Executive Summary: Over four billion people worldwide are estimated to use social media by 2025. Though a majority of people use social media to engage with family and friends, people also use platforms and apps to obtain news and engage with …
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Bystander_Intervention_finalreport.pdf
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Abstract: The use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) has grown to become a ubiquitous aspect of daily life in developed countries throughout the world. This rise of social media has resulted in increased public concern regarding the way in which individuals engage with SNSs, and the consequences of frequent SNS use. The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is an example of a social psychological phenomenon which has recently received attention as a significant factor associated with experiences of SNS engagement. The following study sought to contribute to developing understandings of SNS use and FoMO. This was achieved by assessing the extent to which FoMO mediated the relationships between SNS engagement and four other psychosocial factors (psychological need satisfaction, social capital, public self-consciousness, and public self-monitoring). Quantitative data were collected from a student volunteer sample of 218 New Zealand SNS users and analysed using a series of regression analyses. Relationships between each of the assessed psychosocial variables and rates of SNS engagement were found to be mediated by FoMO. The findings of this study support the view that FoMO plays an important role in understanding the range of complex and interrelated psychosocial factors relating to rates of SNS engagement.
Read more:
Social network sites, fear of missing out, and psychosocial correlates | Classen | Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace
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Researchers at the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) just published a paper in the journalPsychology of Violence that explores the question of whether technology “amplifies” the harm for youth who are bullied. Anecdotally, we have heard this to be the case from many youth over the years: that the bullying they experienced online was as bad, and in some cases much worse, than the bullying that they experienced at school. Adolescent targets, for example, often reported feeling less equipped to stop cyberbullying. They confronted more barriers when confiding in adults about these behaviors. Educators have policies and are trained to deal with the bullying that occurs on school grounds, but up until very recently this wasn’t the case for online bullying that occurred away from school. Moreover, sometimes the aggressors are anonymous, and the hurtful content is posted in a public place for all to see. So in many ways it seems that online bullying has the potential to be much worse for some who experience it.
I have written in the past on anonymous reporting systems in schools, and I strongly advocate for them whenever I have the opportunity to speak to educators on how they should prevent cyberbullying. Based on your own observations, I am sure you’d agree with me that youth are way more comfortable texting/typing – especially when it relates to giving emotionally-laden statements or sharing stories of a sensitive or delicate nature to an adult (such as a teacher, counselor, or administrator). Not only do these systems cater to the preferred method of communication for kids, they also offer confidentiality to the person providing the report. Furthermore, they help to empower youth to be agents of change and step up for themselves or for others who are being victimized. Finally, they allow for real-time reporting, can alert you to minor situations before they become major, and can provide a tangible “paper trail” of documentation for each and every issue that is made known.
