Running

Head: SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

Social Media and How It Cultivates User Perception

Tanya D. Williams
Curry College

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

I. Introduction
Social Media has become a staple in the everyday lives of people from all
demographics. It has become a way to pass the time, relieve stress, catch up on
the news, and connect with friends and family. It is an activity enjoyed by people
all over the world in the hopes of pre-occupying the minds of those who need an
escape from the real world. However, social media may be influencing peoples
minds to view themselves, as well as the world around them, in a false light.
Not only is social media used for personal pleasure, it is now extremely
important to businesses, brand awareness, and for sharing and discovering
breaking news updates. Social media is very powerful and impactful, and in many
ways that is a positive outcome. On the other hand, when social media is overused due to its addictive properties and platforms, it can create negative impacts
on emotions, perceptions, and overall well-being.
This paper explored the impact social media has on societies perception
of themselves, their peers and their general view of the world. The cultivation
theory was applied to gain a further understanding of how media affects our
perception and mind. Due to the explosion in social networking in the past 10
years, according to Pew Research Center (2015), it is important to recognize the
consequences and changes that come with the increased use. Many studies
have already been done on what social media does to users self esteem.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

Young women are especially susceptible to the negative impacts of social

media. This topic begs to be explored to discover what makes a filtered picture
alter the way a woman views herself and others.
Social media is often a hero when it comes to marketing and branding a
product or service, getting the word out, and connecting people across the world.
As great as these aspects may be, they still come with consequences when
social media is abused or not used appropriately. This reason is precisely why
this topic is of interest. To further examine all aspects of social media, this
research project takes the position that social media may be cultivating societys
perception of themselves and their environment.
In this research study the social media effects are explored within the
context of the Cultivation Theory. The main goal of this paper was to discover
how social media may cultivate the way people perceive themselves, others, and
the world as a whole. Through research, findings include long term effects of
social media use such as emotional struggles and perceptions of the real world
versus the cyber world.

II. Literature Review

Media in all forms can be very impactful and influential, and in many cases
these influences are positive. However, media also has negative side effects and
impacts on heavy viewers. One reoccurring issue that can be brought on by
media exposure is poor body image; this negative outcome is also referred to as

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

thin- ideal media. Thin-ideal media refers to media that contain noticeably thin
female main characters [and] promote the idea that thinness is an
advantageous attribute and ascribe the attribute to the most beautiful, desirable,
and successful protagonists. (Vonderen & Kinnally, 2012)
Women, the more active users of social media as compared to men, are
being exposed to thin-ideal media very frequently. Girls as young as elementary
have access to social media platforms that advertise perfect looking models,
these young girls are already developing the attitude that thinness is socially
desirable (Vonderen & Kinnally 2012). The young girls and women become so
used to these images that overtime they develop body image insecurities if they
are not equally thin or beautiful. Holstrom (2004) posited that dissatisfaction
arises when heavy [media] viewers begin to see this thin-ideal not only as
realistic, but also physically attainable. If women who accept these body shapes
as the norm and judge themselves in relation to those images, body
dissatisfaction can occur (as cited in Voderen & Kinnally, 2012, p. 43).
The unfortunate impact that media has on women-social-media-users is
worthy of studying to discover just how damaging thin-ideal media can be to a
womans psyche. Thin-ideal media is cultivating the way women perceive
themselves in comparison to other women. The cultivation theory is important to
this research because it can help the argument and findings by applying it to
heavy media viewing and how that viewing may lead to the cultivation of a
persons perception.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

These ideas around body image and thin ideal do not just come from
images of models and celebrities, but images of peers as well. Women of
multiple age groups share similar photos on Instagram or Facebook to gain likes,
and to possibly feel good about themselves. One trend that has caught on and
enables women and men to share glorified pictures of their selves is the selfie.
The selfie, which is now a word in the Oxford Dictionaries, is defined as a
photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically taken with a smartphone or
webcam and shared via social media (Oxford Dictionaries Online). Selfies have
become a way of highlighting beauty in an up-close and personal, flawless photo.
The problem with these selfies is they can also have a negative side effect
and add onto the issues media has on cultivating perceptions. Each month or
so, a news article appears linking taking selfies to harmful mental states such as
narcissism, body dysmorphia, or even psychosis. (Senft & Baym, 2015.) These
vain photographs are showing up allover social media and in turn create a sort of
competition across users as to who can take the best selfie. In addition, when
these photos do not render likes or comments it further damages the sharers
self-perception. Studies conducted on the negative effects of Facebook showed
that users were likely to develop feelings of depression, loneliness, resentment
and lowered self-esteem. Unsurprisingly, the most negatively charged aspects
were those linked to photo sharing (Mariella, 2014).
It speaks volumes that the sharing of a simple headshot can negatively
affect users in such extreme ways. When selfies appear on a users feed multiple

