July 30, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Cutting back on social media use can improve psychological wellbeing.
Researchers at Iowa State University found that students who limited social media use to just 30 minutes a day has lower scores for depression, anxiety, loneliness and the fear of missing out.
[More]
October 31, 2022
by Elizabeth Pratt
27% of Americans say they are so stressed they can’t function.
A poll from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that more than a quarter of Americans are facing significant stressors due to external stressors that are beyond their personal control.
[More]
November 5, 2021
by Tina Arnoldi
Social media has opened up new ways for us to interact and share our experiences with others. It lets us connect with people around the world and keep up with people through their posts, pictures, and memories. However, it can also be overwhelming when we experience low response rates from those we thought would like our posts. Not getting any likes on our posts can feel like rejection, which makes us feel unappreciated and ignored.
[More]
August 31, 2021
by Elizabeth Pratt
Banning an online jerk from a social media platform may not be the answer to dealing with toxic people. It may just make it worse.
That’s the finding of a study from a group of researchers from Binghamton University, Boston University, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany.
[More]
November 27, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
During a global pandemic, many essential workers have been hailed as heroes.
Some are uncomfortable with the title, but there’s a certain group who especially love being viewed in this way. Narcissists.
[More]
November 24, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
When it comes to overall wellbeing, how a person uses social media could have a significant impact.
In a study from The University of British Columbia, Derrick Wirtz, an associate professor of teaching in psychology examined the use of three popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to see how the use of the platforms impacted the overall wellbeing of a person.
[More]
September 22, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teenagers experienced less anxiety and felt more connection to school during lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A study from the University of Bristol examined how 1000 teenagers across 17 schools in the South West of England coped during lockdown when they weren’t attending school in person.
[More]
February 29, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
A study from the University of Arizona examining the habits of teenage girls who take selfies found that taking and distributing selfies on social media isn’t associated with poor body confidence.
But selfies can become a problem if teenage girls spend a lot of time debating what photo of themselves to share, or heavily editing photos before sharing.
[More]
February 28, 2020
by Tina Arnoldi
We're in a volatile political climate in the United States and are heading into what will be an interesting election. Whether it’s a twitter storm or fake news, there’s plenty of ammunition for social media fights over political beliefs. And recent research found that general social media use has a negative effect on political knowledge, which may only fuel the fire in upcoming months.
[More]
February 20, 2020
by Elizabeth Pratt
Break ups are never easy, but in the age of social media, they’re even more complicated.
That’s why a group of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder set out to explore break ups in the age of Facebook.
[More]