(5) Social Media & Human Relationships Survey
To better understand the effects of social media use on human relationships, I conducted an online survey consisting of 10 questions relating to my topic with 27 participants. I included many questions related to my ultimate research question, “How does social media impact the relationships of human beings?”. I sent this survey to a diverse group of people ranging from different age groups, ethnicities, gender, etc. to gain an accurate understanding.
While forming questions I could ask in this survey, I came to the conclusion that I would focus more on the social media aspect of my topic. Since I am a psychology major and have a solid understanding of human relationships, I thought it would be beneficial to put a stronger emphasis on the social media side. Overall, my survey entails that social media is beneficial to human relationships in many ways, although it is definitely not the strongest form of communication.
Research Analysis:
The survey began with a simple question regarding how often the participants use social media. Of the 27 participants, 22 use social media “every single day”, 3 use social media “a few times a week”, 1 uses social media “a few times a month”, and 1 “does not use social media at all”. Considering social media is a growing industry with billions of active users, I am not surprised by the amount of people that use social media so often. My second question asked the participants if social media is beneficial to them for school/work/hobbies, in which 17 responded “yes” and the remaining 10 responded “no”. This question ties into my 9th question, “Do you use social media more as a source of entertainment or as a news platform?”, in which 22 participants responded “entertainment” and 5 participants responded “news”. The responses to these two questions provided me with a better insight into why humans use social media. The answers reveal that humans are more likely to turn to social media for entertainment purposes over using social media for more beneficial day-to-day activities, such as school and work.
I continued my survey, asking if the participants feel that they have strong relationships with their friends and families, in which 26 responded “yes” and only 1 responded “no”. This question in particular is very important to my research since it indicates that many participants feel they hold strong relationships with others, without the social media aspect.
I then asked if the participants communicate better with others through social media or in person, in which 24 responded “in person” and the remaining 3 responded “through social media”. I also asked if they fight more with others through social media or in person and to my surprise, 22 participants responded “in person” and 5 responded “through social media”. Another question I asked that ties these three questions together is if the participants find themselves apologizing to others more in person or through social media. Of the participants, 24 responded “in person” and 2 responded “through social media”. Through these three questions, I can determine that humans are more likely to use social media to argue with others, whereas communicating and apologizing is conducted more in person. Using social media as a barrier in fighting or bullying is a trend revealed throughout society, and is much more prevalent over apologizing to others online.
These last three question are most important since they directly tie into my research topic. I asked the participants if they use social media to promote their relationships with others, in which 5 responded “yes”, 16 responded “sometimes”, and 6 responded “no”. Overall, 21 of the 27 participants do, at some point, use social media to benefit their relationships with others. This entails that social media does have a positive effect on human relationships. I then asked if they have ever been asked to put down their phone because it was too distracting to another person; 16 participants responded “yes”, the remaining 11 responded “no”. I found these statistics in relation to the previous question interesting because although many participants find social media to promote their relationships, many of them also realize that social media is distracting to their personal relationships when asked directly.
I concluded my survey with a question that answers my ultimate research topic of how social media impacts human relationships. I asked the participants if they believe they would have more close and personal relationships without the use of social media. Unfortunately I did not receive a clear answer to this question, as 13 participants responded “yes” and 14 participants responded “no”.
Conclusion:
I was very particular in forming survey questions that would provide me with a better understanding of whether social media is negative or positive in relation to human relationships. I can ultimately determine that my research findings prove social media to have many positive aspects, although human relationships grow and form stronger in person. After focusing on whether or not social media has a positive or negative effect on human relationships, I have come to understand that there can be a number of other factors to account for when it comes to human relationships — not just social media. My survey clearly provided me with this new insight.
