social media research

Running Head: ARE WE GETTING TANGLED UP IN THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Luke Willson

Communication: Are We Getting Tangled Up In the World Wide Web?

Dr. Rodney K. Marshall

Communication Research Methods

CMN 2020-003

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ARE WE GETTING TANGLED UP IN THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Abstract

Social media is prominent in the lives of millions of Americans and according to current news,

we are in the midst of a “social media takeover.” Social media both positively and negatively

affects us in many ways and has almost become the norm of how we communicate. This study

investigates social media and how effects the way we communicate as well as its negative effects

on people. Participants answered a 16 question survey based on the Likert-scale and the data was

examined and applied. Results suggest that social media causes negative health effects and is

harmful to individuals well-being. As many people believe social media does damage our

communication skills, most participants visit social media sites multiple times a day and use it

negatively. Results also show that social media is present in every single participants life,

making the technological take-over a very real phenomenon

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Communication: Are We Getting Tangled Up In the World Wide Web

Three out of four young adults and teenagers are members of at least one social media

site. Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have hundreds of

million users log on to their sites daily, which could be potentially harmful for people’s

communication skills. By definition, a social network is a configuration of people connected to

one another through interpersonal means, such as friendship, common interests, or ideas. Social

Media is arguably destroying our generation’s communication skills and has the potential to

deplete generations to come. I believe it is only a matter of time before people start to realize that

the World Wide Web is not as fun, safe, and beneficial as most people make it out to be.

People that prefer online social interaction rather than face-to-face interaction

(interpersonal interaction) are thought to be the foundation of where this ‘social media is a

negative influence on our generation’ debate arises. Negative character traits and disease such as

loneliness, social anxiety, and depression can all be linked to excessive and problematic Internet

use. Social anxiety is strongly linked with problematic

Internet use and are variables that lead to mental illness (Caplan, 2007).

Well-being is a term that is prevalent throughout my research and studies argue that

social media is a leading cause of mental illness and faulty interpersonal communication skills,

thus having a negative impact on society, harming the lives of people who do not use it correctly.

Social Media has the potential to be an asset to our everyday lives but if it is not used responsibly

it can ruin our communication skills, mental health, and well-being. We must learn to control the

monster that is known as Social Media.

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Literature Review

Self-disclosure is defined as telling someone about your self or learning about someone

else to reduce uncertainty. When evaluating a study that directly compared the perceived benefits

of face-to-face communication and computer-mediated communication using self-disclosure, the

results directly matched my hypothesis. Participant’s chose that face-to-face communication was

more effective when it came to communicating and reducing uncertainty about one’s self and the

other (Schiffrin, 2010). When using self-disclosure on the Internet, it is possible to use selective

self-presentation techniques to make an overwhelmingly favorable impression of your self,

which is why most people prefer face-to-face interaction when engaging in self-disclosure.

Lonely individuals may be drawn online because of the increased potential for companionship,

the changed social interaction patterns online, and as a way to modulate negative moods

associated with loneliness. This shows the potential “benefits” that some people gain from using

online social interaction as opposed to face-to-face interpersonal interaction. Results conclude

that lonely people were more likely to use the Internet to “cheer them up” when in all reality it

was causing disturbances in their daily functioning. Users that got on the Internet to mask

emotional stress or heighten satisfaction by social interaction via Internet turned out to be

lonelier than those that did not go straight to the Internet for support. (Moraham-Martin, 2003).

On the contrary, statistics show that the Internet is not negatively affecting people;

instead it is helping society be more social. “Obviously the bigger the influence of the

technology, the more changes we see in communication styles” (Keller, Social Media and

Interpersonal Communication). This quote suggests that there is hope for the future and that

online social interaction is not hindering the development of people’s face-to-face interactions.

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Social media can be used for good as people use it as a way to connect and stay current on

events happening in the lives of those they choose to interact with.

People that are lonely and do not have good social skills will typically turn to the Internet

to look for companionship. Using the Internet as a means for communication romantically can

cause a range of problems such as compulsive Internet use or being in a relationship with

someone online and finding out they are not real. Situations like these cause people to become

lonely or depressed and we can conclude that the Internet is destroying users relationships as

well as self-esteem and ability to trust others in the process. (Kim, 2009).

