Social media new territory for psychologists
Ask yourself: does Facebook make you happy? Do you feel good when you scroll through your feed, comment, or ‘‘like’’? If you do, that’s OK. Plenty of people find social media rewarding. But if you don’t feel so good after going online, it might be time to log off.
The irony of Facebook is that software designed to connect, broaden horizons and inform is linked to undesirable mental health effects and, increasingly, a dystopian vision of power concentrated in the hands of one company with 17,048 employees and 1.8 billion users.
That said, there are no, as yet, comprehensive longitudinal studies of social media and its effects.
Val Hooper, head of Victoria University’s school of marketing and international business, says Facebook users join up to promote themselves as well as to network.
‘‘We easily post pictures of ourselves in desirable situations or poses. We have the protection or the anonymity of the screen.
‘‘We think it protects us. But we don’t see the hurt in the recipient’s eyes.’’
Users do not need to respond immediately, or at all. ‘‘A lot of suicides, particularly among teenagers, the original posters want to hurt or ridicule but they certainly did not want them to commit suicide. And the victims will not post the terrible pain and heartache they are feeling.’’
To gang up, or act as a member of a herd, is a human trait, says Hooper, whose research interests include the dark side of IT.
Auckland University of Technology law professor Warren Brookbanks, a member of the Australia and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, says Facebook is ‘‘a very different reality’’. ‘‘The engagement is immediate. Some people thrive in this environment. Others begin to feel marginalised.’’
Brookbanks warns the possible solutions to popular concerns about Facebook use are just as complex as the problem, and there are no easy fixes. ‘‘It’s a very multi-layered issue and the legal responses to it are fairly limited.’’
Facebook provided an emailed statement in response to questions.
‘‘We believe that from connectivity within our communities and our economy, good things happen,’’ a spokesperson said.
‘‘People stay connected with their current friends and family, and reconnect with old ones.
‘‘We work with mental health groups, experts in emotional intelligence and many other safety and wellbeing experts to ensure that our services are able to provide support for people in their time of need.’’
Together with NetSafe, it created a parents’ guide to Instagram and the Hit Pause Then Post campaign with Sticks’n’Stones.