Psychology of Social Media

It's amazing the impact the internet can have on the world and how much it can destroy or promote something. By just a click of a button or an upload of a photograph, someone can completely change the world and the way we look at it. For instance, the numerous incidents with United Airlines have left a huge impact on their business just by people sharing their stories online. By using the online platform, the incidents can spread like wildfire. People can see and share these shocking stories from all over the world. From funny songs 'United Breaks Guitars' to misunderstood tweets about getting aids in Africa, people push the information through the web. Sadly, more often than not peoples lives are drastically impacted in some very negative ways like losing a job or entire social support. It's good an bad how this seems to work. It's good that people can reach justice when wronged by a company or organization. It feels good to see people be done right after they are ...

We often talk about the internet as a good thing that can be used badly. The possibilities for good within the internet are abundant but they only gain attention rarely. More often we see the negative consequences of type happy trolls spread across the world wide web. But nowadays we have dozens of possibilities to do good in the world through the web. From GoFundMe to the Ice Bucket Challenge people are raising money and awareness. While some argue that it's not real altruism, I believe that it is helping the world in great ways. I think the internet provides a larger platform for people to connect and join together. I feel that it makes it easier for people to build a network and get their message out. The internet provides a place for just about anything to happen and it can reach way beyond the small confines of social groups. Websites like GoFundMe are crucial for organizations and individuals to reach out in times of need. However, like anything, this can have negat...

The idea of publicly shaming your child online is truly puzzling to me. I don’t see how making the punishment public helps the child learn any valuable lesson at all. The fact that a parent would consider this a good punishment reveals significant issues within their own self. I feel that doing so signifies the trauma they probably endured as a child and how their parents may have treated them. I think the parents are not acting to better their child’s behavior but to humiliate and “prove” some point they feel necessary. I think they want praise and kudos for their hard and “thoughtful” punishment. What’s sad is that many parents jump on these posts and love the “creative” punishment these parents have come up with. It’s scary that this many individuals with children agree with such measures. But really it’s more than likely a reflection of their childhood, which they couldn’t control. However, they can control their parenting and should realize the damage public shaming could have on ...

I have always been slightly confused as to what a troll is on the internet. I remember listening to friends in High School talk about "trolling" people and calling others "trolls" but I never explored it further. Now that I know what is it, I still don't understand why it is a thing. It seems like its a tiring process of making people mad or embarrassing them for no reason at all. It seems like a total waste of time, but then again so is about 75% of things I do on the internet on a daily basis. I don't consider myself to have ever taken part in any activities that would resemble that of a troll. I don't enjoy fighting with people on the internet and I definitely don't enjoy having people attack me. That is the fascinating thing about humans, we enjoy humiliating others and watching them be embarrassed. We glorify tearing people about, especially on the internet because people are definitely too afraid to do anything in person. That's the irony o...

I like to consider myself tech savvy to a certain extent. But I cannot lie and say that I know anything about proper security and protection when it comes to my computer and phone. I am probably considered a good target for hackers. I don't understand the "cloud" and how everything tech wise that I own is connected to one another and has everything shared between it. I don't even realize how often my phone is telling others where I am. After discussion in this class, I have recently been more freaked about my web presence and location sharing. Not that I was some avid "checking in" Facebook person, but things like Snapchat has been sharing my location for months and I didn't even realize I was doing so. I have noticed how little I know about what happens when you share things like that. You have to remember how smart others are and how tricky they can be just by using your social media. Especially when it comes to passwords, I am the worst. I keep the 4 ...

Online dating is such a mystery to me. I don't understand the swiping or the matching or really anything that goes into it. I remember a time in my freshman year when all my friends peer pressured (yes, I fell for it) into making a Tinder account. Well, it seemed innocent enough as I swiped through these guys that were less than 30 miles away.  It led to a few matches and it seemed like a great way to get to know these people that went to the same University as me. Well, it wasn't actually fun. People harassed me and sent awful direct messages that I would never like to see again. Even more, random people in my class would say "Oh, I saw your tinder." Which made me feel shame, even though they were on it too. It took until someone else explained it to me what exactly the app is. It appears that it is nothing more than an app that is furthering the "hookup culture" that surrounds us. It is nothing more than a way for people to superficially judged you and the...