“This vulnerability may relate to the perception of online communication as a safer

means of interacting, due to greater control over self-presentation, decreased risk of negative

evaluation, and improved relationship quality” (Lee, Abstract). This quote is very powerful

because it gives you insight to how a person that prefers online social interaction rather than

face-to-face interaction thinks. My research is on whether or not social media (internet use)

effects the way we communicate in person and most studies show that it does and people

become dependent on the internet which leads to illness such as depression. Research like this

furthers our understanding by allowing us to get inside the head of a person who is currently

battling this phenomenon and how they view social media as an avid user (Lee, 2012).

Persons that prefer online social interaction rather than face-to-face interaction are more

susceptible to illness such as depression, loneliness, problematic internet use, and a number of

other negative traits from being so strongly connected to the internet and not other people.

Results supported the hypothesis that individuals’ preference for online, rather than face-to face

social interaction plays a role in the development of negative consequences associated with

problematic Internet use. Individuals psychological well-being along with beliefs about

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interpersonal communication are being damaged due to excessive internet use shows that people

who spend “too much time” on the internet develop negative character traits such as depression

and loneliness that often leads them to spend more time on their computers. Social anxiety is

linked to problematic Internet use and both are confounding variables that lead to mental illness.

(Caplan, 2004,2007).

Worldwide studies about how social media affects communication have been conducted

to see if results from technologically advanced countries are similar/different from countries that

are not as advanced. A specific study I researched analyzed results from the World Internet

Project, which consisted of 13 different countries (22,002 people total). Results conclude that

although many people in the United States believe that online communication is destroying our

interpersonal interactions, we can see the “big picture” with this study. Data shows that it is not

necessarily the amount of time that users spend on the Internet, it is the social life of the person

and how they, themselves, manage time and interact with others (culture based) (Amichal-

Hamburger, 2007).

Quality of life is a term that is stressed that I have come across in my research so far.

Quality of life suggests how well one treats them selves mentally, emotionally, and physically as

well as how others treat them. Results show that Internet use cannot predict the quality of life

that a person has because it is not a living entity that can compare highs and lows an individual

faces. “Interpersonal communication can improve the quality of life among internet users, just

like face-to-face communication in every day life” (Lee, Internet Communication Versus Face-

to-Face Interaction in Quality of Life). This supports the claim that people develop negative

characteristics when using the Internet excessively, and it also negatively affects their social lives

(Lee, 2011).

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Studies show that only 7% of communication is based on the written or verbal word. A

whopping 93% is based on nonverbal body language. Indeed, it’s only when we can hear a tone

of voice or look into someone’s eyes that we’re able to know when “I’m fine” doesn’t mean

they’re fine at all”(Tardanico, 2012 pg. 864). This quote suggests people that prefer

communication online rather than interpersonal miss out on 93% of the conversation.

Technology is easy to “hide behind” because you do not get the whole effect of communication,

such as body language, eye contact, tone of voice, and many more crucial aspects of human

interaction. (Tardanico, 2012).

Purpose of Study

Communication changes at such a rapid rate that it is hard to determine the most effective

way to do so. Social media and online social interaction directly affect the way that we

communicate interpersonally. What negative qualities can someone develop if they prefer online

social interaction instead of face-to-face communication? Is social media destroying our

generation and possibly generations to come? Does social media bring us together or is it

blinding us and making us forget what real communication is?

Researchers are constantly debating whether or not social media is negatively affecting

the way that we communicate interpersonally.

RQ1: How does social media effect the way we communicate?

RQ2: Has social media negatively affected the way we communicate today?

All of these questions and more are the foundation upon which I will be conducting my

research.

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Method

Participants

Peers in my CMN 2020 Research Methods class were the participants in my survey for

my research. 21 different people (participants) filled out my survey. I asked 3 questions

pertaining to demographics; what the participant’s gender, ethnicity, and academic standing. As

for gender, 14 females and 7 males completed my survey. Academic standing of the 21 total that

filled out the survey shows that there are no 1st year students, 2 sophomores, 14 juniors, and 5

seniors total. Finally, for ethnicity/race, 12 causcasian, 7 African American. 1 Asian, and 1 other.

