Psychology and Social Media

1 Draft for the Staged Paper Title: The title for the staged paper is ‘Psychology and Social Media”.

Introduction There is substantial evidence that shows that social media use influences how people view themselves and their mood in the short-term. However, more frequent and intense use of social media affects the person’s mood in the long-term causing self-esteem and depressive symptoms. As noted by Bayer et al. (2020), excessive use of social media affects an individual’s social interactions and perception of the real world.

Section 1: Framing and Central questions 

Why are people increasingly using social media?

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How does social media alter our social interactions?

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How does social media use affect a person’s mood and self-esteem?

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Why do people live behind social media and lose connection with themselves and other relationships?

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How and why does social media become so addicting?

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Where does one's realism stand between real life and social media?

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Section 2: Connection to Social Psychology Social psychology addresses how our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual, implied, or imagined presence of others (Bayer et al., 2020). Indeed, the topics of psychology and social media use are related to social psychology in the sense that it investigates how the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals who excessively use social media influences their social interactions and how they connect with others.

Section 3: Literature Review There are extensive studies examining how users engage in representing a false version of themselves via social media. Carey (2020) argues that Facebook causes users to spend more time by themselves and less time with family and friends and the platform is used as an avenue to maintain existing relationships rather than meet new people. As asserted by Bayer (2020), a user’s personality can be predicted through their profile and the most common motivation behind Facebook posts shows that people online seek social approval and acceptance.

Section 4: Study Design The specific methodology that will applied to conduct the research is a systematic review.

This will entail collection of already published empirical studies on the topic and appraising them. The goal of the approach is to identify recurrent themes on how social media use impacts a person's psychology, particularly how it alters their social interactions. If I were to engage in a formal collection of data for the topic, the most favorable data collection techniques would be questionnaires and interview schedules. Questionnaires would be favorable in collecting data from many participants whereas interview schedules would be used to collect more in-depth data.

3 Section 5: Conclusion Examining the link between social media use and its impact on an individual’s psychological well-being aims to examine how social networks use affects social interactions and connections. The study aims to protect the collective well-being of society by advocating for resourceful social media use that nurtures positive connections among individuals and ensures that these networks are used in a favorable manner that promotes social justice.

References Bayer, J. B., Triệu, P., & Ellison, N. B. (2020). Social media elements, ecologies, and effects. Annual review of psychology, 471-479. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych010419-050944 This article is a study that explores some of the core social-psychological effects of social media, and it investigates how the dynamics of online environments form their effects.

Carey, B. (2019) This is your brain off Facebook. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/health/facebook-psychology-health.html The article addresses how Facebook addiction occurs, its impacts and what it would take to get off social media.