User:CairnLouden

Online Identity

Annotated Bibliography

Harrell, D. F. & Chong-U, L. 2017. Reimagining The Avatar Dream: Modeling Social Identity in Digital Media. Communications of the ACM, 60 (7). Pp. 50-61. DOI: 10.1145/3098342.

Harrell & Chong-U (2017) investigate the means by which users self-represent themselves via online avatars in gaming and other platforms such as social media networks. The research intends to pinpoint ‘box-effects’—ie stereotypes, social biases, discrimination…—in both the preset categories in games allowing for avatar customisation, such as race, height and strength, as well as our own underlying box-effects that we use to represent our online identity. The methodology used combines the authors’ AIRvatar system with real-life participants to study individual choices in personalised attributes. As well as this, using Chimeria, the authors firstly built users’ social media personalities by using their musical preferences, and thusly affiliating the user with others with similar tastes. Secondly, they crafted an AI-system in which users had to ‘pretend to be something I’m not’ in order to convince a guard that they are worthy of entering a castle. This in-depth study of the potential of online identification covers a wide range of platforms and fits well with my groups chosen topic of ‘online identity’. The research is however limited in lack of prior, valid studies in the same field. The study also withholds some information on male users, suggesting inadequacy in results, considering the full disclosure of the female participants’ results. Harrell and Chong-U conclude by recommending further research on relationships between virtual identities and sociocultural identity phenomenon. I will be using this article in my collaborative essay as I feel it furthers my existing knowledge on online identities and digital media studies as a whole.

CairnLouden (discuss • contribs) 22:00, 8 March 2018 (UTC)

Assignment 3

@CairnLouden: Hey, I wanted to reply to you for the third assignment. I believe this will be very useful as you spoke about the psychology aspect of social media, in your comment for my last assignment. Thus, I decided to do some research.

I read a research article by Nihan Özgüven and Burca Mucan, called THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE.

The research by Özgüven and Mucan uses the participation of students aged between 18-25yo from the faculty of Economics and Administrative sciences at Dokuz Eylul Univeristy, Turkey. In total 580 questionnaires were distributed and 503 valid questionnaires were returned. Therefore, 87% return rate. Moreover, Özgüven and MMucan's research was to find out what influence social media have on people's personality traits.

By referencing (Goldberg, 1981) Özgüven and Mucan found "The factors that define personality are as follows...Neuroticism is defined as an individual's tendency to experience unpleasant emotions and expect bad hings to happen to them. Extraversion is defined as an individual's tendency to express himself/herself socially in an outgoing manner. Openness to experience is defined as the appreciation of alternative perspectives, intellectual curiosity, and the desire of artistic pleasure.Agreeableness is defined as a tendency to be reliable, sympathetic, and cooperative. Conscientiousness is defined as a tendency to plan ahead and be diligent and fair (Ross et al., 2009). The Big-Five had been in common us in exploratory research across diverse setting and cultures for almost a decade now (McCrae & Costa, 2004)."

Thus, to get the best results, Özgüven and Mucan wanted to get a broad aspect of the study, so asked students about their gender; income; and what stage of their degree they were at. From the 503 valid questionnaires, Özgüven found 54% were female, and 46% were- therefore male.

To add to this, Özgüven and Mucan found the most frequently visited website was Facebook (444/503), and Google coming second (396/503).

Özgüven and Mucan, also found the most common reason for usage of social media was passing time (363/503) and communication second (207/503).

The research found that there was "a positive but weak correlation between neuroticism" and the rest of the behavioural traits.

Likewise found that there was "a positive but weak correlation between life satisfaction and openness to experience" as well as life satisfaction and social media use.

In conclusion, results gained in this study revel that "personality traits play a vital role in determining the level of social media use. Conscientiousness, openness to experience and life satisfaction were found to be significant predictions of the amount of social media us, as were levels of income and education."

Social Behavior & Personality: an international journal 2013, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p517 12p.

MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 17:57, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

@MTxPrincipessa18: Hi MT, I think looking into the detriment social media can have on mental health is very important when discussing this topic. I did some research on the how social media affects mental health, and I think many of the ideas I have come up with may link nicely with the concept of one’s own interpretation of ‘online identity’. Please also note that refinement and further research (mainly from an academic standpoint) would be needed to form a valid argument.

According to MedicalNewsToday, there is a growing trend in Facebook addiction. This stems from the ‘reinforcements’ we receive when someone ‘likes’ or comments on a Facebook post. ‘Behaviours that are constantly reinforced will be repeated so it becomes hard for a person who has developed this habit to simply stop.’ This ‘creeping’ addiction is now so common that a psychological scale has been designed to measure it: The Berge Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS).

Research has shown that those who suffer from anxiety or social insecurities are in fact more likely to use social media, despite it being a key cause of such conditions. This may therefore trap users in a loop in which escaping their mental health issues may be increasingly difficult. In your own breakdown of Özgüven and Mucan’s work, you note they found some correlation with Facebook usage and life satisfaction. I think we could build these ideas further using of our research and finding more possibly if we meet up to discuss further.

On top of this, Steven Stogatz (Cornell University) found that social media can also fog the distinction between ‘meaningful relationships’ in real life and ‘casual relationships’ online. He worries that if we focus too much time on these ‘casual relationships’, we weaken the important, real life ones. Although many of us don’t use Facebook for these ‘casual relationships’, Anxiety UK found that over half of the UK population say that social media has changed their behaviour, 51% saying it was a negative change. There are also many studies into so-called ‘Facebook depression’ which has become apparent in adolescents, where their obsession with social media has led them to demonstrate depressive symptoms. I feel this too could be an avenue we could think about.

I think we should get together sometime this week to discuss this further, the collaborative essay is due soon and I think we have a good start so far.

CairnLouden (discuss • contribs) 19:36, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

@CairnLouden: Yes, I agree we would need to do further research on Özgüven and Mucan’s work. I think they both have done great survey research. However, I do agree we would need to do our own research to find out more about these behavioural traits.

My mind also kept ticking about why people feel so self-conscious, or depressed. Thus, I read a chapter from Cyberbullying: Approaches, Consequences and Interventions by Lucy R. Betts. The chapter is called ‘The consequences of cyber bullying’ (chapter five); and I particularly found part 5.1 called ‘Psychosocial Adjustment Consequences’ interesting and was saddened by it too. Betts states: “The term “psychosocial adjustment” encompasses a range of variables that impact on an individual’s well-being and social relationships. Broadly speaking, researchers have tended to examine the association between cyberbullying and young people’s mental well-being, self-esteem, and social relationships.” Therefore, I believe this would be a good fundamental base, for us to find out why people are getting psychological problems from social media.

Betts, L.R,. ‘Cyberbullying: Approaches, Consequences and Interventions’, 2016. Palgrave. MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 21:37, 20 March 2018 (UTC)

@MTxPrincipessa18: I'm glad you've found something on this because I have been struggling to find worthwhile pieces myself.

I've found that most of the research done concerning the damaging effects of social media have been carried out on children or in the context of children/adolescents. It seems there is a large gap in the academia. I think researching this topic could be very worthwhile not only for this course but maybe further on in our university careers, as it truly seems that there is a gap waiting to be researched.

Also, I don't personally believe cyberbullying is the only issue on social media. Of course, it is a large issue when children (and adults) are online, however I think issues with depression/anxiety spawn from somewhere else. As a complete speculation, I believe that, like you mentioned previously, things like Instagram filters, the feeling of not being good-looking or liked enough, etc. may have a stronger effect on mental well-being.

Thanks for yet another great article. Hope you have a lovely weekend :)

CairnLouden (discuss • contribs) 19:04, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

@CairnLouden: I have to agree with you, it was quite difficult. However, I am going to try to examine this work further. I Moreover, I believe that I could find research that has been conducted in the UK, similar to the Turkish survey. We most certainly could work together to fill in the gap that you are referring to.

I hope you, too, have a wonderful weekend. MTxPrincipessa18 (discuss • contribs) 19:47, 22 March 2018 (UTC)