Write a one-page reflective essay. In this essay, you need to Reflect on your own social media use throughout the day. Discuss the content you engage with, platforms you use, and reflect on how these interactions may shape your well-being and perceived friendship closeness. Mention here at least one psychological mechanism that we discussed in class: - comparison, validation, dopamine feedback loops. Search for 2 research articles that study your experiences (for instance, if you saw gaming content on YouTube you can search for a study on watching gaming streamers and how this relates to happiness) and briefly discuss what the main conclusions of these articles are. Refer to these articles using APA style + add the DOI/link to the article. important ! key words : media use, daily exposure, content, idealized, active(activity, messaging - posting)/passive (browsing, scrolling), enhancing or displacing Face-to-Face communication, friendship, gratifications
Technologies are omnipresent in our contemporary daily basis. It helps to guide you in your journey, reminds you tasks to to, converge all your contacts and your agendas. A smart phone become a tool and as an student you can not " go without ", you need these apps to connect to your virtual university, you need it to set an alarm to be on time in class, you check news, your friends' news, and you could post news as well and be active. Social medias and technologies are implemented in society as a progression and also became an ideal necessity. Each citizen living in a smart city has their hand over a phone, media use became a normalized habit. My personal experience with social medias started when I had around twelve years old, it first started with online game. There was a social game I was really into in named Blablaland, it was chat game with possibility to wander in maps and you can interact with users (mainly strangers), own skins, customize your profile and so on, it was very dynamic and easy to use. There were forums on these sites which I discovered later, with writing games, contests, drawings, etc. There was another game named IMVU in which you can chat and playing a character personalized with clothes, makeup from the shop of the game, and it was really realistic, very attractive also because of the graphic quality of the game ; you also could own a room and decorate it like "in real life" but digitally. These games have developed ways to generate revenue by offering paid features to achieve "better look" on your character which connects a monetary economy and the self-representation of ourselves through a character. There was also a way to connect to internet on the device Nintendo DSi on the application Flipnote Hatena. "Flipnote" was basically a drawing software and created an online platform where you can post and show you drawings to people in local server (limited to Europe because Asia has its own). There was also a big community : every night you could connect and chat with people, sometimes you meet again the same people and start to develop frienships. I remember spending less time with my family because I wanted to chat and draw with people online all evening. Later on, I discovered other social medias ; there were the mainstream one like Tumblr (mainly quotes and pictures), Facebook (creating a profile, adding friends), Instagram (for friends and arts), Twitter (that became X, then I left this site), Snapchat (discovered the ephemeral feature of the "stories"),... I had a preference to share art on social medias and supporting other artists, for some reasons, I often felt the urge to develop my digital footprint "out the mainstream framework" and tried to find alternatives, underground and niches social medias and indie web. I discovered deviantArt (a platform where you can post arts), Discord (discussion servers), Cara (an alternative for artists to Instagram), Magma (an oekaki board), Neocities.org (a platform where you can code your own website)... Some of social medias help you both discovering new people and reunite your actual friendships. The possibility of making new contacts all around the world has expanded and it makes it easier and faster, especially when you share the same interests as some communities. However, social medias can limit or change their features instantly, create algorithms and filter bubbles that have consequences on your online social environment. Daily exposure of informations on social medias could make you drift from a reasonable sane life, because "it is so implemented" that you start believing that you can not live without it. People online build and shape their own profile, an idealized image of them and it pushes you to believe this is the reality when it's only showing a partiality, a one side. The time and energy an user engages to create and build its online profile can be more or less valued by others people and it has different results than someone who doesn't produce much content. In a consumerism and industrial society, the productive one gains satisfaction which leads to more production to get more rewards and can derives to an addiction (the "reward seeking circuit"). Taking part of online contribution can be a challenge which can have positive components such as motivation, inspiration, setting achievements and maintening socials interactions. For exemple, in my case showing arts online offered me the opportunity to collaborate with other people, to receive compliments and having a feeling of validation, to have an online portfolio of what I did the past years,... But online activity also can have negative components such as : being seen and potentionally being judged by the content you post, not receiving the attention and interactions attended, ghosting messages and people (unintentionally hurting them and limiting your social interactions), being overwhelmed, feeling guilty, producing for an audience and losing your enjoyment... It is a double edge-sword and finding a way to correctly use a social media is important to think about because it is a tool and it has benefits and harmful effects. About the content, I remember during scrolling down on Tumblr, I found some very deep dark content. Tumblr is a social media platform mainly focused on visual content, the average age of users I was following were young adults of teenagers who were expressing themselves on the web. Suicide quotes, depression tendency content, hyper-romantization of insane beauty ideals, glamorisation of death, drug use praising... and so much more atypical, marginal, dark, prone to insanity content. It wasn't published on purpose to harm young people I believe, it was, to my point of view of teenager, a very sincere way to communicate their distress and misunderstanding from society, family and social environment. Someone who could relate to any of these contents, or an easily influenced mind could fall into this "rabbit hole" of madness which increases ill-being and mental illnesses in the hope of finding help or mutuals. The proximity to some online people can be very closed because you are sometimes witnessing content you internalized and remind you of yourself. Some idealized contents can be problematic but they exist so you can not totally avoid them and considering them. Some platforms banned sensitive contents or censor them, it might slow the process of publicy content and influence but this doesn't stop the fact these content are real and factually existant. The comparison with people's situations have various consequences because everybody estimate similarities or dissimilarities differently, some people will criticize or some people will envy the standards showed. In my opinion of an universitary student, online contents are truly interesting for sociological, psychological analyzes.
