Week 5: Psychology and Social Media

There is a substantial body of research growing around various psychological concerns with continuous social media usage. Addiction, stress and envy are very real consequences of the participatory culture of social media. I looked at Facebook in particular and found a German study pointing out that “passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations; and socialize” (Krasnova 2013). Further tests in this article show how partaking in social media in only a limited capacity and not contributing much content can lead to a case of social media envy. As a certain BBC article states, it is the fear of missing out; a fear which could often be seen as unfounded given the trivial nature of social media communication. As more and more people adopt social media for longer time periods there will be an increasing impact on our psychological health.

bbc.co.uk, 2013, Facebook use 'makes people feel worse about themselves'

, viewed 23 August 2013, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23709009 >

Krasnova, H Wenninger H, Widjaja, T & Buxmann, P, 2013,

Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users’ Life Satisfaction? , viewed 23 August 2013, <http://warhol.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/~hkrasnova/Ongoing_Research_files/WI%202013%20Final%20Submission%20Krasnova.pdf>