening around them.

Image courtesy of apolitical.co

Devices may bring people closer to others geographically far away, but they separate people from those who are geographically nearby. The past decade has seen an explosion of studies examining the impact that social media use has on young adults and whether it is hindering their ability to have real connections and meaningful interactions with each other.

As young adults spend more time on social media platforms, they spend less time socially interacting with others in real life. The decrease of in-person social interaction, as a result, takes away from the necessary time needed to build and develop the social skills needed to interact with others face-to-face. This is causing social displacement and therefore division amongst society.

As of recent years, people have been increasingly spending more time connecting with others on devices rather than connecting with others in-person, and students may be suffering because of it. Dr. James Vota, Professor and Chairperson of the Media Department at Duquesne University, expresses concern for the future generation’s ability to maintain civil discourse as a society. As he works with students, he sees at first-hand what researchers are concluding through the changes seen through social interactions in his students.

“When we're going to make a plan or a policy or an energy policy that works for our nation, we have to include everybody that's in our nation, and the particular climate of social media doesn't promote that.” Vota explains.

Sage Journals posted the recent study by Jean Twenge, who found that young adults are engaging in less and less in-person social interactions over the years, as social media technologies persist. This decline of in-person social interactions was directly associated with increased digital media use.

Ben Gaddes, a psychology professor at Duquesne University, emphasizes the sense that social media has led people to interact with each other differently. As social beings, people tend to follow the social habits that are around them, naturally. “Our behaviors, the things we do, when they're channeled through algorithms and through digital media, [they] are constrained by the algorithms and by whatever parameters that platform has, and whatever social habits other people have on those platforms. So, one of my biggest interests is, how does that translate that into, quote unquote, ‘real life’? How do we interact with each other differently as a result? Of that? I think it's, if anything, it's subtle and difficult to pin down specifically. But I have a strong sense that it's happened and that we do interact with each other and treat each other quite differently.” says Gaddes.

The algorithms used by social media platforms are the computer’s process or set of rules to be followed in order to determine which content to deliver to each user based on their specific behavior. In that way, the social media platforms have personalized content for each individual user, set up like a trap, designed to bait, distract, and capture the user for as long as possible.

Based on the user’s behavior and interactions with content, the social media platforms have already selected the type of people who share the same type of beliefs and will recommend them to the user as a “mutual friend”. This type of connection allows users to target particular users with particular types of information or inquiries that relate to their own interests.

“The important ways that social and political divisions are compounded by and increase as a result of social media, how a kind of tribalism results; we sort ourselves into social categories differently, and perhaps, more strongly through social media. And then when it does come to real-life social interactions, how if we're each in our own media sort of bubble, how that may impair our ability to communicate and empathize with people different from ourselves.” explains Gaddes.

The algorithm studies the user’s behavior and will then connect the user with others with similar behaviors, distinguishing what their social circle should look like. In that sense, the Era of The Social Network has come to a halt, and now is the time of The Era of the Social Circle. Does having a wide network of contacts — as is common in social media—lead to more superficial interactions and hinder intimacy? As the social media algorithms continue to place society into distinct social circles, people are being separated into their own virtual world surrounded by only information and content within their social circle.

In order to maintain civil discourse as a functioning society, as Vota explains, people need to be able to distinguish fact from opinion. Yet, if people are separated in their own social bubbles, only seeing the information they want to see; they are being blocked off from anyone’s views or opinions that do not align with their own.

“You know, we're not sharing the same facts anymore. We've gotten to the point where one group is actually not even aware of what the other group is aware, and vice versa.” Vota says.

Rather than one’s social circle being made up of people who have differing views, they are merely repositories of people whose existence they choose to acknowledge. And if one of those people in the user's social circle posts something that the user disagrees with, all they have to do is unfollow, and that person’s view is diminished from their timeline. The algorithms enable users to avoid other users who are different from themselves creating, as Gaddes puts it, “our own media sort of bubble”.

When it comes to how social media affects the development of intimate relationships during adolescence, there are key differences between face-to-face interactions and socializing online. Adolescents tend to be more anxious and have lower self-esteem due to social media, as socializing online comes with the absence of things including facial expressions and body language, which can lead to misunderstandings and hurt feelings. This makes talking in-person feel more intimidating, as in real life, there is no time to spend crafting the perfect response.

Social media can make conflict more immediate and sustained which can aggravate situations. Kenzie Phillips, a 21-year-old student studying journalism at Duquesne University admits that her social media usage has caused her avoidance of face-to-face interactions.

“I feel like social media has definitely caused my social anxiety to go up. It has made me nervous to talk with people in person. I’ve realized that I try to avoid talking with people in person more so now because of how much easier it is to just send a message.” Phillips admits.

With the nature of social media’s algorithm forming tight social circles that are intolerant to any view other than their own, it puts civil discourse at a detriment. Not only does social media limit inclusivity through the promotion of intolerant social circles but it also exacerbates social displacement and meaningful human interactions with overconsumption of the platforms.

“When you guys do take over the world, that civil discourse is going to be necessary. And if it's not there, I don't know how you govern. And I'm [not saying] just being governed formally, within politics. I mean, govern companies, employees, individuals, you know, govern your society, in all aspects. I don't know how you govern if you can't immerse yourself in somebody else's world that you don't agree with. And truly and deeply understand what they feel, why they feel it, where it came from, you know, and, with a drive to ‘I need to accept where this person is, I need to understand where this person is’ so that I can communicate because we're in front of each other, and we have to solve a problem that makes the world a healthier place.” Vota explains.

In order to function as a stable society, Gaddes explains people must be more mindful of how they use technology, and how they allow it to influence their ability to connect with others. Will people continue to allow social media to pull society apart or bring it back together? As Vota put it, it is up to the future generation to decide.

Sources:

Dr. James Vota, Chair of the Media Department at Duquesne University

Ben Gaddes, Professor in Psychology Department at Duquesne University

Kenzie Phillips, Undergraduate Journalism Student at Duquesne University