As social media has become a viral part of everyday life, it is one of the few aspects of day to day communication and interaction that we cannot seem to understand in terms of the effect it has on our relationships, morale and lifestyle. There always seems to be new theories or ideas floating around regarding both the positive and negative effects this new phenomena has.
Following dinner at a restaurant and observing a family sharing their meal, not with each other, but with their smart phones, Marisa Murray was compelled to delve further into this growing trend and the effects it has on our mental health. The Canadian woman partnered up with a Canadian mental-health research group to explore the issue.
Their findings suggest that social media does in fact have an effect on mental health. However, after reading the article highlighting their findings, I find it hard to believe that their research is accurate.
The team not only had to raise money, which means that the study was most likely funded by supporters who have a bias towards the issue, but the article does not go into detail about the participants it used to go about the project.
Only studying people who are involved with a mental-health professional does not in any sense accurately represent a larger population.
While the researching pair chose an interesting topic to look into, the way they executed their research cannot accurately lead them to a conclusion when it comes to social media's effects on mental health.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/25/is-social-media-harming-our-mental-health-researchers-wonder/
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