Transient connections and lasting footprints
Kymberly Bennett, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at UMKC, sees a lot to like in social networking. Perhaps the biggest plus being it gives you the opportunity to connect with a wide number of people easily. “Receipt of social support is associated with good physical and mental health,” she says. “Facebook and Twitter allow you to give and receive social support relatively easily, and in a timely fashion. It’s amazing.”
However, Bennett refers to research from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by authors Kennon M. Sheldon and Neetu Abad, who studied students on the campus of the University of Missouri-Columbia. In their study, the researchers found that while Facebook did generate feelings of peer connection for its users, those feelings were transient. Facebook and other social networking sites don’t address the root cause of loneliness itself. “For the most part, the way we get jobs, connect with people and secure relationships is face to face,” Bennett says. The problem arises when young people—or old people, for that matter—think they can replace direct personal contact with digital contact.
One problem with digital connection is the relative anonymity of the Web. People do and say things on social media sites they would never do or say in person. One of the most tragic examples, Bennett says, is the story of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi. Clementi was outed by a roommate when that roommate posted to Twitter and broadcast a live video feed of an intimate encounter between Clementi and another man. Clementi committed suicide in September 2010. “Online bullying is increasing,” Bennett says. “If you call someone a derogatory term online, you don’t have to see their face. You don’t know their reaction. You’re protected from seeing the consequences of
your behavior.”
Another hazard of social media, especially for college students, is a digital footprint that doesn’t go away. Some of Bennett’s students refer to Facebook as the “red cup diaries,” alluding to the types of photos students post without thinking of future employers, educators and so on. Bennett wonders what will happen when today’s college students enter the working world and they interact with potential employers who will be checking not just references but also social media sites.
On a more personal level, Bennett describes how social media invites us to compare ourselves to others through a process called selective sampling. Without even realizing it, we strive to present a favorable self to other people. We post about going out to dinner, seeing a movie, going on a trip—all the things that are fun in life. “We’re sampling our experience and sharing only the positive,” Bennett says. “Our innate social comparison processes would say, ‘My life is boring in comparison.’ But we have to remember that people are only presenting a tiny slice of their life to us.”
While Bennett recognizes that she’s a digital immigrant, someone who didn’t grow up with technology but has learned to use it, and her students are digital natives who grew up immersed in technology and don’t mind or even notice its pervasiveness, Bennett does what she can to help her students maintain a balance. “It’s great to be able to multitask, but not in my class,” she says. “I don’t allow students to have laptops. I tell them, ‘I love to multitask and I love my laptop, but for the next 50 minutes, I want you here with me.’”
In fact, Bennett thinks it’s beneficial for everyone to unplug on a regular basis, herself included. She particularly makes an effort to do this when she’s with her 21-month-old daughter. “I try to be present with her in the evenings when I’m home,” Bennett says. Bennett knows that Facebook, email, the Web—it’s not going anywhere. It will all still be there waiting for her after her daughter goes to bed.