Alex Alumbaugh
Dr. Kyburz
9/28/15
Social Media as an Emotional Outlet
Often times on Facebook I will see someone venting through status updates. They will talk about problems going on in their lives and usually end with how they are getting through it. What are the consequences of using Facebook and other social media as a tool to get your emotions out?
One possible consequence is people may think that you are “needy” or overly dramatic. They may see your posts as a cry for attention rather than a means of expression. Or, more importantly, a possible cry for help. You may be seeking advice, but only get negative feedback, which could bring your self esteem down even more and perpetuate the slump you are already in.
There are also possible benefactors to using social media as an emotional outlet. One is that it could actually lead to you getting advice or help. Or, on a more personal level, it could reduce your levels of stress or increase your self esteem.
If we were to think more analytically about what we post on social media, it is possible that we could reduce the amount of cyberbullying that goes on and lead people to communicate more freely and openly with more speculative and qualified language. By increasing the understanding that social media is an effective tool for increasing one’s self esteem, more people may be less likely to judge based on a few posts about one’s struggles.
Good first draft Alex! We chose the same topic but went different ways with it. I focused more on the idea as to why do we feel the need to post random stuff on Facebook, and can this be due to the fact that we value social media more over real-life communication? It's interesting to see someone take a different angle of the same problem. Perhaps we should peer edit each other's drafts on Monday? Actually, when I took abnormal psychology last semester, in our depression unit we talked a lot about is it caused by negative thinking, or negative behavior? It's actually a vicious cycle, negative thinking leads to negative behavior, which reinforces negative thinking, and so on. You could probably use this concept for your paper if you'll eventually need it. You could argue that maybe people that are already upset, have negative feelings (obviously since they're upset), and they express these feelings by posting on Facebook (behavior), but the negative feedback they receive from others might reinforce their negative feelings. Do you see where I'm getting at? I'm sure if I go back to my notes I'll be able to find the official name for this vicious cycle and more "professional" aspects of it. So, if it comes down to it, let me know!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used Facebook- many people think they may have "fallen" out, considering Twitter has been more popular recently. Your microtheme got the point across, but still provided good examples. I was kind of thrown off at the end when you mentioned cyber bullying since this idea was not introduced in the beginning.
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