Social Networking Phillips 1

Social Networking and Social Anxiety

Torin Phillips

California State University, Monterey Bay

December 2014
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Abstract

There is extensive research studying social anxiety, social cues, and avoidance

behaviors. Recently, much research has been initiated involving social networking

and self-esteem and depression. However, there is a lack of research linking these

two subjects and studying their possible correlations.

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Social Networking and Social Anxiety

It is very evident that social networking has drastically altered the lives

college undergraduate students. Research has been increasing to keep up with

recent trends and to determine what their appeal is and what their effects are on

individuals. Facebook has over one billion users around the world (Facebook, 2012).

Statistics show that Americans devote a staggering 7 hours a month on Facebook

alone (Nielsen Wire, 2012). In the 2010 film, The Social Network, Sean Parker, one

of the founders of Facebook proclaims, We lived on farms, then we lived in cities,

now were going to live on the Internet! (Fincher, 2010) Walking around any college

campus you will see many of the students involved in various socially avoidant

behaviors, such as having their eyes glued downward to their phones, or devoting all

their senses to their personal computer screen. In a sense they effectively shut out

the real world, and essentially any perceived threat or danger associated with being

vulnerable. There are the potential for many positives to come from using social

networks and the Internet, but arguably many of the behaviors associated with the

use of them could be considered unhealthy. Whats more disconcerting is that these

potentially unhealthy behaviors have become normalized and unexamined.

The popularity of social networking on college campuses is apparent, but

what is also apparent is the extreme prevalence of depression and stress on college

campuses. It has been determined that the majority of college students experience

moderate (77.6%), or severe (10.4%) stress (Abouserie, 1994). The most likely age

group to experience major depression is between the ages of 15 & 24 (Blazer,

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Kessler, McGonagle, & Swartz, 1994). Furthermore, it has been previously reported

that as many as one-fourth of college students have experienced major depression.

(Pace & Trapp, 1995). One study of nearly 1,500 students found that 53% of them

had applied themselves the label of being depressed since their start of college. They

attributed their depression to loneliness and relationship problems among other

things (Furr, Westefeld, McConnell, & Jenkins, 2001). Another study found that 22%

of students felt unable to function as a result of depression (American College Health

Association, 2000). One study has determined that there has been a reported decline

in depression among college students (Engle, 2003). But this study was published in

2003, before the prevalence of current social networking sites, especially among

college students. Could it be possible that since the popularity of social networking

has increased, the pervasiveness of depression has began to increase among college

students, again?

Self-esteem has been shown that it can also be defined by positive appraisals

from others, and that negative feedback can be damaging to ones self-esteem

(American Association of University Women, 1991; Lawrence, Ashford, & Dent,

2006). The concept of self-esteem has been strongly connected to depression

(Garber, Robinson, & Valentiner, 1997; Heyman, Dweck & Cain, 1992). What has also

been discovered is that negative self-esteem is an obvious factor for depression in

adolescents (Garber, Robinson, & Valentiner, 1997), and more specifically it has been

correlated to depressive symptoms in college age students (Hermann & Betz, 2006).

Self-esteem has been officially defined as a persons positive or negative evaluation

of the self; that is, the extent to which an individual views the self as worthwhile and
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competent (Coopersmith, 1967). Self-esteem is also defined as ones general

feelings of self-worth (Rosenberg, 1965). There are many purposes of self-esteem

including acceptance in groups and discerning a meaning in life (Leary, Tambor,

Terdal, & Downs, 1995; Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). Whats more

interesting is that self-esteem can be defined as both a mainly stable trait that

develops over time and a flowing state that responds to daily events and situations

(Heatherton & Polivy, 1991). Similar to self-esteem is the concept of mattering.

Two variables, self-esteem and perceived mattering, have been shown to be strongly

connected. Mattering, one of the posited strongly correlated self-belief factor, was

defined as the feeling that others depend upon us, are interested in us, are

concerned with our fate, or experience us an ego-extension (Rosenberg &

McCollough, 1981). This definition sounds oddly similar to the cognition behind

using social networking sites.

Self-esteem has also been connected to ones perception of stress.

(Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989; Kliewer & Sandler, 1992; Gloria & Robinson

Kurpius, 2001; Wilburn & Smith, 2005). The higher ones self-esteem a person has,

the less that persons perceived level of stress is. It has been suggested that positive

self-esteem improves a persons ability for coping with stress (Simonds, McMahon, &

Armstrong, 1991). Conversely, self-esteem has been negatively related to stress. It

has also been found that women in college report higher level of stress compared to

men (Abouserie, 1994; Matud, 2004). Whats interesting is that 76% of adult women

use Facebook, while only 66% of adult men do (Hillsberg, 2014). The Engle report

(2003) had also included that, although it seems rates of depression have decreased,
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it still remains a significant issue, particularly for women. The occurrence of

depression among women is about twice as much more than among men. (American

Psychiatric Association, 2000; Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994).

