Does Social Media Lead to Social Isolation Matthew Alex Cooper CSC 540

Defining Social Media Media that is posed by the user and can take many different forms. Some types of social media are forums, message boards, blogs, wikis and podcasts. Social media applications include Google, Facebook and YouTube.” I include online gaming. Because it is a way of communication.

History Telephone – people found themselves replacing face-to-face contact for wired connection Television – people found themselves watching television for long periods of time daily.

Kraut's research Longitudinal study found that the Internet does lead to loneliness.

Addiction Whether it be gaming online or browsing countless webpages, people who feed their addiction via the Internet may be susceptible to loneliness

Characteristics of Addiction Salience Mood modification Tolerance Withdrawal symptoms Conflict Relapse

Results from Gaming Many psychologists believe that online gaming can become addictive The problem with online gaming is that it may become the single most important thing in a person's life and compromise all other activities This is just Problematic Internet Usage, not necessarily loneliness

Cause or Effect A recursive cycle People with deficient social skill may see the Internet as ”The Prozac of social communication”

Loneliness As a Cause

Loneliness As an Outcome

Study on Secondary School Children Secondary school students using Internet excessively feel themselves lonelier than those using Internet less. Analysis showed that the average usage of Internet of the secondary school students per week was 15 hours.

Study on University Students The variable of loneliness explained 21.8% of total variance alone and appeared to be the most important predictor as a variable Depression, the second important variable that predicted PIU behavior, explained only 3.3% of total variance alone. The third variable, computer self-efficacy, explained only 2.8% of the total variance alone. individuals experiencing the feeling of loneliness tend to have more PIU behavior depression was less predictive of problematic Internet use than loneliness

Conclusion Loneliness and the use of the Internet tends to be a recursive relationship The only real relationship found is that those who use the computer compulsively tend to have negative outcomes The negative outcomes may lead to loneliness

References Ceyhan, A., & Ceyhan, E. (2008). Loneliness, Depression, and Computer Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Problematic Internet Use. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(6), doi: /cpb Deniz, L. (2010). Excessive Internet Use and Loneliness Among Secondary School Students. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(1), Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Junghyun, K., LaRose, R., & Wei, P. (2009). Loneliness as the Cause and the Effect of Problematic Internet Use: The Relationship between Internet Use and Psychological Well-Being. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(4), doi: /cpb Griffiths, M. (2010). Online video gaming: what should educational psychologists know?. Educational Psychology in Practice, 26(1), doi: / Mu, H. (2007). Social use of the internet and loneliness. Informally published manuscript, Department of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Newark, Ohio. Retrieved from pdf.cgi/Hu%20Mu.pdf?osu