I remember making my Facebook account in seventh grade and thinking how cool I was to be able to have a social networking account. Soon after, all of my friends were making them and eventually most of the grade, if not all, had a Facebook account. My parents were not that happy about my new profile, they said they were concerned because I was spending more time online, and less time with my family. Eventually, I made a twitter and Instagram account, as well. I cannot count the amount of times that I have heard somebody say that social media is causing people, teens in particular, to be less social. I decided to look more into this topic to see if social media is in fact causing a social change in us teenagers.

One study I came across was conducted at California State University. A psychology professor, Larry Rosen, was in charge of this study. The main objective of his study was to view the impact that social media has on the interactions between preteens and teenagers. He observed that people in this age group were negatively effected by their social media accounts. Anxiety, depression, and many other disorders were linked to social media. On top of social media being connected to social disorders, the study also found that people with social media were more likely to miss school. Kids with social media kids also saw a drop in their grades because of their frequent checking of their Facebook or Twitter accounts during their study hours.

Another study I came across was conducted at York University and published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. This study observed the Facebook profiles of people aged 18-25. They took a look at what each person posted on their Facebook wall, whether it was tons of pictures, statues every five minutes, or comments from friends. These selected Facebook users were also evaluated using the Narcissism Personality Inventory and measured according to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale. At the conclusion of their study, their results stated that people who used Facebook very frequently were more likely to have narcissistic or insecure personalities than people who tended to use Facebook less frequently.

Something that could possibly be wrong with both of these studies is that kids with social disorders may in fact be more prone to creating a social media account because of the lack of friends they have at school (reverse causality). Kids with social disorders may feel that they can make friends online easier or feel more comfortable sharing their ideas behind a computer screen and therefore created a Facebook or other social media account. The results of these studies could also be due to chance.

http://peoplesworld.org/do-social-networking-sites-create-anti-social-behavior/

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201306/do-facebook-and-other-social-media-encourage-narcissism