Here's how social media affects girls who are prone to injuring themselves
| Jul 18, 2019, 15:59 IST
Social media may have a positive effect when it comes to connectivity, but it also has a rather bad name when it comes to mental health issues. Every day a new study shows up to dictate just how bad social media can be for our health. Now, a study has found that girls who are prone to non-suicidal self-injuries are more affected by negative social media feedback. As per the study, these girls were more affected by the thumbs down emoticon.
“We know that healthy social interactions are particularly important for teenagers, and we also know that social stress and self-injuring are linked in young people. Interpersonal stress, perceived criticism, and perceived social rejection are common triggers of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI)”, said Irene Perini, a researcher at Linkoping University. “When we post a picture or a comment on social media, the brain registers an expectation of being judged, receiving affirmation, as something important,” explained Perini.
For the study, the researchers compared data between 27 healthy girls and 27 girls with NSSI. These girls were asked to interact on social media and were asked to converse about an online game. These girls were then also told to rate each other and themselves. They were asked questions like 'How did you feel when you got a thumbs down?' or 'Did you like seeing your own face (selfie) on social media?'. Irrespective of their conversations, both the groups were given equal numbers of thumbs up and thumbs down.
When the results were out it was evident that the girls with NSSI had been a lot more adversely affected than the control group. The NSSI girls believed they had received significantly more thumbs down than they actually had. Not only did they not like their opponents very much but they also didn't like their own photos. “The quality of the interaction was kept artificially neutral, in order to investigate potential bias in interpreting social experiences. Indeed, girls with NSSI manifested a clear negative bias”, said Perini. Stay tuned for more updates.
“We know that healthy social interactions are particularly important for teenagers, and we also know that social stress and self-injuring are linked in young people. Interpersonal stress, perceived criticism, and perceived social rejection are common triggers of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI)”, said Irene Perini, a researcher at Linkoping University. “When we post a picture or a comment on social media, the brain registers an expectation of being judged, receiving affirmation, as something important,” explained Perini.
For the study, the researchers compared data between 27 healthy girls and 27 girls with NSSI. These girls were asked to interact on social media and were asked to converse about an online game. These girls were then also told to rate each other and themselves. They were asked questions like 'How did you feel when you got a thumbs down?' or 'Did you like seeing your own face (selfie) on social media?'. Irrespective of their conversations, both the groups were given equal numbers of thumbs up and thumbs down.
When the results were out it was evident that the girls with NSSI had been a lot more adversely affected than the control group. The NSSI girls believed they had received significantly more thumbs down than they actually had. Not only did they not like their opponents very much but they also didn't like their own photos. “The quality of the interaction was kept artificially neutral, in order to investigate potential bias in interpreting social experiences. Indeed, girls with NSSI manifested a clear negative bias”, said Perini. Stay tuned for more updates.