One of the main characteristics of social anxiety is the avoidance of feared

social situations. Cognitive models measured that individuals with social anxiety rely

on subtle cues in social situations that supposedly maintain safety; for example

avoiding eye contact. (Wells, Clark, Salkoviskis, Ludgate, Hackmann, & Gelder, 1995).

What this study found was that these behaviors are active avoidance behaviors and

are learned through operant conditioning. It had been posited that these avoidance

behaviors reduce the stress associated with negative consequences, which are also

learned though conditioning (Lovibond, Saunders, Weidemann, & Mitchell, 2008).

Again, neuroscience research suggests that reward learning and avoidance learning

activate similar brain regions that are involved with processing rewards (Delgado,

Jou, Ledoux, & Phelps, 2009). Exploring this further, the measured relief that one

feels following a learned avoidance response is measured similar to the experience

one feels receiving a reward (Seymour, ODoherty, Koltzenburg, Wiech, Frackowick,

Fiston, & Dolan, 2005).

The extensive time spent by individuals on social networking sites, and the

relation of the meticulously crafted positive, yet deceptive self-presentations that

people convey on said sites, have marked obvious concerns that they are damaging

to ones self well-being. (Chou & Edge, 2012; Jordan, Monin, Dweck, Lovett, John, &

Gross, 2011.) There has been a lack of evidence supporting that such exposure to

social comparisons is self-enhancing (Haferkamp & Kramer, 2011; Wills, 1981).

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What has been shown, however, that individuals in need of a positive ego-boost,

more specifically those in a negative state, avoid positive depictions of others and

instead spend more of their time viewing downward social comparisons, enhancing

their self-esteem. Therefore, the selective exposure alleviates their negative mood,

and is sought out similarly in the way socially anxious individuals selectively chose

exposure, and the rewards they feel from avoiding certain stimuli. One aspect of

using social network proposed was that individuals have the choice to select what

content they immerse themselves in. A specific use for individual mood management

is using social comparisons on networking sites for self-enhancing.

Many studies on the motivations behind using social networking sites have

risen to keep up with the publics interests in said sites. One such study claimed that

social network use by an individual helps with maintenance of, and development of

social capital (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). These same researchers also

showed how use is correlated with the need to reduce loneliness and boredom.

(Steinfeld, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008). One interesting find is that viewing ones own

personal profile on a networking site positively promotes their self-esteem, but this

study did not investigate what happens looking at someone elses profile. Another

study actually showed that the self-involved activity also enhances social support

(Kim & Lee, 2011), but, in fact, the majority of time spent social networking is

focused not on individual interests, but on the activities of others (Metzger, Wilson,

Pure, & Zhao, 2012). However, the study that does focus on the needs behind social

comparisons, such as the effects on self-esteem, is limited (Zywica & Danowski,

2008).
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Humans have been considered to hold a basic drive to compare themselves to

others (Schachter, 1959). The reason behind this drive to compare to other human

beings has been implied as evaluating the self (Festinger, 1954), helping with

decision making (Carmerer & Lovallo, 1999), for inspiration (Lockwood & Kunda,

1997), and for regulating ones emotions and well-being (Taylor & Brown, 1988;

Tesser & Campbell, 1982). Earlier studies, conducted before the advent of online

social networking, showed that the motivation in individuals behind comparing

themselves to others in the environment is for self-evaluation, self-improvement,

and self-enhancement (Wood, 1989). In the traditional sense, social comparison has

been an offline pursuit, involving those in close relation to others in-person. A

common form of social comparison is downward social comparison, behind which

the motivation is self-enhancement. The action of comparing ones self to people

who are worse off allows an individual, whose self-esteem had been previously

threatened, the ability to restore it (Willis, 1981). Similarly, upwards comparisons

allow individuals the ability to identify with and aspire to be like those who are

better off (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997).

As the rise in popularity of social network has increased, it is being suggested

that the majority of social comparison information inclines toward upward

comparison (Rosenberg & Ebert, 2011). The result of the mood management study

of social networking, was that, overall, users spent more time browsing others sites

whom they rated as either highly successful or attractive. However, those influenced

by a negative mood spent more time making downward comparisons, and less time

making upward comparisons. Moreover, it was established that they appeared to

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have been motivated to mend their negative disposition through selective exposure

to downward comparisons, which have the potential of restoring their good mood,

and through the explicit avoidance of upward comparisons, which have the potential

for further mood damage and self-belittlement (Johnson & Knobloch-Westerwick,

2014).

It has been determined that the motivation behind social network use is for

mood management, and that social comparison is a very popular and common form

of mood management for users to repair their negative mood. Although, there was a

preference for upward comparisons, these comparisons actually might be harmful

toward self-perception, mood, and overall individual well-being. It has been shown

that upward comparison can be beneficial, in the fact that it inspires people to be

more like the aim of the individuals comparison. Nevertheless, it has been shown

that more frequently makes people feel inadequate, make poorer self-evaluations,

and even experience negative mood influencing (Marsh & Parker, 1984; Morse &

Gergen, 1970; Pyszcynski, Greenberg, & LaPrelle, 1985). Conversely, downward

comparisons have the potential of making people feel worse (Aspinwall, 1997), but

more frequently improves positive mood and ones self-evaluation.