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times a day from multiple users, it may enhance feelings of low-self esteem. In
addition, users who share selfies of themselves often may also enhance the
negative side effects of this selfie-phenomenon.
These selfies make many users feel down due to their instinct to compare
themselves. Because many of these selfies are edited and taken in front of
interesting backgrounds, on the selfie takers best day, many viewers form the
notion that many of these people in the photos lead the perfect lives. When all
we can see of each other's lives is whatever fits within perfectly filtered squares,
we'll inevitably do the kind of harmful self-assessment that keeps us thinking that
the grass really is greener on the other side that everyone else's lives are
more perfect than our own (Mariella, 2014). When in reality social media users
are given the power to alter how others perceive them by only sharing their best
selves.
The problem with this is that it is harmful to viewers perceptions and it's
linked to the pleasure-loathing phenomenon that accompanies pseudo-stalking
photos of others' seemingly better lives and sharing [their] own photos as a way
to project an equally envy-inspiring social media persona (Mariella, 2014). In
other words, social media is altering the way many people view the world, and
even the way they view their friends.
According to L. Copeland, women[are] especially vulnerable to keeping
up with what they imagine is the happiness of the Joneses (2011). Social media
has become a battlefield of edited photos and seemingly perfect lives. This need

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

to constantly share posts and out-do other users does not benefit anyone, in fact
it only makes users feel lonely.
The price of this smooth sociability is a constant compulsion to assert
ones own happiness, ones own fulfillment. Not only must we contend
with the social bounty of others; we must foster the appearance of our own
social bounty. Being happy all the time, pretending to be happy, actually
attempting to be happyits exhausting (Marche S., 2012).
Social media use has become a chore to many users without them even realizing
it. What used to be a fun way to connect with friends and family to increase social
interaction is now working backwards and increasing social loneliness. A
recent study out of Australia (where close to half the population is active on
Facebook), found significantly [high] levels of family lonelinessthe sense of
not feeling bonded with family due to social media use, more specifically
Facebook use (Marche S., 2012).
Effects of social media, both negative and positive, is an area that has
been carefully studied. However, with new social media platforms gaining
popularity, further studies including these newer platforms are necessary. In
addition, new users are added to social networks every day creating larger
audiences for study.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

III. Methodology
The main interest of this study was to grasp how social media affects
users in a negative way. More specifically looking at feelings of competitiveness,
self-fulfillment, and loneliness. The population of interest for this study was
millennials, however data was collected from outliers as well in an attempt to find
wide-ranging effects.
To collect data, a general survey was conducted to understand who is
using social media, what social media platforms are being used, and how it is
affecting users. All surveys remained anonymous and were distributed
electronically through Survey Monkey. The survey was active for a two-week
period. On average, survey participants for this study ranged from 18-25 (86%)
and were predominantly female (61%).
This survey was shared through multiple social media platforms, including
Facebook, Twitter, and direct messaging. An electronic survey was chosen for
this study because of the ability to share the survey through social media to
reach the appropriate audience (being those who use social media).
The questions asked ranged from what respondents used social media
for, how it affects their overall mood and self-esteem, and if it alters the way they
perceive other users. The questions were set up in a multiple choice format to
give the respondent the option to choose the best answer that would help to
inform the results in the most accurate way. All questions for this survey were

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

required to be answered; therefore no questions could be skipped to avoid

skewed results.
To support and further enlighten this study, multiple academic articles and
journals were read and incorporated. Lastly, direct effects of social media use on
an Instagram famous user were explored and examined as well. All methods
contributed to this study for a better understanding and a variety of results.

