The major findings of the research, which are the most common factors influencing and changing the developmental process of youth, are a reduction in attention and memory. Being introduced to social media early has side effects. As studies have shown by Kolb et al. and Roediger, early exposure to social media can have a significant impact on weakening attention span and memory retention. Emotional and sleep disturbance are common side effects as well, due to social media. Research from Hou and Wang, as well as Medic et al., suggests that social media can induce emotional instability, which is more common among individuals with poor sleep patterns. The most alarming issue is the addictiveness of social media. Social media platforms encourage and post a dopamine drive reward system, that gives off feelings of pleasure and relaxation, making it highly addictive.
When researching social media and the youth, the most reliable pieces of information are peer-reviewed papers and articles, google scholar is a great source when looking for those sources as well. I did find a lot of blogs and articles that have claims far beyond what is presented, those turned out to be unreliable and untrue. Other than that, the research experience was eye-opening, there was at times during the research a sense of familiarity, actions, and behavior habits, that are common but shouldn't be, and that was due to social media. The most interesting part of the research is the dopamine releases social media can induce, another eye-opening issue. The more research that was done, the more the topic seemed interesting and more familiar, habits that seemed odd can be pinpointed to an issue that doesn't seem to be effective but in reality, it has a major effect on our lives.
| All Content CC-BY. |
|