Instrument

My main questions, “Do we communicate online differently than we do face-to-face?”

and “How does social media affect the way we communicate?” were the main influences on

asking the questions that were on my survey (see Appendix A). After asking my first 3 questions

that pertained to demographic, I had 13 additional questions that I asked to further understand

how my peers treat social media and its effects on them personally. All of my questions that I

asked were aimed either at finding out demographics or attempting to answer my questions upon

which my research is based.

My questions had a Likert scale that ranged from 1-5, (strongly disagree, disagree,

indifferent, agree, strongly agree) showing the degree of how much they agreed/disagreed with

the statement. Making statement made it easier for the participants to show the degree of how

they felt about the answers because instead of having a free-response that required a lot of

thinking and writing, all they had to do was show if they agreed or disagreed on a scale of 1-5

and yes or no. 14 out of my total 16 questions were either yes or no answers or on a scale from 1-

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5 of agree/disagree while two of the questions required a short answer that elicited a response

from their own opinion/personal experience.

Participation

After piecing together my questions for the final draft of the survey, I made 20 more

copies of it to hand out to my peers during ‘survey mania’ in our 2020 Research Methods class.

Each of my peers had the full length of the class period to complete the survey (1hr. 15min). My

peers were instructed to take the survey and answer the questions as honestly as they could, to

the best of their ability. Upon completion, all surveys were put in a pile on a table in the front of

the room where I collected them as I exited the classroom.

After separating the surveys multiple times to match different demographics and read

similar responses, I then entered the data into Microsoft Excel to make a spreadsheet that

categorized how my peers answered the questions similarly/differently from one another. Upon

reviewing the data, I looked how the information relates to demographic and how it helps give

me a foundation to which I will answer my two central research questions.

Results

The first hypothesis that I stated was “I believe it is only a matter of time before people

start to realize that the World Wide Web is not as fun, safe, and beneficial as most people make

it out to be.” I believe that my research complements this hypothesis because of the amount of

cases of mental illness’ that arise from problematic internet use. People today do not realize the

effects that social media and the internet are having on their every day lives. It is as simple as

downloading a free app on your phone and you are then instantly connected to news that is going

on globally, around you, or people that you know/do not know at all. My hypothesis is accepted

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because every single person that took my survey had a social media app that they checked at

least one time a day.

“We must learn to control the monster that is known as Social Media” was my second

hypothesis. Social Media plays a role in the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people and

it is being misused. Trends in data show that individuals that abuse the internet/social media have

damaged communication skills (mostly interpersonal) as well as a negative sense of well-being.

100% of the participants that took my survey are on at least one of the social media sites that I

listed (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, MySpace) making the rest of my questions applicable as

well as having the answers support my hypothesis.

Research question one asked, “Do we communicate differently online than we do face-to-

face?” Upon asking the participants that same question directly, I concluded that we indeed do

communicate due to no participants answering the question with disagree, strongly disagree, or

indifferent. Results show that 33% agree and 67% strongly agree.

My second research question that I answered through my findings was “How does social

media affect the way we communicate?” Using questions from my survey, I found my answer by

combining the participant’s answers to multiple questions. One question evaluated participant’s

quick-response techniques in an awkward or less than favorable situation, in which 90% of the

participants chose to pull out their phones and go on social media instead of confronting the

problem or trying to help. Another question asked participants if they felt that past generations

had better interpersonal communication skills than we do due to their lack of online interaction

and results show that 82% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed while 15% were

indifferent and 3% disagreed. These results show that my hypothesis was correct and that social

media, is in fact, effecting the way that we communicate.

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Another question that I did not list that I strived to find the answer for in my research was

how social media is negatively affecting the well-being and slowly destroying the lives of people

who use it too much. Upon reviewing the results from my survey and calculating the

information, I can draw the conclusion that this is an epidemic that is becoming more prominent

in the world of social media today. Participants answered both questions with either indifferent,

agree, or strongly agree so we can infer that nobody thought that the question was absurd or

disagreed with the statement. These questions asked if the participants thought people spend too

much time on social media via phone/computer in which 3% were indifferent, 40% agreed and

57% strongly agreed, bringing the total to 97% of participants agreeing. My next question asked

if they believed that negative social behaviors can arise from too much online interaction to

which 29% felt indifferent, 33% agreed, and 40% strongly agreed, meaning 73% agreed.

