Social media allows people to communicate in ways that no one could have ever predicted. Websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr connect people from all over the world instantly.
However, recent news stories have revealed a darker side of these online platforms. Last year, a student at the University of Pennsylvania committed suicide, despite having an optimistic and cheerful presence on her Instagram profile. Last month, Instagram model Essena O’Neill deleted all of her social media platforms in order to make a statement about the unrealistic standards of beauty.
Stories like these bring up questions about social media’s presence in our lives. How has it shaped modern communication? How might that affect our mental wellness and self-perception?
Even though social media promotes interactions with others, it also creates three major changes in how we communicate, each with varying impact. The first major difference between online interaction and face-to-face communication is the range of interaction, said Robert Mason, founder of the UW Social Media Lab. The Internet provides a platform that connects people all over the world.
“When we communicate [online], it gives us a potentially broader audience,” Mason said. “Some make the argument that relationships have become broad, but very shallow.”
Constraints that make relationships hard to maintain, such as location and availability, can be overcome through the use of social media, which allows people to communicate at their leisure. Even though it facilitates connections, the intimacy of these relationships may be weaker than if we were to see them more frequently in person.
Additionally, social media eliminates nuances that occur in more personal interactions.
“It’s a mediated form of communication,” said Patricia Atwater, website and social media manager at Hall Health. “You’re missing the in-person communication devices that we all use, like body language.”
Tone, facial expressions, and gestures are lost when we communicate through online messaging and comments. This potentially changes the way we speak to others online, while also affecting the type of content that we feel comfortable sharing.
The public exposure of an online profile affects how we perceive the lives of others and how we present ourselves.
“There’s sorts of pressures as to what kinds of posts I can have,” said Stephen Groening, UW assistant professor of cinema and media studies. “It’s pretty much every day that someone’s going to have something good happen for them, and so that builds this culture where it’s like, ‘this is the kind of thing that I need to post on my Facebook.’”
There is a certain level of publicity that comes with posts on social media that detracts from the intimacy of communication. It requires a certain filter to what people can say, which can cause a sense of detachment.
These changes in communication in our relationships also affect our mental wellness.
Jonathan Kanter, director of the UW Center for the Science of Social Connection, studies how people can improve their social relationships and connections with others.
“We know that social connection, social support, and social integration are really important to well-being, quality of life, and happiness,” Kanter said. “There’s lots of research showing how quality of social relationships helps people fight off depression.”
According to Kanter, communication and social interactions play integral roles to life expectancy and happiness. However, social media is not the ultimate downfall to personal connection and mental well-being, but it can be if used improperly.
“What matters is that people feel that they have social support,” Kanter said. “It just sort of depends on where you’re at and how it functions for you.”
Even though social media has the potential to detract from personal relationships and create pressure about image, it comes down to how the individual uses that platform. There are ways in which people can use online communication to facilitate their relationships with others.
Social media has changed everything about how we communicate and perceive others as well as ourselves. It has the potential to make us feel alienated from personal relationships, but also allows us to learn about others. As human beings we require the closeness of others to thrive. It’s important to acknowledge that the online platforms can help us, but only if we understand that it’s a window, not a doorway, into reality.
Reach contributing writer Amy Wong at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @amyewong
