Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T02:20:49.782Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

19 - Community Impact of Social Media

from Part III - Community Psychology in Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

By
Carlos Storck-Martinez ,
Cara Lomaro ,
Grace Koguc  and
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Edited by
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Caroline S. Clauss-Ehlers
Affiliation:
Long Island University, New York
Get access

Summary

We take a community psychology approach to understanding how social media affects community populations. Community psychology must always be advancing as the Internet and social media become more intertwined in users’ everyday lives. We consider the history of the rise in social media use, examining the timeline of different platforms and their purposes. The Internet is discussed as being a means of social interaction and connection, used to relate to others who share interests and experiences, or who are far away. Despite this, social media can negatively affect populations in terms of mental health. Increased use of cyberbullying has been linked with an increase in depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self harm, and suicidal ideation for those who are at risk. The term FoMO describes decreased life satisfaction as a result of inherent social comparisons online. On the other hand, social media platforms provide a helpful, supportive space for people to share their stories and knowledge. The literature on community psychology needs to incorporate greater focus on social media given its prominence in today’s society. The information, images, and representations we view affect our discourse regarding people, cultures, policies, and anything else that may affect individual lives.

Keywords

Community psychologysocial mediacrowdfundingsocial supportcyberbullyingsocial learningFoMOsocial comparison
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Community Psychology
Interdisciplinary and Contextual Perspectives
 , pp. 390 - 412
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahern, N. R., Sauer, P., & Thacker, P. (2015). Risky behaviors and social networking sites: How is YouTube influencing our youth? Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 53(10), 25–29. doi.org/10.3928/02793695-20150908-01Google Scholar
Allen, K. (2017, July 27). Protests erupt nationwide following Trump’s transgender military ban announcement. ABC News. abcnews.go.com/US/protesters-rally-trumps-transgender-military-ban/story?id=48876355Google Scholar
American Psychological Association. (2020a). Community psychology. In American Psychological Association dictionary. https://dictionary.apa.org/community-psychologyGoogle Scholar
American Psychological Association. (2020b). Social support. In American Psychological Association dictionary. https://dictionary.apa.org/social-supportGoogle Scholar
Andrews, E. (2019, October 28). Who invented the Internet? www.history.com/news/who-invented-the-internetGoogle Scholar
Arcelus, J., Mitchell, A., Wales, J., & Nielsen, S. (2011). Mortality rates in patients with anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders: A meta-analysis of 36 studies. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(7), 724–731. doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.74CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, S. H., & Begnaud, D. (August 28, 2018). Hurricane María caused an estimated 2,975 deaths in Puerto Rico, new study finds. CBS News. https://web.archive.org/web/20180828152629/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-maria-death-toll-puerto-rico-2975-killed-by-storm-study-finds/Google Scholar
Barque-Duran, A., Pothos, E. M., Hampton, J. A., & Yearsley, J. M. (2017). Contemporary morality: Moral judgments in digital contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 184–193. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.05.020Google Scholar
Belleflamme, P., Lambert, T., & Schwienbacher, A. (2010). Crowdfunding: An industrial organization [Working paper]. https://economix.fr/uploads/source/doc/workshops/2010_dbm/Belleflamme_al.Google Scholar
Bert, F., Gualano, M. R., Camussi, E., & Siliquini, R. (2016). Risks and threats of social media websites: Twitter and the proana movement. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(4), 233–238. doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0553Google Scholar
Bibby, P. A., & Stead, H. (2017). Personality, fear of missing out and problematic internet use and their relationship to subjective well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 534–540. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.016Google Scholar
Błachnio, A., & Przepiórka, A. (2018). Facebook intrusion, fear of missing out, narcissism, and life satisfaction: A cross-sectional study. Psychiatry Research, 259, 514–519. doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.11.012Google Scholar
