The Relationship Between Social Media Use in People With Visual Disabilities - Literature review Example

The relationship between social media use in people with visual disabilities and social and psychological well being The relationshipbetween social media use in people with visual disabilities and social and psychological well being According to Pew Research (2014), about 74 percent of all internet users use social networking sites (SNS). Further, SNS usage based on male-female subgroup includes 72 percent of women users and 76 percent of men users (Pew Research, 2014). The figures reflect the popularity of social media platforms among internet users. The ubiquity of mobile devices and portability has enabled greater accessibility for the general population. This includes people with disabilities who use social media, in much the same way as others, to keep in touch, to network, play games, share content, follow their favorite brands, products, et cetera (Damiani, 2013). YouTube is the most popular SNS used by postsecondary students with disabilities (Asuncion at al., 2012). In terms of accessibility, Windows Live Messenger was identified as being the most accessible social media (Asuncion et al., 2012). Many students with visual disabilities, for example, use audio aid softwares that read text content or hardware that generates Braille output (Fichten, Asuncion, Barile, Fossey, & De Simone, 2000). Due to widespread popularity of social media, much of the communication is now being digitally mediated. As a result, social media has transformed online interactions with possible implications on sociability, loneliness, and self-esteem. Having lesser friends thins down the social network of disabled people however loneliness can be mitigated through training that promotes social network adoption among the disabled people (Raghavendra, Grace, Newman, Wood & Connell, 2013). Research indicates that people with visual disabilities believe that the use of social media generates benefits to their social and psychological well being (Guo, 2005). Hence, research suggests a positive relationship between social media usage and psycho-social wellbeing among visually disabled people. It has been found that among individuals with visual impairments, those youth who have low vision face more social challenges as compared to individuals who are blind (Gold, Shaw & Wolffe, 2010). As social media is rapidly gaining popularity among able and disabled audiences, it is necessary to reconsider the impact of electronically mediated mediums of socialization. This is also in response to the recognition of the need to have greater accessibility for disabled users. Hence, many platforms as well as social sites are offering varied accessibility options to its users such as the ability to search by voice on Google. Over the years, SNSs have also become vital channels for disabled people to help with communication. In fact, the resulting circumstances due to disabilities motivate disabled people to use social media for communication purposes (Hollier, 2012). More and more disabled people are engaging socially on SNSs. In particular, people with visual impairments found online communication more convenient rather than interacting in social spaces that involve considerable eye contact (Hollier, 2012). Moreover, the benefits of communicating online via social media involve the benefit of user engagement. People with disabilities may be more comfortable to interact online than in person because of obvious physical constraints. Throughout all this, accessibility plays a vital role in bringing the two parties together. More accessibility options for people with disability have allowed disabled people to overcome their challenges. For many people, internet-based interaction has reduced many social barriers in the social and physical environment (Gold, Shaw, & Wolffe, 2010). Therefore many visually impaired prefer to socially interact via social media due to physical constraints, and in many ways, SNSs are providing benefits to disabled people. Loneliness is often one factor that is associated with disability. The physical challenges that impairment can bring along impacts a person’s socialization process in different ways. Generally, physically constraints keep disabled people from socializing more. This is reflected in the social network of such people with markedly less number of friends. However, Hodge and Eccless (2013) point out that loneliness is not a consequence of vision loss. Rather loneliness is a consequence of the cumulative effect of a range of factors. Loneliness and in some cases, social isolation occurs as a result of dysfunctional interaction with everyday activities (Hodge and Eccles, 2013). In their research, Hodge and Eccles (2013) conducted a detailed literature review that focused on finding the relationship between loneliness and social isolation and vision loss. The research found out how psychological factors, gender, and socio-economic conditions affect feelings of loneliness and social isolation within a person with visual disabilities (Hodge and Eccles, 2013). Instead of conducting a quantitative measurement of visual impairment (VI) on psycho-social wellbeing, the authors used qualitative research methodology to suggest the role of individual factors, communication, and social interaction on loneliness among visually impaired individuals, both children as well as adults. Khadka, Ryan, Margrain, Woodhouse and Davies (2012) used focus group as the data collection method in order to find out the disparities in lifestyles of children with and without visual impairments. The sample size consisted of 81 respondents, mainly children and young people, who reflected on their daily activities. The focus group discussed on 121 different activities that are done by visually impaired and visually sound children. These included computer mediated activities and both online and offline social interactions. The findings indicated little difference in the lifestyles of children with and without visual impairments. However, those with vision impairments felt more restricted in some activities. Also, it was found that the restrictions were sometimes imposed by supporting individuals (Khadka, Ryan, Margrain, Woodhouse & Davies, 2012). The study indicates the social involvement of children with disabilities in the normal social context. While most of the activities involved similar experiences, there are some restrictions imposed. In the article, it has been realized that vision plays an important part in a child’s learning process. Hence, on an educational level, it impacts the interaction of a child with the world around them. Despite the association of visual impairment with social downsides such as loneliness, poor interpersonal skills, and so on, there is little difference in the lifestyle of children with or without visual impairments. The whole study is important because it shows that all children including those with visual impairments have almost similar lifestyles, which includes online social interactions (Khadka, Ryan, Margrain, Woodhouse & Davies, 2012). According to Kelly and Wolffe (2012), about 43 percent of visually impaired, transition aged youth frequently use internet for online communications. Although lower than half, the figure does represent a significant number of disabled people