Twenty Years of Social Media; Let’s Discuss “The Untold Truths"


Published: Jun 30, 2024
Keywords:
social media untold truths problems facebook mental health post-truth
Vassilis Karapetsas
Chris Mantas
Abstract

While social media have become a routine for billion of people and their key mean of communication, there are several issues and questions to be addressed with social media. This publication examines the key issues which have risen 20 years after the launch of Facebook and its “untold truths” which are discussed in this publication. Issues such as the mental effect of social media on its users – mostly young users -, manipulation of data, post-truth and the rapid expansion of “fake news” are just some of those “untold truths” discussed on this paper. Furthermore, this publication moves on with some recommendations on how to handle those realities. There are some hints so to reduce the time spent on social media, but also it refers on the need to ask for counseling if this is necessary. 

Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Astleitner, H., Bains, A., & Hörmann, S. (2023). The effects of personality and social media experiences on mental health: Examining the mediating role of fear of missing out, ghosting, and vaguebooking. Computers in Human Behavior, 138, 107436.
Atroszko, P. A., El Abiddine, F. Z., Malik, S., Mamun, M. A., Vally, Z., &Czerwiński, S. K. (2022). Lack of measurement invariance in a widely used Facebook addiction scale may thwart progress in research on social-network-use disorder: A cross-cultural study. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, 107132.
Beeman, C. (2018). Losing the Feel for Truth in Post-Truth “Democracies”: When Macro Data Harvesting and Micro-Targeting Befuddle Democratic Thought. America's Post-Truth Phenomenon: When Feelings and Opinions Trump Facts and Evidence, 165.
Berghel, H. (2018). Malice domestic: The Cambridge analytica dystopia. Computer, 51(05), 84-89.
Bleakley, P. (2023). Panic, pizza and mainstreaming the alt-right: A social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy. Current Sociology, 71(3), 509-525.
Brailovskaia, J., Ströse, F., Schillack, H., & Margraf, J. (2020). Less Facebook use–More well-being and a healthier lifestyle? An experimental intervention study. Computers in Human Behavior, 108, 106332.
Donlan, L. (2014). Exploring the views of students on the use of Facebook in university teaching and learning. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 38(4), 572-588.
Ejue, O. G., & Etim, D. S. (2024). Post-Truth Society and the Social Media in The 21st Century. Creative Artist: A Journal of Theatre and Media Studies, 18(1), 75-88.
Faelens, L., Hoorelbeke, K., Fried, E., De Raedt, R., & Koster, E. H. (2019). Negative influences of Facebook use through the lens of network analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 96, 13-22.
Gong, Y., Schroeder, A., & Plaisance, P. L. (2023). Digital detox tourism: An Ellulian critique. Annals of Tourism Research, 103.
Huang, P. C., Latner, J. D., O’Brien, K. S., Chang, Y. L., Hung, C. H., Chen, J. S., ... & Lin, C. Y. (2023). Associations between social media addiction, psychological distress, and food addiction among Taiwanese university students. Journal of Eating Disorders, 11(1), 43.
Jafar, Z., Quick, J. D., Larson, H. J., Venegas-Vera, V., Napoli, P., Musuka, G., ... & Rimányi, E. (2023). Social media for public health: Reaping the benefits, mitigating the harms. Health Promotion Perspectives, 13(2), 105
Kannan, L., & Kumar, T. P. (2022). Social media—the emotional and mental roller-coaster of gen Z: an empirical study. Managing Disruptions in Business: Causes, Conflicts, and Control, 81-102.
Nikbin, D., Iranmanesh, M., & Foroughi, B. (2021). Personality traits, psychological well-being, Facebook addiction, health and performance: Testing their relationships. Behaviour& Information Technology, 40(7), 706-722.
Popat, A., & Tarrant, C. (2023). Exploring adolescents’ perspectives on social media and mental health and well-being–A qualitative literature review. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 28(1), 323-337.
Richterich, A. (2018). How data-driven research fuelled the Cambridge Analytica controversy. Partecipazione e conflitto, 11(2), 528-543.
Sadagheyani, H. E., & Tatari, F. (2020). Investigating the role of social media on mental health. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 25(1), 41-51.
Surat, S., Govindaraj, Y. D., Ramli, S., & Yusop, Y. M. (2021). An Educational Study on Gadget Addiction and Mental Health among Gen Z. Creative Education, 12(7), 1469-1484.
Seiferth, C., Vogel, L., Aas, B., Brandhorst, I., Carlbring, P., Conzelmann, A., &Löchner, J. (2023). How to e-mental health: a guideline for researchers and practitioners using digital technology in the context of mental health. Nature mental health, 1(8), 542-554.