Bosmia, A., & Leon, K. (2015). Lung injury and the cinnamon challenge: College students should beware this internet dare. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 7(1), 41–42. doi.org/10.5249/jivr.v7i1.541Google Scholar
Branley, D. B., & Covey, J. (2017). Pro-ana versus pro-recovery: A content analytic comparison of social media users’ communication about eating disorders on Twitter and Tumblr. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1356. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01356CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, D. E., & Hebert, L. P. (2006). Gender, race, and media representation. In Dow, B. J. (Ed.), Gender and communication in mediated contexts (pp. 297–317). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.Google Scholar
Bullers, S. (2001). The mediating role of perceived control in the relationship between social ties and depressive symptoms. Women & Health, 31(2–3), 97–116. doi.org/10.1300/j013v31n02_05CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J., Ishii, M., Bater, K., et al. (2019). Association between the use of social media and photograph editing applications, self-esteem, and cosmetic surgery acceptance. JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, 21(5), 361–367. doi.org/10.1001/jamafacial.2019.0328CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chun, J. W., & Lee, M. J. (2017). When does individuals’ willingness to speak out increase on social media? Perceived social support and perceived power/control. Computers in Human Behavior, 74, 120–129. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.04.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cirisano, T. (2017, July 26). Celebrities react to Trump banning transgender people from U.S. military service. Billboard. www.billboard.com/articles/news/politics/7881047/trump-transgender-military-ban-celebrity-reactions-twitterGoogle Scholar
Clauss-Ehlers, C. S. (2008). Sociocultural factors, resilience, and coping: Support for a culturally sensitive measure of resilience. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(3), 197–212. doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.02.004Google Scholar
Clauss-Ehlers, C. S., Guevara Carpio, M., & Weist, M. D. (2020). Mental health literacy: A strategy for global adolescent mental health promotion. Adolescent Psychiatry, 10(2), 73–83. doi.org/10.2174/2210676610666200204104429Google Scholar
Clement, J. (2019). Facebook: Number of monthly active users worldwide 2008–2019. Statista. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/Google Scholar
Cyberbullying Research Center. (2017). Bullying laws across America [Interactive map]. https://cyberbullying.org/bullying-lawsGoogle Scholar
De Choudhury, M., & De, S. (2014, May). Mental health discourse on Reddit: Self-disclosure, social support, and anonymity. Eighth International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, 8(1).Google Scholar
Dumas, G., Nadel, J., Soussignan, R, et al. (2010). Inter-brain synchronization during social interaction (interacting brains synchronize). PLoS ONE, 5(8), Article e12166. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0012166CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evers, C. W., Albury, K., Byron, P., & Crawford, K. (2013). Young people, social media, social network sites and sexual health communication in Australia: ‘This is funny, you should watch it’. International Journal of Communication, 7(1), 263–280.Google Scholar
Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Englesakis, M., Rizo, C., & Stern, A. (2004). Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups: Systematic review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions. BMJ, 328(7449), 1166. doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7449.1166Google Scholar
Fahy, A. E., Stansfeld, S. A., Smuk, M., et al. (2016). Longitudinal associations between cyberbullying involvement and adolescent mental health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59(5), 502–509. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.006Google Scholar
Florido, A. (2019, September 24). 2 years after Hurricane María hit Puerto Rico, the exact death toll remains unknown. NPR. www.npr.org/2019/09/24/763958799/2-years-after-hurricane-maria-hit-puerto-rico-the-exact-death-toll-remains-unknoGoogle Scholar
Freedman, D., & Nutting, M. R. (2015). A brief history of crowdfunding including rewards, donation, debt, and equity platforms in the USA. www.freedmanchicago.com/ec4i/History-of-Crowdfunding.pdfGoogle Scholar
Galinsky, A., Gruenfeld, D., & Magee, J. (2003). From power to action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 453–466. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.453Google Scholar
Gerber, E., Muller, M., Wash, R., et al. (2014). Crowdfunding: An emerging field of research. CHI’14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1093–1098. doi.org/10.1145/2559206.2579406Google Scholar
Ghaznavi, J., & Taylor, L. D. (2015). Bones, body parts, and sex appeal: An analysis of #thinspiration images on popular social media. Body Image, 14, 54–61. doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.03.006Google Scholar