engaging online. Previously, more online interaction has also been associated with benefits in overcoming the disability challenges. However, Kelly and Wolffe (2012) have highlighted that the visually impaired, transition-aged people are not progressing at the pace of their visually capable counterparts. This suggests that the adoption rate for people with visual disabilities is lesser relative to visually capable people. The authors used descriptive analysis in order to examine the data samples of visually impaired transition aged people on a two year interval between 2005 and 2009 (Kelly and Wolffe, 2012). A study conducted by Wolffe and Sacks (1997) had found lower performance at school among visually impaired children. The study used a total sample size of 48 with equal number of sighted, blind, and low vision children made up the total respondents. The research followed a quantitative approach towards the research where a questionnaire was used as a research instrument. The results of the study showed that blind and sighted students did well in terms of academic performance scoring As and Bs. However, students with lower vision scored mostly Bs or even Cs. This indicated that partial visual impairment resulted in lower academic performance. Additionally, low vision students and blind students required more assistance from their parents. Also, visually impaired students indicated a considerable level of difficulty in their homework as compared to sighted students. This indicates the relationship between vision impairment and perceived difficulty of homework demonstrating the challenges of the visually impaired (Wolffe & Sacks, 1997). However, psychological wellbeing has not always been reported in research. A negative relationship between the two variables, that is, social media usage and psychological well-being, has also been observed. This is particularly true for the research done by Pinquart and Pfeiffer (2011) in which they noted a declining trend in psychological well-being for visually impaired people on an average level. The research used integrated results from 198 sources that studied the relationship. In addition, the research used diverse sampling techniques in order to collect data. This included probability as well as convenience sampling. The decline in psychological well-being among visually impaired people was more pronounced in convenience sampling. Also, it can be noticed that population norms were taken as a standard as opposed to a control group. The implications are important because they provide valuable insights for researches studying the relationship with social media and computer mediated communications. The research is also important because it highlights the effect of moderating variables such as age and comparison groups in affecting the relationship between vision impairment and psychological well-being. The popularity of technology driven communication has not only engaged visually capable people but has also engaged visually impaired people. The increasing popularity has also allowed a wide arrange of accessibility options to emerge not only for the web but for smart phone devices as well. Today, social media is at the peak with social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn having millions of users. Many people with visual impairment have declared how social media helps them by providing them an outlet and is better for interaction than any other social space. Social media is thus also gaining popularity among people with disabilities. In particular, the emergence of accessibility options including voice recognition, touch, and other gestures have allowed greater freedom and control to people with disabilities who are also getting on board of SNSs. As such, social interaction online has yielded a positive result on social and psychological wellbeing of a visually disabled individual. So, social interaction is very important in shaping the overall social and psychological wellbeing of a person with visual disability. While the research by Pinquart and Pfeiffer (2011) suggested that psychological wellbeing reduces for people with visual impairment, it is possible that social engagement visa social networking websites uplifts the psychological wellbeing of visually impaired people. Social networks provide the interactive virtual environment which is more convenient for people with vision disabilities. For one, virtual environments do not demand the eye contact that is required in physical environments. Secondly, virtual environments of social networks provide disabled users with accessibility options that aid communication. Therefore, there is a positive relationship between social media usage and overall social and psychological wellbeing for visually impaired people. References Asuncion, J., Budd, J., Fichten, C., Nguyen, M., Barile, M., & Amsel, R. (2012). Social Media Use By Students With Disabilities. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 16(1), 30-35. Damiani, M. (2013). 5 Myths About Social Media Accessibility. DigitalGov. Retrieved 31 December 2014, from http://www.digitalgov.gov/2013/06/26/5-myths-about-social-media-accessibility-2/ Gold, D., Shaw, A., & Wolffe, K. (2010). The Social Lives of Canadian Youths with Visual Impairments. Journal Of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 104(7), 431-443. Hodge, S., & Eccles, F. (2013). Loneliness, social isolation and sight loss. Thomas Pocklington Trust,44. Hollier, S. (2012). Sociability: Social media for people with a disability. Ultimo, N.S.W.: Media Access Australia. K., W., & S.Z., S. (1997). The Lifestyles of Blind, Low Vision, and Sighted Youths: A Quantitative Comparison. Journal Of Visual Impairness And Blindness, 91(3), 245-257. Kelly, S., & Wolffe, K. (2012). Internet Use by Transition-Aged Youths with Visual Impairments in the United States: Assessing the Impact of Postsecondary Predictors. Journal Of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 6(10). Kelly, S., & Wolffe, K. (2012). Internet Use by Transition-Aged Youths with Visual Impairments in the United States: Assessing the Impact of Postsecondary Predictors — JVIB Abstract. Journal Of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 106(10). Khadka, J., Ryan, B., Margrain, T., Woodhouse, J., & Davies, N. (2012). Listening to voices of children with a visual impairment: A focus group study. British Journal Of Visual Impairment, 30(3), 182-196. doi:10.1177/0264619612453105 Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project,. (2014). Social Networking Fact Sheet. Retrieved 31 December 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/ Pinquart, M., & Pfeiffer, J. (2011). Psychological well-being in visually impaired and unimpaired individuals: A meta-analysis. British Journal Of Visual Impairment, 29(1), 27-45. doi:10.1177/0264619610389572 Raghavendra, P., Grace, E., Newman, L., Wood, D., & Connell, T. (2013). ‘They think I’m really cool and nice’: The impact of Internet support on the social networks and loneliness of young people with disabilities. TJA, 63(2). doi:10.7790/tja.v63i2.414 S. Fichten, Jennison V. Asuncion, M, C. (2000). Access to Educational and Instructional Computer Technologies for Post-secondary Students with Disabilities: lessons from three empirical studies. Journal Of Educational Media, 25(3), 179-201. doi:10.1080/13581650020054370 Read More