Social Differences Among College Students

In the last ten to fifteen years accompanying the dawn of social media, means of communication among friends and strangers have been easier than ever. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has grown into the largest social media site on the Internet with 30 million users and counting. The ability to catch up with former high school friends who are now across the country or see how an aunt in Pittsburgh has been doing since the birth of her son are now as simple as the click of a mouse. However, the amount of “friends” acquired on social media may not be an accurate reflection of how many close relationships one truly shares. In an article from Bigthink.com titled “Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?”, Steven Mazie gathers research from Pew Research Center about statistics surrounding Facebook

Clarissa Silva article in the Huffington Post delves into social media’s impact on self-esteem. As a behavioral scientist, her interest in the matter relates to her field. She also gets the help of other experts Dr. Jennifer Rhodes, Natalia Lusinski, and Dr. Suzana Flores to help with her research. Silva states that “social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills" (1). Then outlines her research findings using rhetorical appeals.

I am comfortable with cultural norms for college students. Dressing for comfort is more often to be seen on a college campus. I dress with the majority on campus. I dress for comfort rather than business. There is a sense of comfort when dressing with most of a population because there are less chances for people to critique your look. However, each person can dress with the majority and still express themselves uniquely. Not everyone has the same style which makes standing out easier than before. Cultural expectations do not affect me. Picking out new clothes and trying to find trendy clothes is half the fun of shopping. This often results in following cultural norms and wearing what is trendy.

Ellison et al believed that Facebook is a ‘rich site’ for research into the quality of relationships due its ‘heavy usage patterns’ and the mechanics of how it is more about offline to online relationships due the nature of the creation of the site, for university students to communicate. Facebook in incredibly different from other CMC as many users actually know most their ‘friends’ in real terms on the site.

In today’s world, technology is at its peak. However, there was a time when things were getting evolved and websites were created to connect and socialize. For example, Facebook was created with the intent of connecting with people, but it rather forced people to compare each other’s live, which made some people sad. It became successful, but not completely successful. Libby Copeland’s essay, “Is Facebook Making us Sad,” addresses a key factor in how Facebook makes us sad, according to research and some expert testimony. One key factor that I would like to address in the essay, how humans compare their lives with others on Facebook, making themselves lonely and sad.

Desiring to have a better life in future inclines people to focus on their academic career. Schools, exams, busy schedules and a pile of work are quintessential this goal. Therefore, students who want to achieve a better future prefer undergoing hard work instead of engaging in social activities. However, social sides of college do not only occupy a big role, but also has plenty of benefits. Social life in college becoming increasingly essential in today’s world triggered an acceptable consideration: Social parts of college should be considered as equal as the academic parts because of psychological, social reasons and its benefits in terms of future.

Mehdizadeh sets up a group of 18 to 25 years old university students hypothesizing that those “with high narcissism scores can be correlated with a greater amount of Facebook activity… use more self-promoting content.” She also hypothesizes that males will use “descriptive self-promotion”, females will

Communication barriers are not the only issue that has been brought on by social media. Extensive social media use has also been known to affect a person’s self-esteem. Some individuals suffer from a low self-esteem and limit themselves to social media in hopes to create a different image of them. According to Charles Cooley, “The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind" (Morine, 2009). For some teens and young adults, social media may help them open up and achieve a higher self-esteem. On the other hand, social media on other teens and young adults may have a completely opposite effect. In an article titled, Is Facebook Making Your Child Depressed, it is stated that social media websites such as Facebook “can create a skewed reality that makes teens feel alienated” (PR, 2012). When a person, that is not completely happy with their life, goes onto social media and reads all about other people enjoying a multitude of activities and enjoying their lives this could

The purpose or hypothesis of this study addresses the anatomy of the Facebook network, communication behaviors and network composition, private messages and public communication, and the psychological implications of Facebook use.