Giusti, C. (2018, June 18). Puerto Rico issues new data on Hurricane María deaths. NBC News. www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/puerto-rico-issues-new-data-hurricane-maria-deaths-n882816Google Scholar
Global Giving. (n.d.). Puerto Rico & Caribbean hurricane relief fund. www.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-maria-caribbean-relief-fund/Google Scholar
Grant-Alfieri, A., Schaechter, J., & Lipshultz, S. (2013). Ingesting and aspirating dry cinnamon by children and adolescents: The “cinnamon challenge.” Pediatrics, 131(5), 833–835. doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-3418Google Scholar
Hampton, K. N., Goulet, L. S., Rainie, L., & Purcell, K. (2011). Social networking sites and our lives (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks.aspxGoogle Scholar
Hanna, E., Ward, L. M., Seabrook, R. C., et al. (2017). Contributions of social comparison and self-objectification in mediating associations between Facebook use and emergent adults’ psychological well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(3), 172–179. doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0247CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, R. (2018, May 29). Study puts Puerto Rico death toll from Hurricane María near 5000. NPR. www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/29/615120123/study-puts-puerto-rico-death-toll-at-5-000-from-hurricane-maria-in-2017Google Scholar
Hendricks, D. (2013, May 8). Complete history of social media: Then and now. Small Business Trends. smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/the-complete-history-of-social-media-infographic.htmlGoogle Scholar
Hispanic Federation (n.d.). “Unidos”: A hurricane relief fund for Hurricane María victims in Puerto Rico. Hispanic Federation. https://hispanicfederation.org/media/press_releases/a_hurricane_relief_fund_for_hurricane_maria_victims_in_puerto_rico/Google Scholar
Horgan, Á., & Sweeney, J. (2010). Young students’ use of the Internet for mental health information and support. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 17(2), 117–123. doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2009.01497.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hui, J., Greenberg, M., & Gerber, E. (2014). Understanding the role of community in crowdfunding work. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 62–74. doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531715Google Scholar
Jack, B. (2014) Goethe’s Werther and its effects. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(1), 18–19. doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70229-9Google Scholar
Jung Oh, H., Ozkaya, E., & LaRose, R. (2014). How does online social networking enhance life satisfaction? The relationships among online supportive interaction, affect, perceived social support, sense of community, and life satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 30(C), 69–78. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.053Google Scholar
Kallas, P. (2019, September 2). Top 15 most popular social networking sites and apps. Dreamgrow. www.dreamgrow.com/top-15-most-popular-social-networking-sites/Google Scholar
Kida, T. E. (2009). Don’t believe everything you think: The 6 basic mistakes we make in thinking. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, 54(3), 241–251. doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.005Google Scholar
Lee, M. J., & Chun, J. W. (2016). Reading others’ comments and public opinion poll results on social media: Social judgment and spiral of empowerment. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, 479–487. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lim, M. (2012). Clicks, cabs, and coffee houses: Social media and oppositional movements in Egypt, 2004–2011. Journal of Communication, 62(2), 231–248. doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01628.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, L., Sidani, J., Shensa, A., et al. (2016). Association between social media use and depression among U.S. young adults. Depression and Anxiety, 33(4), 323–331. doi.org/10.1002/da.22466Google Scholar
Lopes, A. R. (2014). The impact of social media on social movements: The new opportunity and mobilizing structure. Journal of Political Science Research, 4(1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Mander, J. (2017, June 9). Internet users have average of 7 social accounts. Global Web Index. https://blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/internet-users-have-average-of-7-social-accounts/Google Scholar
Marino, C., Gini, G., Vieno, A., & Spada, M. M. (2018). The associations between problematic Facebook use, psychological distress and well-being among adolescents and young adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 226, 274–281. doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.10.007Google Scholar
Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Public Health. (2018). Ascertainment of the excess mortality from Hurricane María in Puerto Rico. https://publichealth.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/projects/PRstudy/Acertainment%20of%20the%20Estimated%20Excess%20Mortality%20from%20Hurricane%20Maria%20in%20Puerto%20Rico.pdfGoogle Scholar
Miller, Z. J. (2017, August 25). President Trump has taken a key step to implement his transgender military ban. Time. time.com/4916871/donald-trump-transgender-military-ban/Google Scholar
Milman, O. (2017, November 9). Six weeks after Hurricane María, Puerto Ricans still waiting for help from Fema. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/09/six-weeks-after-hurricane-maria-puerto-ricans-still-waiting-for-help-from-femaGoogle Scholar
Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(1), 1–16. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.005Google Scholar
Moorhead, S. A., Hazlett, D. E., Harrison, L., et al. (2013). A new dimension of health care: Systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(4). doi.org/10.2196/jmir.1933Google Scholar
National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Bullying at school and electronic bullying. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a10Google Scholar
National Eating Disorder Association. (2018). Common health consequences of eating disorders. www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/health-consequencesGoogle Scholar
Nikolaou, D. (2017). Does cyberbullying impact youth suicidal behaviors? Journal of Health Economics, 56, 30–46. doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.09.009Google Scholar
Peters, J. (2021, June 11). Darnella Frazier, who documented George Floyd's murder, receives Pulitzer Prize citation. The Verge. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/a10Google Scholar
Przybylski, A., Murayama, K., Dehaan, C., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1841–1848. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014Google Scholar
Rea, S., & Mattera, J. (2018, April 2). Dietrich College student named one of “Larry’s Hometown Heroes.” Carnegie Mellon University, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2018/april/rosana-guernica-honored.htmlGoogle Scholar
Rhodes, S. D., Bachmann, L. H., Mccoy, T. P., et al. (2016). Using social media to increase HIV testing among gay and bisexual men, other men who have sex with men, and transgender persons: Outcomes from a randomized community trial. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 62(11), 1450–1453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schiappa, E., Gregg, P. B., & Hewes, D. E. (2005). The parasocial contact hypothesis. Communication Monographs, 72(1), 92–115. doi.org/10.1080/0363775052000342544Google Scholar
Shaban, H. (2019, February 7). Twitter reveals its daily active user numbers for the first time. The Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/02/07/twitter-reveals-its-daily-active-user-numbers-first-time/Google Scholar
Sigar, K. (2012). Fret no more: Inapplicability of crowdfunding concerns in the internet age and the JOBS Act’s safeguards. Administrative Law Review, 473–506.Google Scholar
Steijns, J. (2017). “The Cincinnati effect” to “the Ferguson effect”: Media’s growing involvement in police brutality against Black citizens. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 17(2), 117–123.Google Scholar
Telemundo, PR. (2017, December 9). Aumentan a 64 muertes certificados por María. NBCUniversal Media, LLC. www.telemundopr.com/noticias/puerto-rico/aumentan-a-64-las-muertes-por-el-huracan-maria/10690/Google Scholar
Thompson, M. (2019, January 14). How to spark panic and confusion in three tweets. The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/donald-trump-tweets-transgender-military-service-ban/579655Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2017). What is bullying. www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). What is cyberbullying? www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-itGoogle Scholar
US Department of Justice. (n.d.). Importance of police-community relationships and resources for further reading (File No. 836486). www.justice.gov/crs/file/836486/downloadGoogle Scholar
Valancienė, L., & Jegeleviciūtė, S. (2013). Valuation of crowdfunding: Benefits and drawbacks. Economics and Management, 18(1), 39–48. doi.org/10.5755/j01.em.18.1.3713Google Scholar
Wash, R., & Solomon, J. (2014). Coordinating donors on crowdfunding websites. Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 38–48. doi.org/10.1145/2531602.2531678Google Scholar
Young, R., Subramanian, R., Miles, S., Hinnant, A., & Andsager, J. L. (2017). Social representation of cyberbullying and adolescent suicide: A mixed-method analysis of news stories. Health Communication, 32(9), 1082–1092. doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1214214CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zenone, M., & Snyder, J. (2018). Fraud in medical crowdfunding: A typology of publicized cases and policy recommendations. Policy & Internet, 11(2). doi.org/10.1002/poi3.188Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×