Quantity over Quality: Significance in our Online Connections

Media allows us to connect with a massive amount of people in the modern age. People all over the world are able to connect in a way that was impossible just a few decades ago. In addition, we are inundated with so much more information than ever before. Google is not only a massive data center that holds an answer to every question but “googling” is now a common verb in our vocabulary. But with all this new access to people and communication, are we benefitting or is it proving somewhat of a detriment? We may be making many more connections, meeting new people, but what is the value of these associations? As the world sees a significant increase in the rates of depression, (Weinberger et. el 2018) it suggests that this increase in media access may be overwhelming the psyches of our population.

 

With more than a billion people on Facebook, our access to new acquaintances and our potential for new connections is larger than ever. The current political landscape illustrates that this can be a powerful force for people; it provides the opportunity for people to organize in ways that have been limited in the past. But the social media profile is constructed by the user themselves and they are able to control the perception of themselves. This creates an opportunity for many people to falsely represent themselves. It was reported in the study Self-presentation and gender on MySpace(Manago, Graham, Greenfield & Salikman, 2008) that some users change their gender to explore the possibility of an identity outside their societal imposed gender roles.  While this is a fantastic opportunity for identity development for those who feel limited by current societal norms, it highlights a bigger issue. If our identities and happiness are reliant on our interactions and those connections are not made with real people, how does that affect the quality of our interactions and, ultimately, our well being?

 

In the same article by Manago et al (2008), they report that “we not only define ourselves in terms of our alliance with others but our self-definitions interconnect with the cognitive representations we have for significant others”. The general public is unquestionable making more connections in the world but it is possible that we are doing so under false pretenses and the quality of those connections are not what they could, or should, be to support a healthy sense of self. This explains that although we have access to many more connections and more information than ever before, we are still seeing an increase in depression and a lost sense of self.

References:
Weinberger, A., Gbedemah, M., Martinez, A., Nash, D., Galea, S., & Goodwin, R. (2018). Trends in depression prevalence in the USA from 2005 to 2015: Widening disparities in vulnerable groups. Psychological Medicine, 48(8), 1308-1315. doi:10.1017/S0033291717002781

 

Adriana M. Manago, Michael B. Graham, Patricia M. Greenfield, Goldie Salimkhan,

Self-presentation and gender on MySpace, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,

Volume 29, Issue 6, 2008, Pages 446-458, ISSN 0193-3973, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.07.001.

 

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