Although there is evidence supporting the claim that social networking self-

presentations are actually more realistic than idealized (Back, Stopfer, Varize,

Gaddis, Schmukle, Egloff, & Gosling, 2010), there is also evidence against, which

suggests that the concept of self-presentation on social networking sites is

detrimental to ones well-being comparatively, and adds to individualized and

unrealistic perceptions of others, and delusions regarding their own self-well being
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(Jordan et al., 2011; Chou & Edge, 2012). Social networking allows users the perfect

opportunity to meticulously design self-presentation, and take time to selectively

choose which content they are exposed to. Of course, this could be considered a form

of mood regulation. What is obvious is that users craft online personas that

emphasize their most positive and desirable traits (Gonzalez & Hancock, 2011).

Comparatively, face-to-face interactions do not allow individuals the same

opportunity, in terms of flexibility or contemplation (Ellison, Heino, & Gibbs, 2006).

Being frequently exposed to positive rather than negative images and content on

Facebook, users were found to believe other Facebook users were happier, and more

successful compared to themselves. What appears to be happening is that people

might potentially be comparing their natural and honest offline selves to the

idealized online selves of other users, obviously threatening towards ones self-

evaluation and well-being.

There has been research showing that frequent and recurrent Facebook use

has been shown to be associated with increased depression and a lowered well-

being (Feinstein, Hershenberg, Bhatia, Latack, Meuwly, & Davila, 2013; Kalpidou,

Costin, & Morris, 2011; Kross, Verduyn, Demiralp, Park, Seungjae, Lin, Ybarra, 2013;

Mehdizadeh, 2010; Rutledge, Gillmor, & Gillen, 2013). Similarly, there does exist

research examining whether exposure to Facebook in general affects self-esteem

(Forest & Wood, 2012; Gonzalez & Hancock, 2011; Wilcox & Stephen, 2013).

Because social networking use is so prevalent now, questions were raised regarding

chronic, as well as temporary exposure to social comparison involved with social

networking on self-esteem. The results of that study did show that recurrent
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Facebook use had been associated with lower self-esteem. Indubitably, it was also

determined that among these findings was a greater exposure to upward

comparisons.

In relation, those who were exposed short-term to Facebook reported lower

self-esteem and self-evaluation in that state, and were especially lower when the

target profiles contained upward comparison information compared to when the

target profiles contained downward comparison. What fell under the category of

upward comparison was a highly active social network, and healthy habits, among

other things. However, what fell under the category of downward comparison was a

modestly active social network, and unhealthy habits, for example (Vogel, et al

2014). What is surprising though is that surveys do show that there are positive

relationships between social network use and self-esteem (Kim & Lee, 2011;

Mehdizadeh, 2010; Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006). More recent studies,

however, have shown that people who make social comparisons on social network

outlets report more depressive symptoms (Feinstein, et al 2013). These people also

evaluate themselves as being more inconsistent with their idealized self

(Haeferkamp & Kramer, 2011). In general, it has been shown that people who spend

more time on Facebook also have a lower well-being overall (Mehdizadeh, 2010;

Kalpidou et al. 2011; Kross et al., 2013).

In summation, it has been previously studied the correlation between social

network use and depression, as well as the motivations behind using social

networks. Research behind the cause of these socially avoidant behaviors, and if

they are related to depression and self-esteem, is lacking. What has been previously
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determined is that people with social anxiety rely on subtle cues in social situations

that supposedly maintain safety; for example avoiding eye contact. (Wells, et. al

1995). What this same study found was that these behaviors are active avoidance

behaviors and are learned through operant conditioning. It has essentially been

posited that people with social anxiety have low self-esteem. What also has been

determined is that people with low self-esteem use social networking to participate

in and express themselves in what they consider a safe environment (Forest &

Wood, 2012). The end result may be a vicious cycle of using social networking to

temporarily relieve their stress associated with perceived threats of various social

cues, like disapproving faces, for example. The resulting upward comparisons

towards others on social networking sites in fact have been shown to impair their

self-esteem. This could essentially restart the cycle. What has not been tested is the

connection between these two studies.

Are socially avoidant behaviors, like the act of avoiding eye contact by using

social networking on ones cell phone for example, learned behaviors in order to

cope with the stress of perceived threats and social cues? And are these behaviors

even more detrimental to ones self esteem? Does it increase ones perceived threats

of things like strangers perceived disapproving faces and therefore increase their

social anxiety? And does this social anxiety increase perceived isolation, and

therefore increase depression? The prediction is that the higher the prevalence of

anti-social social networking use in an individual, the higher their depression is, and

the higher their perception of stress. Perhaps the whole business of social

networking is an infinite loop, seemingly alleviating peoples insecurities and fears,

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but also creating them. Maybe social networking is positively addicting, but the

behaviors associated with are unhealthy and damaging.

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