Throughout the process of conducting my research for my project I have learned a lot about my topic being the use of social media as a tool for university students but also about myself. I found that my ability to concentrate throughout doing the project was very average. This is mainly due to me not having a lot of motivation because of online learning and not actually being able to interact with other students face to face. I ended up leaving some of my interviews a little late which is why I struggled to find participants for my interviews. Although I lacked a large amount of motivation to do the project, I still found it very useful and helpful in developing my skill set.
I was very interested in doing something to do with social media for my report as it is something I am extremely familiar with and I know other students are. My idea for the focus of my project came from realising how much social media has benefited students in BCM having twitter as a large component embedded within the course as well as many other social media platforms. I was very surprised by some of the results I obtained throughout my research. An example being how many people agreed that they would struggle to complete uni work if they had no access to social media. I think that it would be extremely beneficial to universities if there was more research done on this topic as currently there is not much. Finding out how students feel about social media and what can be done to improve their university experience is something all universities need to consider as we are approaching a world where we cannot function without social media.
The aim of my research is to investigate what the impacts are of social media influencers on university students’ mental health and wellbeing. Over the past 6 months I have taken an active interest in the fitness industry which started with me getting a gym membership. Over that period of time it has caught my attention just how many fitness influencers there are across a range of different social media platforms including instagram, Tiktok and Youtube. It was from following a variety of these influencers I was able to get a first hand experience of the effects that social media influencers can have on a person’s mental health and wellbeing. I constantly found myself comparing myself to these people I was watching on social media which inevitably lowered my self esteem and my motivation. This led me to believe that there were other people in the situation as mean which is why I choose to discuss and research the driving question of the effects social media influencers can have on university students’ mental health, wellbeing and lifestyle. Reflexivity will play a role when I undertake my research as I have previously experienced the effects social media influence can have on a person.
There have been previous studies on social media influence on teenagers and people in general however there has not been hardly any studies done on specifically the effects of social media influencers. There also hasn’t been lots of studies done on social media influence on university students rather just teenagers in general. I myself have only really experienced the true impacts of social media influencers as I university students and not just a teenager which is why I feel my research could potentially have completely different results. The BCM212 community would be great participants for my research as everyone is on social media as it is required by the subject to have twitter and most people use other social media platforms.
To conduct my research I am going to be taking advantage of the BCM212 twitter community by posting polls and asking questions. I recently put out a poll on my twitter account and I got some really good insights as a result. From the first poll that I put out it would suggest that there are a few people that like me feel that social media influencers negatively effect their mental health.
Some of the previous studies that I came across when doing research on my topic question included a study done in September 2020 which explored how male Instagram users’ perceptions of body image and behavior are affected by the exposure to fitness hashtags, and the consequences on their wellbeing. The study concluded that the trending body transformational posts commonly seen on instagram has various effects on wellbeing: on one side, they feel anxious and in competition with other peers which often leads to muscle dysmorphia symptoms; on the other side, they feel more masculine with higher self‐confidence, they have higher motivation to stay fit and to eat healthily (Chatzopoulou, Filieri and Dogruyol, 2020).
There is no doubt that social media influencers are having an impact on adolescence as people between the age of 16 and 24 spend around 3 hours on average which is a large portion of their day (Metev, 2021). In 2019 a study exploring if teenagers identify themselves, and choose to identify themselves in online communities and social networks, are heavily impacted by the identity cues they pick up from social media influencers (Cranston, 2019). The study’s main results concluded that social media influencers generally do not have overall harmful effects on the identity formation of teenagers. However negative outcomes are often associated with these cues. The main negative outcomes were concerned with the teenagers mental health.
Another study in July of 2018 surveyed 1000 American adults looked into the effects of social media users obtaining an emotional connection to these platforms versus people that just use them for their social routine. The studies research has brought preliminary data that can help map where social media usage, as a common social activity, can be considered beneficial or detrimental by using a two-dimensional scale that captures users’ integration of social media use into their social habits and their emotional connection to the sites’ use. Overall the study found that while routine use is associated with positive health outcomes, emotional connection to social media use is associated with negative health outcomes (Bekalu, McCloud and Viswanath, 2019).
Chatzopoulou, E., Filieri, R. and Dogruyol, S., (2020). Instagram and body image: Motivation to conform to the “Instabod” and consequences on young male wellbeing. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 54(4), pp.1270-1297.
Bekalu, M. A., McCloud, R. F. and Viswanath, K. (2019) ‘Association of Social Media Use With Social Well-Being, Positive Mental Health, and Self-Rated Health: Disentangling Routine Use From Emotional Connection to Use’, Health Education & Behavior, 46(2_suppl), pp. 69S-80S.
Hi everyone, my name is Dale Ramsden and I am 19 years old currently studying a bachelor of communications at UOW. This is my second year of studying at UOW and although I have loved it I haven’t hardly yet been to the university. I am currently majoring in marketing and advertising and digital social media.
Straight after I finished high school I moved up to Wollongong from my home town in Ulladulla to pursue my passion and interest in social media. Starting BCM I wasn’t really sure what to expect to be honest. I just knew that I really wanted to work in media in the future. Little did I know just how amazing the subject actually is. So far I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the communications and media course and especially their different approach to assignments from other subjects.
One of the biggest changes over the last year has definitely been living away from home and my parents and living with my mates from high school. Living away from parents has made me realise just how good it feels to be independent and have freedom to do whatever you want.
I asked one of my mates from high school Nic, what the first thing he thought of when he heard ‘university student’. He replied with ‘I think of hours and hours of sitting at a desk studying.’
daleramsden.home.blog 