IV. Findings
As can be seen from Figure 1, 65.57% of respondents use social media
extremely often.
Figure 1: How often respondents use social media

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This is not a surprising finding, however it does highlight just how much
social media many people are being exposed to. These findings line up with The
Pew Research Findings measuring the explosion of social media use within the
past decade.
Measuring how much social media people take in is an important factor to
consider when examining how it may alter the way one perceives themselves
and the outside world. According to data collected as can be seen in Figure 2,
60% of respondents do feel that people live perfect lives according to what they
post on their social media platforms.

Figure 2: How respondents perceive other peoples lives

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These findings shed light on how impactful some social media posts can
be if they are altering the perception of viewers. This data also indicates what
kind of content is being shared if more than half of these respondents feel their
social friends lead perfect lives. After viewing these posts, 34% of respondents
reported that they sometimes feel bad about themselves. In addition, 36% of
respondents also reported that social media makes them feel lonely, angry, and
disconnected at times.
The prime example of feeling disconnected, angry and lonely in a perfect
social world is from used-to-be Instagram model, Essena ONeill who shocked
the social media world by quitting Instagram back in October. ONeill described
Instagram as contrived perfection made to get attention and that social media
is not real life (Hunt, 2015). After examining ONeills circumstance it was found
that she posed in uncomfortable positions with fake smiles, tons of makeup, at
made up events in clothes that she did not own. All of these factors were the
ingredients of a perfect life that her viewers believed and consumed everyday.
The constant posts of Essena ONeills fake, perfect life is a key example
of why so many social media users feel other people live ideal lives. What drove
ONeill to continue with the fake posts for so long was her addiction to gaining
followers and receiving thousands of likes. These online interactions were
important factors in how ONeill felt about her appearance; they were
reassurance to her self-esteem.

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The survey for this research project collected that 50% of respondents
reported that reaching a certain number of likes on a post was somewhat
important to them. These findings emphasize that social media has become a
contest of who can post the best picture or even who has the better life. Social
media is being discovered as no longer being social, but as a toxic game. Further
findings include information from a recent study out of the University of Texas at
Austin:
while men are more likely to use the site to share items related to the
news or current events, women tend to use it to engage in personal
communication (posting photos, sharing content "related to friends and
family"). This may make it especially hard for women to avoid
comparisons that make them miserable. (Copeland L., 2011)

Social media is making comparisons to others a natural reflex with its

constant flow of perfect pictures. This need to compare and to be better than
others is forcing men and women to want to look better and more attractive. In
fact, according to Figure 3, almost half (47.54%) of the respondents reported that
social media makes them feel as if they have to look a certain way.

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Figure 3. How respondents feel they should look

This finding is concerning as well as surprising that almost 50% of a

sample size feels they must look a certain way for social media. To obtain the
look that many social media users look for and strive for, some may edit their
photos to further enhance their looks and eliminate imperfections. After analyzing
the results from the survey, over 60% of respondents have edited and enhanced
their photos before to appear better looking.
According to research from a study on Social Comparison and the Effects
of Media Images on Body and Self-Esteem, men and women may obtain ideal
partners if they are willing to work toward societys expectations (Hobza, Walker,
Yakushko, & Peugh, 2007). This finding suggests that if one is willing to look the

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part by enhancing or adjusting their looks to what the media suggests, one will
then find an ideal partner. This idea, among other notions seem to be the driving
force in what is making social media users so crazed about putting their best
looking, acting, living self out there, whether it is a true representation or not.

V. Conclusion
The results from the survey helped to provide a further understanding of
how people may be affected by social media use. Here, the biggest takeaways
from this research will be discussed as well as the limitations to this study.
This study provided a further examination into how social media affects
and cultivates the perception of its users. Previously studied in many other
research formats, it has been repeatedly found that social media and media in
general can pose negative effects from overuse and overexposure.
Although this study rendered some valuable information, some limitations
must be noted. First, the sample size for this study was only 61 people, with 67%
of respondents being females in the 18-25 year old demographic. To render more
accurate results a survey conducted to equal parts of male and female age
groups ranging from all demographics would help to further inform this study.
In addition, two of the questions had answer options of no and never for
the same question; both responses answer the question in the same way,
therefore skewing the results for those questions. Lastly, the survey for this study
was conducted over a two-week period only through one users social media

