When I think about an online activity which would reflect the notion of "Problematic Internet Use" (PIU), Facebook appears to rear its devilish little head. Since the advent of this social networking tool, Facebook has undergone a wealth of platform changes. The once simple wall posts, poking, and message sending has evolved to include the "Super Wall", News Feed, Video Application, Games, "iMusic". It seems like we're not in Kansas anymore. With each day that passes, when a Facebook user logins into their account, they are more often than not greeted with a new snazzy update. Thus, it comes as no surprise that college students everywhere cite "Facebooking" as the number one study time killer. I think that based on the current trends of Facebook usage, ultimately, Facebook has the potential to lead many individuals to have negative consequences in not only their academic career, but also their professional and social ones.
According to Caplan’s theory of "Problematic Internet Use and Psychosocial Well-being" (2004) , he cites three major components that ultimately become a continuous trend that is largely cyclic in nature:
1) Individuals who have psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence.
2) Such individuals opt toward online interaction because the perceive it as less threatening and they feel more efficacious.
3) Such a preference for online interaction leads to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then makes their problems (whether at school, work, or home) worse off.
The appeal of Facebook to the average user is the freedom it gives to individuals to portray themselves in whatever way they want. Facebook serves to facilitate this process. With respect to the freedom it gives users to decide what sort of information they want to share (i.e. their interests, relationship status, etc.) as well as pictures (with the ability to untag and/or only allow certain individuals whom you decide to view your pictures) and wall posts. For a person with psychosocial problems the aforementioned environment is ideal. In a sense, they feel less threatened within such an online space because they are in complete control. Such, control without fear of negative outcomes has the potential to lead to excessive and compulsive use of the Facebook network. As Caplan argues, such compulsion can trickle its way into other aspects of these individual's lives.
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5 comments:
Julia,
In regards to your post about Facebook and how it would be great for people with negative views of themselves in FtF social situations, I would like to raise a different view. Since people have to manually add you on Facebook I think it is reasonably fair to assume that they have to have some (albeit not a lot) of FtF communication with peers. It might not be that people who use Facebook have negative perceptions about themselves, but it is rather used by people with positive views on themselves. We all know that guy or girl that has about 400 pictures of there self on Facebook and checks it like it is their job. This would seem to go against Caplan’s theory and why people might have a PIU disorder with Facebook.
Hey Julia,
I am not surprised by the fact that “Facebooking” is the number one study time killer. Although I have managed to avoid the time sink of Facebook (I prefer youtube), I have seen many of my friends waste countless hours on it when they are supposed to be doing something productive.
Your post was great and described Caplan’s Theory well. One thing I wonder about is, even though users have almost complete control over what they display to the public, there is still much less anonymity on Facebook than on something such as a chat room. A user has to supply a picture and some information about themselves that others can see. In this way they are much less anonymous, which would presumably make them feel less safe. It would be interesting to know the effect that this has.
Facebook is a great example of an online activity that could lead to PIU. I also do agree that Caplan’s model is applicable because it is likely that lonely people would prefer online interaction over ftf interaction, which could then lead excessive use of the internet. I also do believe that Wallace’s approach could also add to the explanation of how Facebook activity could lead to PIU. It appears as if it is not only due to individual differences but the properties of Facebook that make it so luring. For example, Wallace mentions virtual self-maintenance and how people need to constantly go online to maintain a certain image. With the new features that Facebook now offers, people are more likely to check Facebook more often because of the growing number of ways one can maintain a certain image. Before we only had to worry about a profile and picture but now we have to keep track of how our virtual gifts, vampires, pokes etc. With the growing influence of Facebook, I agree that it could lead to negative consequences on some people’s lives.
Hey Julia,
I like that you were not afraid to tackle what we have all secretly been thinking about writing about. I think Facebook is definitely up there in terms of problematic internet users, because we all constantly check it everyday. The only thing I would question about your post is whether you went into enough detail describing how Caplan's theory relates to Facebook. Specifically, while there are plenty of people that use Facebook as an outlet for their psychosocial problems, there are still many people that use Facebook as a simple tool of communication. These people do not have psychosocial problems, so I guess what I would have liked to have seen in your post was a questioning of Caplan's theory. Does someone have to have psychosocial problems to use the Internet in an obsessive and compulsive way? I check my email, Facebook and perezhilton.com constantly, but does that necessarily mean that I have psychosocial problems?
Your post was still really well thought out, though! Good job!
Hey Julia,
In support of your post, and don't take this as disrespect, I took a facebook break in the middle of reading your blog and writing this post.
I do have a slightly different opinion, however.
It is my belief, and I could be wrong, but most of your friends in facebook you met in real life. Facebook isn't so much a tool for you to meet new people, as it is a way for you to stay in touch with your real friends. Now that's just how I use it, and maybe I'm in the minority. But for myself, I would instead attribute its addictive properties to a locus of control and gratification. I checked my facebook just now to see if someone had responded to a wall post I left just a while ago. Similar to my stock-market addiction, I have control issues, and like to keep up to date.
So I think your points are very valid, and that you have a strong understanding of Caplan's theories, but I think they would apply to chatrooms, dating websites, or maybe even myspace better.
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