There are two possible ways that the use of social networking sites can affect a person’s self esteem. According to a study conducted by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffrey T. Hancock, Facebook helps amplify students’ level of self-esteem. They explained in their study that when people post something on their profile, they have the opportunity to filter the negative information that they would not like to be exposed, and only publicize the information that they consider as positive. By doing this, people can build an ideal image of themselves online, which consequently increase the level of their self-esteem (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011). On the other hand, the study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which

In Nathan’s article, she keeps her principal focus on how foreign students interact with American students and the distinctive type of relationships that they build. It is quite strange to some of the foreign student’s that Nathan has interviewed about how non-committed American students are to the foreign students because American 's students do not socialize as much, and tends to spend more time alone. Furthermore, they will make small talk rather than being close friends or let it evolve into more. At that point, Nathan turns her center towards the difference between a relationship and a friendship between American and foreign students. She also discusses with different foreign students with different background and how they interact with their American roommates, and the relationship that they bond. In addition, American student’s family is a distinct subject from school but for international students, it is something naturally integrated into their social lives, which is why they care so much about their parents (Nathan 73). Furthermore, she discusses how many foreign students make comments about how different students look and the lack of attention that they give their professor compared to in their home country. Nevertheless, the social life and making companions in American can be quite troublesome for any foreign students. However, once you become acquainted with American students and get to be

It is becoming more frequent in today’s society to utilize social media to connect and stay in touch with others. In fact, one could say that social media has become an everyday part of our lives. More than 800 million individuals use Facebook daily (Fox & Anderegg, 2014). It is therefore of great significance, that one gives awareness to how the frequency of social media usage can affect our romantic relationships. This study consists of analyzing the amount of time one spends on Facebook and if the amount of time has an effect on the relationship satisfaction. Previous studies have gone over the aspects of the activities and concepts among individuals that can cause negative relationship outcomes but these studies have not extended beyond the concept of frequency. Moreover, previous research has suggested that individuals’ attachment status, individuals who have Facebook–related conflict, individuals who were in shorter term relationships, and individuals who have certain ideas of what normal behavior is when getting to know someone on the website can end up predicting negative relationship outcomes (Clayton, Nagurney, & Smith, 2013).

Facebook, a social networking website, has changed the way people communicate with each other. A social networking website is an online platform that allows users to create a public profile and interact with other users on the website. Facebook has even changed our most personal and private conversations and how they are conducted around the world. Since the internet’s birth in 1983, this trend of online communication has been growing. Created in 2004, now registered with more than one billion participants, Facebook’s user numbers surpass even the top four social networking websites combined. According to Wikipedia statistics, Instagram has 300 million registered users, LinkedIn has 200 million users, Classmates.com has 50 million users, and Flickr has 32 million registered users. To be further convinced of the claim that Facebook indeed changes the way we communicate, you would only need to create your own Facebook account and start participating in their social networking experience. Technology and internet usage is fused into every aspect of our society including the style of communication. The launch of Facebook in 2006 also enabled other devices such as touch phones, interactive tablets, and even advanced cars with their own networking capabilities starting in 2007. Facebook is a multibillion-dollar company and is highly recognized for connecting more people than other networks. Facebook’s long-term success can be attributed to providing entertainment, world news, and

As people use social networking sites more and more, psychological symptoms, such as social anxiety and depression, can begin to develop overtime. Feinstein’s research found that “depressed individuals also tend to engage in specific interpersonal behaviors, such as excessive reassurance seeking, that account for their greater likelihood of being rejected.”  Other social anxiety symptoms that can be triggered from excessive amounts of social networking include becoming less assertive, avoiding conflict, and expressing less emotion.  Results from Feinstein’s research also found that users directly felt a “depressed effect following interactions with romantic partners” and an “anxious effect following interactions with romantic partners” depending on how much time they spent on social media outside of their relationship.  Not only can the amount of time we spend on social networking affect us now, but it can also cause and make an individual more vulnerable to possible psychological problems in the future (Nauert).

The internet has a greater impact on people today than ever before. It has been a constant source of news, entertainment, and education for users around the world for more than twenty years. However, the most revolutionary of its technologies, social media, didn’t achieve mainstream popularity until about ten years ago. As a result of this new development, Facebook, Twitter, and similar services are becoming the most visited destinations on the internet. These websites allow users to quickly and easily share pictures, links, ideas and messages with other users; theoretically facilitating social interaction. But do these self-proclaimed social networking tools actually encourage healthy human interaction? The evidence suggests that they do.