• Question: is social media a good or bad thing for the perspective of psycology

    Asked by anon-215970 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 8 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-216534.
    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 8 Jun 2019:

      Most people will try to give a safe and cliched answer on this one, and say it’s neither – but I love straightforward answers. Social media is good. I owe my success as mental health blogger to Twitter.

    • Photo: Nicola Johnstone

      Nicola Johnstone answered on 8 Jun 2019:

      In my opining good – it’s a really useful way to get in touch with people that are otherwise really difficult to find. For example, when I’m looking for people to volunteer for my studies it super helpful to use social media to advertise. It’s also great for finding out about other peoples work, and telling them about mine.

    • Photo: Robert Dempsey

      Robert Dempsey answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Honestly, I think it is mixed and depends on how you use social media. There are some benefits (e.g. advertising research, talking to the public, helping people support each other when living with various conditions) and a lot of well-publicised negatives (e.g. fake news, spreading conspiracy theories, helping extremist views).

      I think it comes down to how you use Social Media – I try to limit my use of social media and not lose focus on ‘real life’.

    • Photo: Caroline Brett

      Caroline Brett answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I’m going to be one of those “it depends” people…
      Social media on the whole is a great thing as it brings people together and can really help people who are feeling lonely or left out. In my work I find Twitter useful as it helps me keep up to date with research, meetings, conferences, and ideas in health psychology and mental health.
      On an individual level, social media can be really helpful but it can also be damaging – people present themselves in a different way on social media, and it can be easy to think that this is real.

    • Photo: Jasmin Moon

      Jasmin Moon answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      This is a good question!

      I think it depends what sites/apps you are using and also depends on the person.

      I find body image a particularly interesting area because research has shown that if we look at lots of photos of good looking, slim or muscly models on instagram we feel worse about ourselves. So I think it’s important to keep asking yourself ‘how does looking at this make me feel?’ when you are scrolling through pictures or tweets. If it’s making you feel bad, then unfollow those accounts or limit the time you spend on the app and perhaps follow some accounts that promote positivity and self acceptance (my personal favourites are The Happy Newspaper, I Weigh and Megan Crabbe).

      However social media is also a great place for people to connect who find it hard to speak to someone face to face about their mental health and used in the right way it can be very helpful.

    • Photo: Oliver Clabburn

      Oliver Clabburn answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Great question… i think it can be both good and bad!

      We hear a lot about the negatives of social media. It’s very true that people will often compare themselves to things they see online, whether that’s a body image thing, a certain lifestyle, or perhaps skills with a game. The important thing is, social media allows you to tailor and tweak what you post- so it’s not all true!! I think this is maybe the bad side of it all.

      The good side is the connectivity. Being able to chat and keep up to date with friends who live in New Zealand or Australia is amazing! Also, being able to share information and work through social media sites like Twitter is really useful.

      As with everything in life, it’s all about the balance.

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