7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Social media has become a huge part of people’s daily lives.  This can be positive for globalization and connecting people who were previously not connected, but the overuse of social media can lead to negative effects.  

·     The who:  People who use social media frequently. 

·     The what: They are overusing social media which can lead to a waste of time as well as negatively affect their mental health.

·     The why:  When on social media, people continue to find new posts and want to continue to read and scroll through their feeds, causing them to be on it way longer than intended.  

·     Testing the who: People all over the globe are using social media more and more as technology continues to advance. 

·     Testing the what:  The boundaries of the need might include people who just thoroughly enjoy using social media and it does not negatively affect their mental health. 

·     Testing the why: Everyone who overuses social media can relate to experiencing lost time or the feeling of missing out because they see their friends doing fun things on social media. 

1.    I first interviewed my older brother, who is a senior at the University of Florida. After speaking with him, he claimed to use social media several times a day.  His reasoning was because he has done it for so long, his natural instinct is to go on his phone and check Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter to see what his friends are up to.  He said he does not recognize any negative health affects but does believe he wastes a lot of his time on social media.

2.   My next interviewee was my friend’s roommate who is a girl and always complains about her social media addiction.  She claims that she finds herself comparing her life to those on her feed of Instagram, which can lead to a loss of self-confidence.  

3.    I then interviewed my roommate, who is constantly on his phone looking at Twitter and Instagram.  After speaking with him, I discovered that his reason for being on social media so much is because he will look at one post that he finds interesting, then a link to another post similar to that one will appear, and he will follow this trap for up to 30 minutes scrolling through meaningless posts.  While he enjoys looking at these cool/funny posts, he soon realizes that he has wasted a portion of his day that could have been put to much better use.

4.    I also interviewed my mom, because she has social media but did not grow up with it like my generation has.  She says that because she did not grow up with social media being a major part of her life, she has no problem going on Facebook for a short period just to check up on her friends.  This represents a healthy social media usage. 

5.   Lastly, I interviewed my friend who is a girl my age.  She says that she can recognize when she has been on social media for too long, but sometimes does not gain the self-control to put it away. She also said that many times it is just second nature for her to pick up her phone and go on Instagram without even consciously realizing it. 

After interviewing these five people, I have found things that are new and confirm my hypothesis. I found that many people go on social media as more of a habit than anything else, leading to a large waste of time.  I also found that people compare themselves to those on their feed and this is where the health concerns come in to play.