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platforms. To gain a larger variety of results from a more vast sample size a
survey of this nature would need to be shared on multiple platforms for a longer
period of time to reach it maximum audience.
In conclusion this study helped to inform how much social media users are
exposing themselves to, and what kind of negative effects could possibly come
from this use. Overall, social media is a positive element to daily life; the negative
effects come from the overuse of these platforms. This study attempted to find if
social media does in fact cultivate the way we perceive ourselves and alter our
views of the world. The results did show some evidence that social media may be
negatively impacting our realistic view, however the sample size for this study
was too small to lend an accurate representation.
Further research of this topic with a larger sample and platform specific
questions/surveys would be beneficial to understand how much use of certain
platforms is needed to create a significant impact on a users perception. This
topic is worthy of further study to define the direct relationship between social
media use and perception and how to combat the negative effects.

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VI. References
References
Van Vonderen, K. E., & Kinnally, W. (2012). Media Effects on Body Image:
Examining Media Exposure in the Broader Context of Internal and Other
Social Factors. American Communication Journal, 14(2), 41-57.
Selfies [Def. 1]. (n.d.). Oxford Dictionaries Online. In Oxford Dictionaries.
Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com
/us/definition/ american_english/selfie
North, S. (2012). Social Medias Role in Branding: A Study of Social Media use
and the Cultivation of Brand Affects, Trust, and Loyalty. Retrieved from
Texas ScholarWorks.
Mariella, A. (2014). How is Instagram Affecting The Way We Perceive Ourselves
and The World Around Us. Elite Daily. Retrieved from http://elitedaily.com/
life/culture/x-pro-ii-valencia-instagram-choose-neither/614571/
Marche, S. (2012). Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? The Atlantic. Retrieved From
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebookmaking-us-lonely/308930/
Bautista, V. (2013). How to Protect Brands Against the Mean World Syndrome
in Social Media. Social Media Today. Retrieved from http://www.Social
mediatoday.com/content/how-protect-brands-against-mean-worldsyndrome-social-media
Hobza, C., Walker, K., Yakushko, O., Peugh, J. (2007) What About Men? Social
Comparison and the Effects of Mefia Images on Body and Self-Esteem.
The American Psychological Association. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228626956_What_About_Men_
Social_Comparison_and_the_Effects_of_Media_Images_on_Body_and_S
elf-Esteem
Hunt, E. (2015) Essena ONeilll Quits Instagram Claiming Social Media Is Not
Real Life. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com
/media/2015/nov/03/instagram-star-essena-oneill-quits-2d-life- to-revealtrue-story-behind-images

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VII. Annotated Bibliography

Van Vonderen, K. E., & Kinnally, W. (2012). Media Effects on Body Image: Examining
Media Exposure in the Broader Context of Internal and Other Social
Factors. American Communication Journal, 14(2), 41-57.

Voderen and Kinnally begin this article by introducing how women in

todays media are very thin, fit, and beautiful, making it the standard in body
image. These perfect women who appear all over our media outlets are what
create the thin-ideal. This article explains further how the thin-ideal affects other
women and how the media plays into these influences.
Media is a big part of our lives, which is why, it can be such an influential
factor as well. This article helps to illuminate my research topic (How Social
Media Cultivates the Way We View Ourselves and Others) because it talks about
medias influence on body image and the consequences of these influences.
Although this article addresses television more so than online social networks,
the information is still helpful and further backs up the point I plan to make in my
research.
Voderen and Kinnally address younger women in this article because they
are the most affected by these media affects. In researching this topic, they apply
both the cultivation theory and the social comparison theory to their research.
These theory boths explain how media is influencing us so easily, and the
psychology behind feeling less than ideal when viewing other, more thin women.
Cultivation theory focuses more on the repetitive viewing of models and
actresses that in turn effects the way we think we should look. Social comparison
theory focuses on the fact that we already compare ourselves to others and when
the media only presents beautiful women it becomes harder to find positives
about ourselves.
Further into the article the impact of peers and parents are also discussed.
The information on peers will be very helpful towards my research. Peers who
use social media and post pictures of them selves in bikinis, or a lot of makeup
are further proving that there is a standard in how we should look, bringing this
ideal look more to reality. This article has an abundant amount of useful
information for my topic and will be able to successfully fuel my argument.
Senft, T. M., & Baym, N. K. (2015). What Does the Selfie Say? Investigating a Global
Phenomenon. International Journal Of Communication (19328036), 91588-1606.

