Picture the COG. Hundreds of tables full of students sitting with their friends sharing a meal. One thing stands out at every table: most everyone is on their phone. Even with their friends right next to them, students are checking the world of social media. Why do they need to rely on social media for communicating when they have the opportunity to communicate face to face? Not being perfect I partake in the bad habit. The way we fulfill the human need of social interaction is changing drastically with the rise of social media. Noticing the change of social interaction our group decided to research the consequences of social media. Our research question being, what are the consequences of attempting to fulfill human social needs through social media?
Everyone of us has a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account so we can all relate. We make the choice to use these accounts hundreds of time each day. Considering our obsession, we should be aware of the negative impacts that social media has on our social needs. We should understand the side effects of social media usage just like if it were another vice. For instance, we all understand that smoking can cause lung disease. The side affects of smoking are clearly known to the public and taught in elementary school classrooms. Maybe social media is to new to be understood or always changing making conducting research hard. I hope our research informs myself and my peers about the consequences social media on humans socially.
I expect to find a long list of consequences for humans socially, but also, the negative effects on humans physically and emotionally. Our question begs for connections between social human needs and the other human needs. I cannot wait to discover the surprising and non surprising consequences of social media on humans.
-Regina