Over the last few weeks, an opportunity presents itself by evaluating whether exposure to the new media or social media has really made man to be happier or not. Certainly, the use of media technology has increased human communication across the globe. Within a twinkle of an eye, someone in Nigeria is chatting with colleagues in Australia and Japan simultaneously without moving an inch.
Titled; “Depression in girls linked to higher use of social media”, Health Policy Editor, Denis Campbell, has stated in his recent research that, there is a link between social media use and depressive symptoms among girls when compared with boys. The study found that girls are more likely to display signs of depression due to their interaction with social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook.
The study shows that the high rate of depression of girls than boys is closely linked to the greater time they spend on social media due to poor sleep because as many as three-quarters of girls who allegedly suffer from depression have low self-esteem and frustrated. The results prompted renewed concern about the rapidly accumulating evidence that many more girls show some mental health problems than boys and young men such as the tendency for self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
It found that two in five girls are on social media at least three hours a day, when compared to a fifth of their male peers. While one in 10 boys do not use social media at all, only 4% of girls said the same. “For example, while 7.5% of 14-year-old girls and 4.3% of 14-year-old boys have been the victim of online harassment, 35.6% of girls who are depressed have experienced that double, as the 17.4% of boys who have done so. Among teenagers that had perpetrated online bullying, 32.8% of girls and 7.9% of boys were depressed”, it added.
I recall a similar research, but with slightly different findings that interrogate the assumption that social media promote depression among female users. It was argues that women are more active on the social media than men. And to what extent do women engage in the use of this technology? The basis for this interrogation was to ascertain whether either of the gender was more preoccupied with serious-minded activity or not, although, no consensus was reached due to difference in outcomes.
According to Titilayo Osuagwu, whose study was titled; “Social media use among female students of University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria”, most research conducted in the field of social media use had established the fact that the female gender had dominated the platforms, saying little concern was being given to why females were avid users of the social media.
Osuagwu observes that research evidence into the reasons why females are attracted to social media, was very scanty and that despite women’s dominance in social media, there were concerns about the negative effects of social media to women because some media have high degree of social presence that makes them very personal. The result of her study corroborates that of the respondents that were surveyed, who had stated that they had high awareness of social media and that, their most preferred social media sites was Facebook. Respondents also disclosed that the basic reason why they use social media was to make new friends and to stay up-to-date in their networking activities including commenting on relatives, friends’ walls and commenting on brands.
Her findings validate the use and the gratifications theory that was one of the frameworks adopted for the study that shows that, social media audiences have certain media needs to fulfill, which would determine their active media choices. Furthermore, results show that there were benefits attached to using social media and these range from learning about various products, stress reduction, making new friends, keeping in touch with acquaintances and family members. For her, this is contrary to the belief or notion that females idle away on social media.
The research suggests that female students should ensure that they balance their social media lives with the other aspects of their lives. This is to prevent the negative consequences that are associated with excessive exposure to social media. Females should engage in using social media for more productive ventures that advance the course of women. In other words, they should leverage on the gender gap on social media to appeal to people’s emotions for serious gender issues that ranged from gender inequalities and violence against women.
Lastly, females should realise that social media holds a lot of benefits for them when properly harnessed. Like their male counterparts, females can use social media for effective outcomes in their business or professional lives. Going by the positions canvassed by the researchers, what is constant is that the use of social media is beneficial to all, but great caution has to be exercised such that technology would not turn into hazard for man. What we need is the discipline and decorum while using them. After all, technology is invented for man and not the other way round!
