Effects of Social Media Addiction on the Real Life of Someone - Research Proposal Example

Research proposal An exploration into the effects of social media addiction on the real life of someone Introduction The utilisation of social media has gained significant popularity in recent times and many people feel that they cannot do many things without the social media. Increased usage of this technological communication approach can result in an individual becoming addicted to the social media. The aspect of addiction has been defined as spending almost all the time one has surfing the social media sites. Increased usage of these sites and spending a lot of time online could have some psychological effects upon the individuals performing those actions. Many young adults spent a lot of time on the social media and can be described as dabbing to virtual life as a result of websites like Facebook, Google plus, twitter Instagram and many others. The number of users of these websites continues to increase and their popularity is increasing as well. While it is an indication of the increased application of technological methods in communication, the number of hours that people are spending on these sites continues to increase as well. Although the communication can be productive and impact a positive change on someone, the misuse of the sites quickly becomes habitual and is thereby described as an addiction. It causes the users to value social media more than anything else. The study of social media addiction of people can provide analysis of many elements which affect people seal life as a result of the social media usage. This study will focus on the effects of addiction to the social media and not just its use. Literature review The usage of social media is a topic which has been widely studied due to the relevance of the social media in the modern times. It is extremely difficult for individuals to fail to utilize a social media site in the modern times due to their popularity. Increased usage has, however, been described as leading to addiction just like any other content which is addictive (Coyne, Padilla-Walker, & Howard, 2013). While the users commonly encounter various problems which include bullying and other related cybercrimes, addiction to these sites presents a daunting challenge to the people in the real life. Social media addiction poses a threat to the self-esteem of an individuals as it makes them lack confidence in real life (Twenge, 2013). This makes the users to look towards outwards acceptance of self-esteem rather than building confidence from within. The mental health of users has also been a factor that could be influenced by the addiction of individuals to the social media. Individuals have been observed to suffer from delusions as a result of the virtual relationships which are created on the social media platforms. As individuals seek to escape from loneliness, many of them create numerous virtual relationships through social media (Kim, LaRose, & Peng, 2009). This appears to provide solace to them in the short term, but has some detrimental effects of emotional damage to the addicts. Many people who are addicted to the social media leave the physical reality of life to continue living within virtual environments of the social media. Aims and objectives The aim of my research will be seeking to shed light and expose some of the dangerous effects of social medial addiction upon the users. I would like to examine the perceptions that individuals addicted to the social media have and how they believe the social media has impacted their lives. My objective in this research will be conducting brief interviews with selected participants in seeking to establish how they understand the element of social media addiction. I hope to be able to gain a better understanding of the concept of addiction and establish some of the effects this addiction has on the users. Methods In order to meet the desired outcomes of the above stated aims and objectives of the study, I intend to conduct interviews with selected participants who will be willing to take part in my study. All the people involved in the research study will be users of various social media sites and communication to invite them for interview will be through the social networking sites. I aim at conducting 20 interviews within different participants, who will be willing to participate in my study. The interview questions will be written on paper and the answers provided must be recorded for transcription at a later stage. All the interview questions will be open ended to enable the participants to describe their perceptions as closed-ended questions are limiting. The utilisation of an interview in data collection will enable response to be gained immediately, hence minimising the tie take in data collection. Some tentative interview questions will include the following How many hours per day do you sue the social media on average? How many sites are you currently enumerated in? For what purposes do you use the social media? How would you define your know-how of the social media sites in a single sentence? Analysis Qualitative data analysis methods will be utilised in analysis of the collected data in order to make conclusions based on the facts established from the data. The interview recording will be transcribed in seeking to analyse the data according to different categories according to the interview questions. Significance The study will be seeking to add to the existing body of knowledge on the effects of addition to social media upon the real lives of people. There has been many concerns about the activities which young adults and children undertake on the social media. This study will provide an insight into those activities and create awareness of the negative effects which the social media has upon ones livelihood. The study will encourage individuals to be careful while using social media in seeking to ensure that they do not become addicts of the sites. The study will also be able to clear some existing misconceptions about the increased usage of the social media by bringing facts. References Coyne, S. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Howard, E. (2013). Emerging in a digital world a decade review of media use, effects, and gratifications in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 1(2), 125–137. Kim, J., LaRose, R., & Peng, W. (2009). Loneliness as the cause and the effect of problematic Internet use: The relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(4), 451–455. Twenge, J. M. (2013). Does online social media lead to social connection or social disconnection? Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 11–20.  Read More