had to edit (short) Technologies are omnipresent in our contemporary daily basis. It helps to guide you in your journey, reminds you tasks to to, converge all your contacts and your agendas. A smart phone become a tool and as an student you can not " go without ", you need these apps to connect to your virtual university, you need it to set an alarm to be on time in class, you check news, your friends' news, and you could post news as well and be active. Social medias and technologies are implemented in society as a progression and also became an ideal necessity. Each citizen living in a smart city has their hand over a phone, media use became a normalized habit. My personal experience with social medias started when I had around twelve years old, it first started with online game. There was a social game I was really into in named IMVU in which you can interact with people and playing a personalized character with clothes, makeup and accessories you an purchase from the shop of the game. It was really attractive and realistic because of the graphics and quality of the game ; you also could own a room and decorate it like "in real life", but digitally. When you start to play this kind of game, you need the urge to connect everyday to increase your points and own more items. These games have developed ways to generate revenue by offering paid features to achieve "better look" on your character which links a monetary economy and the self-representation of ourselves through a character. Some people would spend real money to get a customised avatar and attract popularity on the game. I remember watching a documentary about people who dedicate themselves to live everyday through this kind of game, developing their relationships, and routine being connected online. It wasn't my case because when I was younger, my access to a computer was limited. But I received a Nintendo DSi as a birthday gift and discovered a way to connect to internet on the application "Flipnote Hatena". Flipnote is basically a drawing software and it developed an online platform where you could post and show your drawings to people in the same server (my access was limited to Europe because Asia and USA has its own) as you. There was also a large community : every night you could join the server and draw with people, sometimes you meet again the same people and start to develop frienships. I remember spending less time with my family because I wanted to chat and draw with people online all evening. Later on, I discovered other social medias ; there were the mainstreams like Tumblr (mainly quotes and pictures), Facebook (creating a profile, adding friends), Instagram (for friends and arts), Twitter (that became X, then I left this site), Snapchat (discovered the ephemeral feature of the "stories"),... I had a preference to share art on social medias and supporting other artists, for some reasons, I often felt the urge to develop my digital footprint "out the mainstream framework" and tried to find alternatives, underground and niches social medias and indie web. I discovered deviantArt (a platform where you can post arts), Discord (discussion servers), Cara (an alternative for artists to Instagram), Magma (an oekaki board), Neocities.org (a platform where you can code your own website)... Some of social medias help you both discovering new people and reunite your actual friendships. The possibility of making new contacts all around the world has expanded and it makes it easier and faster, especially when you share the same interests as some communities. When you share interesting content, you are rewarded with an attention note such as like, hearts or anything that can make you feel noticed. Your activity is seen, consumed, commented, shared and you start to feel important and valued. This validation can motive you to create more but also can make you feel overwhelmed or depressed when you don't get the attention you expected. Social medias have a control on it and can limit or change their features instantly, create algorithms and filter bubbles that have consequences on your online social environment. About the content, I remember during scrolling down on Tumblr, I found some very deep dark content. Tumblr is a social media platform mainly focused on visual content. The average age of users I was following was young adults or teenagers who were expressing themselves on the web. Sometimes I was confronted to depression tendency content, suicidal quotes, hyper-romantization of insane beauty ideals, glamorisation of death, drug use praising... and so much more atypical, marginal, dark, prone to insanity content. It wasn't published on purpose to harm young people I believe, it was, to my point of view of teenager, a very sincere way to communicate their distress and misunderstanding from society, family and social environment. Someone who could relate to any of these contents, or an easily influenced mind could fall into this "rabbit hole" of madness which increases ill-being and mental illnesses in the hope of finding help or mutuals. The proximity to some online people can be very closed because you are sometimes witnessing content you internalized and remind you of yourself. Some idealized contents can be problematic but they exist so you can not totally avoid them and considering them. Some platforms banned sensitive contents or censor them, it might slow the process of publicy content and influence but this doesn't stop the fact these content are real and factually existant. The comparison with people's situations have various consequences because everybody estimate similarities or dissimilarities differently, some people will criticize or some people will envy the standards showed. In my opinion of an universitary student, online contents are truly interesting for sociological, psychological analyzes.
