Social media has been on the rise for well over the past decade. Social media has an influence in our lives in ways we do not even expect it. As individuals, we are always connected through our phones, laptops, and other devices. We can always pick them up and see what is going on in others lives. This has been a blessing for family members and long distance friends to stay in touch or reconnect, but it has its negative effects as well. Those being on mental and/or physical health, happiness, and sleep.
Social Reasoning
What is social reasoning and how do we define it? According to SpringerLink it states that "social reasoning involves the ability to draw inferences about others’ intentions, dispositions, and actions, in order to regulate one’s own behaviors. " Social reasoning can inhibit humans in many different ways--regarding Snapchat it can be very damaging.
What is Snapchat?
Snapchat was founded on September 16, 2011 by Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy who all attended the University of Stanford. The group of three created a previous app, but in 2011 relaunched the app as Snapchat and kicked Brown out of the company. Brown was credited as a founder of the company. Snapchat allows its users to interact with friends, and even strangers, by photos as well as "stories" and chats. Snapchat is used by a great number of individuals and some people even have entire relationships through Snapchat. This app is also unique because it can allow people to save "snaps", either photos or videos, rather than having them take up storage on one's phone. Snapchat is more personal as you are communicating with your friends through constant photos of yourself. However, it can seem more impersonal because the people you snap may not be people you know.
Problems within Snapchat
Snapchat can make relationships seem more insignificant. Snapchat may be more “intimate” and mainly used for your close friends, as you take photos of yourself to interact with people. However, when “snapping” someone you may not know really well it can make you think you know them when in reality you have never even spoken to them, or maybe never even met. “Oh I don't really know them but we snap so…” This is an example of snapchat affecting our social reasoning and our relationships with others. This can inhibit how we navigate and understand our relationships, which can then affect how we act around people in person.
The 'disappearing' messages feature of Snapchat makes it very tempting for teens and tweens to share compromising photos or engage in cyberbullying and the Snapmap sharing a student's physical location can be a scary thought for parents who want to protect their kids from predators.
In one article it talks about the special feature of the disappearing messages on snapchat. This creates a way to have private conversations with others however as shown in this quote this can have its downfalls. This influences its users to send messages that could be considered inappropriate or even bullying. Basically this feature allows things to “slide under the rug” and allows things that should not be happening happen. One example of this is drugs and substances, drugs are commonly dealt on snapchat because the chats disappear and it's harder for evidence to build up.
Why this intertwines with social reasoning....
Again social reasoning is the ability to connect and be aware of others intentions, dispositions, and actions and how they can affect an individual's behavior. Snapchat can create a false reality of someone you may know but it can also give you the ability to connect to other people. Snapchat and social reasoning intertwine because Snapchat gives us a glimpse of other people, where they are, what they are feeling, how they look, and more. This allows us to see into people's personal lives which forces us to use social reasoning when using Snapchat. This can have a negative effect on your mental health. Snapchat can make you feel excluded and have self doubt because of the way the app is used. This can cause you to act irrationally with an individual and feel certain emotions.
Solutions
- Limit the number of people you Snapchat who you do not know. This helps you understand who is seeing your content that you are publishing online.
- Remember that it is only a glimpse into their life. This is important because people like to show off a highlight reel of their lives through their stories, not what they are actually feeling or going through.
- Watch your screen time on the app. Mindfulness is extremely important when it comes to using social media. Just being aware of how much time you are on the platform and taking breaks can be very beneficial. The more you step away from it the more you will realize its less important than you think.
Sources
25 easy tips for using social media responsibly. Smart Social Learn How to Shine Online. (2020, July 15). https://smartsocial.com/post/using-social-media-responsibly
Cornell research study shows how Snapchat is changing the way we share information. Cornell University. (n.d.). https://cis.cornell.edu/cornell-research-study-shows-how-snapchat-changing-way-we-share-information
Design guide. Design Guide. (n.d.). https://www.humanetech.com/designguide
History of Snapchat: Timeline and facts - thestreet. (n.d.). https://www.thestreet.com/technology/history-of-snapchat
Levesque, R. J. R. (1970, January 1). Social reasoning. SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_610#:~:text=Social%20reasoning%20involves%20the%20ability,to%20regulate%20one%27s%20own%20behaviors.