Discussion

My goals that I set for my research were to find out truly how much social media and

online social interaction effect our communication, health, and daily lives. Today, social media is

taking over any other outlet for news, sports, and means of staying connected to other people.

My survey evaluated the feedback of the participants and their attitudes and thoughts on social

media and how it personally effects their lives, the way they interact, and their thoughts on if

social media is helping or destroying communication skills in current generations, and

generations to come.

Every day, hundreds of millions of people log on to social media sites to connect with

their friends, stay current on news/trends, or just to pass time and read something interesting.

Social media provides society with a great deal of information but is it really the best way of

going about gathering useful data and communicating with others?

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In the 2003 article “Theory of Problematic Internet Use and Well-Being”, by Scott E.

Caplan, his study presented evidence that depressed or lonely individuals develop a preference

for online social interaction, which leads to negative face-to-face or in person interactions. The

authors wanted to find out how online social interaction, or interaction via social media can

negatively affect communication skills, which they concluded that the more people become

attached to social media, the more problems they have interpersonally communicating and their

well-being is negatively altered. After doing my research, I concur with the study done by

Caplan because of all of the surveys in which every one agreed that social media effects

communication skills as well as numerous cases in which individuals’ mental and physical health

are put at risk due to excessive use of social media.

My findings throughout my research both surprised me and stayed consistent with my

hypothesis’ in the sense that I already knew that social media negatively effects us, I just did not

know to what extent. As far as face-to-face communication goes, it is more of a cultural aspect in

which people use social media and let it effect their social skills. I would expect someone who

has had multiple online relationships to be less socially constructed than someone who has

multiple relationships where they constantly interact interpersonally. Aspects that surprised me

where the number of cases where people have literally gone insane from using the internet and

social media too much and let it destroy their lives. Not only did these people have bad physical

health from staying on the computer all day, their mental health diminished due to the lack of

human interaction they had, and when they did interact with others, they typically had social

anxiety and could not efficiently communicate with the other person.

My findings agree with past research on the subject because researchers conclude that

social media is destroying interpersonal communication skills, however it is the culture, well-

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being, and accessibility to social media that are the determining factors if an individual is going

to let their communication skills be hindered by social media.

Limitations and Further Study

After finding extremely credible and valuable data, there were certain aspects of the

research that could have been flawed. Participants could not have had enough time to answer the

questions/not answered the questions honestly they could have just chosen the answer that they

thought we as researchers wanted to hear. Another limitation was the fact that every single

participant was on at least one social media website, making the information biased because

there was no contrary belief on how an individual might act differently if they are not exposed to

social media and how they would handle certain situations.

For future research, I believe that the age of the participants should be varied from

children who are just getting cell phones and social media accounts all the way to people of older

generations who did not have a cell phone when they were growing up. I would have liked for

my professor to have taken my survey in an attempt to gather more reliable information from a

credible source who has seen thousands of papers and written hundreds of his own.

Social media is not going to be the death of our generation or any future generations to

come. Researching this topic broadened my understanding on how social media influences

people in their everyday lives and how the ”living entity” that social media is can do both good

and evil. Due to advancements in technology, the internet and social media are growing stronger

by the minute, and it is important to understand social media and how it effects us every single

day.

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References

Amichal-Hamburger, Y. (2007). The impact of the internet on the social lives of its users:

A representative sample from 13 countries. Computers in Human Behavior. 27(1) 585-

589. Retrieved September 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth Library, Eastern

Illinois University.

Caplan, S. (2004). Preference for online social interaction: A theory of

problematic internet use and well-being. Communication Research, 30(6), 625-648.

Retrieved September 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth

Library, Eastern Illinois University.

Caplan, S. (2007). Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic

internet use. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 10(2), 234-242.

Retrieved September 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth Library, Eastern Illinois

University.