Memon, A., Sharma, S., Mohite, S., & Jain, S. (2018). The role of online social networking on deliberate self-harm and suicidality in adolescents: A systematized review of literature. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(4), 384–392. https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_414_17 This article focuses on consequences of content on social medias experimented by minors that leads to mental disorders and suicidality. The online exposure of suicidal ideation .... (+) Social media use by minors has significantly increased and has been linked to depression and suicidality. It was found that social networking websites are utilized by suicidal and self-harming youth as a medium to communicate with and to seek social support from other users. Online social networking also leads to increased exposure to and engagement in self-harm behavior due to users receiving negative messages promoting self-harm, emulating self-injurious behavior of others, and adopting self-harm practices from shared videos.
Takano, M., & Taka, F. (2022). Fancy avatar identification and behaviors in the virtual world: Preceding avatar customization and succeeding communication. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 6, Article 100176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100176
Szolin, K., Kuss, D. J., Nuyens, F. M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2023). “I am the character, the character is me”: A thematic analysis of the user-avatar relationship in videogames. Computers in Human Behavior, 143, Article 107694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107694 Feldhege, J., Moessner, M., & Bauer, S. (2020). Who says what? Content and participation characteristics in an online depression community. Journal of Affective Disorders, 263, 521–527. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.007 Hsu, Y.-Y., Chou, W.-J., & Yen, C.-F. (2025). Online Risk Behaviors and Their Associations with Depression, Suicidality, and Nonsuicidal Self-injury in Adolescents with versus without Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Taiwan Jing Shen Yi Xue = Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry, 39(4), 203–209. https://doi.org/10.4103/TPSY.TPSY_36_25 DOI: 10.4103/TPSY.TPSY_36_25 Who Am I Inside the Screen? Construction of Virtual Identity in Multiplayer Online Videogames and Its Psychological Functions Gabarnet, A., Feixas, G., & Montesano, A. (2025). Who Am I Inside the Screen? Construction of Virtual Identity in Multiplayer Online Videogames and Its Psychological Functions. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 28(1), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2024.0231 Green, R., Delfabbro, P. H., & King, D. L. (2021). Avatar identification and problematic gaming: The role of self-concept clarity. Addictive Behaviors, 113, Article 106694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106694 (not public, incomplete) Kim, C., Lee, S.-G., & Kang, M. (2012). I became an attractive person in the virtual world: Users’ identification with virtual communities and avatars. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(5), 1663–1669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.04.004 (not public, incomplete) Griffith, F. J., & Stein, C. H. (2021). Behind the Hashtag: Online Disclosure of Mental Illness and Community Response on Tumblr. American Journal of Community Psychology, 67(3–4), 419–432. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12483 Identity and Relationships in Online Communities (livre) Riva, G., Wiederhold, B. K., & Cipresso, P. (2016). Identity and Relationships in Online Communities. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110473858 _______________________________________ Validation : community, engagement (as a user you take part of the contribution online), self-presentation and profile, feeling connected with people who share same interests and support you, Dopamine feedback loops : (fast/quick), notifications and feeling of being connected with people, dynamics control and easy to use, instantly connected, dopamine feedbacks loops if linked with gratifications and the emotional reaction of receiving something (a message, notifications, a gain) that makes you feel pleasure. Because a social medias is incredibly accessible and make you feel positive emotions, you will develop a habit or a compulsion to go back there. Comparison : idealised contents (pro-anorexia content, being exposed to violence, depression quotes a teenager could relate with), being influenced by other people content, chosing to be active (producing content, reaching goals or accomplishments) or passive (consuming, being informed) can be positive because it makes you productive, inspired and you can develop a motivation to be more active and contributive. can be negative because it can causes stress or demotivation if you don't reach the goal, fail at being "like the others who succeed" on social medias, influence you in the way you perceive yourself and internalize content. ---- Psychological mecanisms : comparison (idealized content?), validation (gratification) and dopamine feedbacks loops (anticipation,) ______________________________________ 2) Daily habit, easy to use (applications, dynamic controls), instantly connected in time and space, usefulness, convergence of every useful app in one device : phone., constant connectivity 1) Interactional features : chatting with strangers, connecting with people (user takes part of it). Connect with people who share the same interests as you = ability to connect with community. - PHysically distant, digitally closer. Device became a mediated companionship. 3) Producing contents and consuming, in our contemporary society medias are interconnected (networks), industrial system, fast and widely shared and spreaded information at any time, transparence : access to infos. Feeling in touch with the society = conformity. Careful : some media dominate the industry... you can be active or passive