By Nathaniel Buck
This story is jointly published as part of the Utah College Media Collaborative, a cross-campus project bringing together emerging journalists from Salt Lake Community College, Southern Utah University, the University of Utah, Utah Tech University and Weber State University. The collaborative is an Amplify Utah project with support from PBS Utah and POV.
You've probably been told your entire life about the many downsides of social media. In this exploration, we looked at the often-overlooked positive aspects of these digital platforms.
According to the American Public University, "[social] media sites provide opportunities for individuals to connect with friends, family, and like-minded individuals, even across geographical distances. These connections help maintain relationships and interests, fostering a sense of belonging, self-esteem and support in users."
Yet research frequently focuses primarily on the negatives. Dr. Mesfin Bekalu, a researcher at Harvard University who conducted a study on social media in 2020, found that "most studies focus on measuring frequency and duration of use."
Harvard's website reports these studies "seldom [consider] users' emotional connections to social media use and the effects associated with such connections," typically treating social media "dosage" similarly to television, which ignores what Dr. Bekalu called "the unique features of social media, such as interactivity, 'always-on,' and networked-ness."
We can see these traits at work in games like World of Warcraft, where users communicate through in-game text chat while completing fantasy quests. In 2006, Cornell University researchers studying these messages found players posted significantly more socioemotional messages than task-oriented ones, essentially using the game as a social media platform.
"Social media can also act as a sort of online forum," said Isabela de las Costas, a senior at Southern Utah University and advocate for minority clubs on campus.
She noted these platforms allow users to spread and critique ideas in real time, though she cautions that without proper care, users may "just spiral" rather than seeing positive change.
While social media certainly has its downsides, Dr. Bekalu suggested we shouldn't discount its positive aspects – those that allow us to connect with others, explore new ideas, and most importantly, have fun.
Nathaniel Buck reported and produced this story as a communication student at Southern Utah University.