Keller, M. (2013) Social media and interpersonal communication. Social Work Today,

13(3) 10. Retrieved September 24, 2014

https://www.google.com/?

gws_rd=ssl#q=negative+effects+of+social+networking+on+communication&revid=63582491

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Kim, J. (2009). Lonliness as the cause and the effect of problematic internet use: The

relationship between internet use and psychological well-being. CyberPsychology and

Behavior, 12(4), 451-455. Retrieved Spetember 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth

Library, Eastern Illinois University.

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https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=negative+effects+of+social+networking+on+communication&revid=635824913




Lee, B. (2012). Seeking safety on the internet:Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26(1), 197-

205. Retrieved Spetember 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth Library, Eastern Illinois

University.

Lee, P. (2011). Internet communication versus face-to-face interaction in quality of life.

Social Indicators Research, 100(3), 375-389. Retrieved September

24, 2014, from EBSCO Host Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University.

Morahan-Martin, J. (2003). Loneliness and social uses of the internet: Computers in

Human Behavior, 19(6), P659. Retrieved Spetember 24, 2014, from EBSCO

Host Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University.

Schiffrin, H. (2010). The associations among computer-mediated communication,

relationships, and well-being. CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networking,

13(3), 299-306. Retrieved Spetember 24, 2014, from EBSCO Host

Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University.

Tardanico, S. (2012) Is social media sabotaging real communication? Retrieved

Spetember 24, 2014 from Forbes.com search: Social media and communication.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-

real-communication/

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/04/30/is-social-media-sabotaging-


Appendix A

Communication: Are We Getting Tangled Up In the World Wide Web Survey: Luke Willson CMN 2020

Debates are continuously arising concerning the use of Social Media and how it has a negative effect on people and is destroying their interpersonal communication skills. Social media is thought of as a great way to communicate but recent studies and research show that it is hindering the communication skills of people that over use it and prefer online social interaction, rather than face-to-face interpersonal communication.

The following survey asks you to share your opinion honestly regarding the controversy at hand, is social media destroying our communication skills? This survey will ask for your opinion about social media and the negative effects it can have on an individual’s communication skills, how much time, you, yourself spends on social media, as well as questions regarding ways social media can positively impact a person and better their communication skills.

Please Mark an (X) by your answers to the questions

Please answer each question honestly and include to what degree you feel about the statement, the scale (numbers 1-5) is displayed below

(1) Disagree (2) Slightly Disagree (3) Indifferent (4) Slightly Agree (5) Agree

1. Sex ____ Male ____Female ____ Transgendered

2. Academic Standing at Eastern Illinois University?____ 1st year ____ Sophomore ____ Junior ____ Senior ____ Grad Student

3. Race / Ethnicity ____ Caucasian ____ African American ____ Asian ____ Latin ____ Other

4. Do you use Social Media?____ Yes ____ No

5. Amount of time daily (on average) you spend on social media____ 5 Hours ____ 3 Hours ____ 1 Hour ____ None at all

6. I have an online account on the following social media websites (check all that apply)

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____ Facebook ____ Twitter ____ Instagram ____Myspace

7. Do you feel that people spend too much time on social media via phone/computer?____1 ____2 ____3 ____4 ____5

8. Do you agree with the statement that past generations had better interpersonal communication skills because there was not as much online interaction?

____1 ____2 ____3 ____4 ____5

9. We communicate differently face-to-face than we do via online communication?____1 ____2 ____3 ____4 ____5

10. Why do you agree/disagree?

11. Do you believe that negative social behaviors can arise from too much online interaction or action via social media?

____1 ____2 ____3 ____4 ____5

12. In an awkward situation, I pretend to be on my phone or go on a social media sight to pass the time or evade the interaction

____ Yes ____ No

13. Have you ever asked/been asked by someone to be your boyfriend/girlfriend or been broken up with by a boyfriend/girlfriend via text message or social media?

____ Yes ____ No

14. Explain a situation in which you would rather communicate online through social media rather than face-to-face

______________________________________________________________________________

15. Social media and online interaction have become essential to our every day lives____1 ____2 ____3 ____4 ____5

16. I believe if online social interaction and social media were to become extinct tomorrow, I would feel a little lost without it

____ Yes ____ No

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ARE WE GETTING TANGLED UP IN THE WORLD WIDE WEB 18

social media research

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