Senft and Baym shed light on the global phenomenon that is the selfie.
The article opens up with exploring the popularity of the selfie, in fact it is so
popular that the word selfie made its way into Oxford Dictionaries. This article

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explores exactly what the selfie is and how it made its way to becoming so
popular. In addition Senft and Baym will discuss how the selfie plays into how we
view our selves, and the added benefits or consequences it brings when shared
on social media.
This article will help me in my research because it will shed light on the
need to take and post the perfect picture and why it is so important in todays
society. The article discusses how much work goes into the perfect selfie, and
then argues how these photos are shares to receive likes retweets and
comments. The responses a picture receives will reinforce or bring down
someones self esteem as well as their authenticity.
This article has a broad audience because so many people, of all ages,
cultures, and social statuses take selfies. It helps to illuminate how popular
selfies are among out entire society, playing into many issues and topics. Selfies
are also discussed and empowering in this article, which is information I could
use to fuel my argument towards our main purpose in posting photos.
Smith, L. R., & Sanderson, J. (2015). I'm Going to Instagram It! An Analysis of Athlete
Self-Presentation on Instagram. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic
Media, 59(2), 342-358. doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1029125

The Article Im Going to Instagram It! An Analysis of Athlete SelfPresentation on Instagram going into depth about social media use among
athletes and how it effects their self-esteem, professionalism, and performance
on the field. This article discusses the comments many athletes receive on their
social media platforms, both negative and positive. This section of the article will
be very helpful to my argument because it explains how theses comments,
especially the negative ones, play into how they athletes view themselves and
perform.
What I find interesting and look forwarding to talking about is how we may
not think an athlete will see our rude comment but this article proves that they do
and that they are human and are as equally affected by it just like anyone else.
This article also talks about the importance of self-presentation to an athlete.
Athletes find the need to prove how physically fit they are and social media has
given athletes the opportunity to share just how fit they are.
Smith and Sanderson research this topic by looking into Instagram photos
of athletes and they explore how self-presentation is displayed, the differences
between genders, and themes of Instagram posts across athletes. The results of
this study range from how women are more like to being touching one another in
photos to how men make sure to show off their chest, both to convey a sexual
connotation. These findings will very much help my research and fuel my
argument.

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Meese, J., Gibbs, M., Carter, M., Arnold, M., Nansen, B., & Kohn, T. (2015). Selfies at
Funerals: Mourning and Presencing on Social Media Platforms. International
Journal Of Communication (19328036), 91818-1831.

This Article originally was something I believed would be a bit off topic,
however it discusses why so many people shares photos of themselves at
funerals and it has a lot to do with the expected comfort they want to feel through
social media from comments and likes when they are mourning. This topic feeds
into my research by furthering proving how much social media influences our well
being, and social comfort.
Further into the article a form of presencing is discussed which in this
context has to do with attempting to communicate grief to a wider social
network. The idea is presencing is important to my own research because it is
proving why we feel this need as a society to share with the world our grief. This
article helps to address the emotion behind sharing a selfie, especially one from
a funeral. It explains why so many people feel the need to post pictures relating
to a funeral, and how social media has influenced us to think sharing these
photos is O.K.
Not only will this article help my research on the selfie and how we use
them, but it will also play into the emotional aspect of the selfie and the context in
which we share them. This article also shared some of the funeral photos they
found in their research, which will also be a helpful piece for me to share in my
writing.

Mariella, A. (2014). How is Instagram Affecting The Way We Perceive Ourselves and
The World Around Us. Elite Daily. Retrieved from http://elitedaily.com/
life/culture/x-pro-ii-valencia-instagram-choose-neither/614571/

This article, which addresses college students, discusses the impact of

scrolling through Instagram on a daily basis has on out psyche. The most
damaging part of social media sharing, is the aspect of photo sharing. Mariella
found that viewing photos of other users can make someone scrolling through
feel bad about themselves, and this can lead to depression and overall low-self
esteem.
This articles main focus is on Instagram since Instagram is a photo
sharing application. An important factor to remember about Instagram is that
users who share photos can alter and edit their photos to make them look better,
and more perfect. These perfect looking pictures that are shared then influence
other people to believe that the grass really is greener on the other side.
Mariella goes into explaining that no matter how happy someone is with
their own life, when looking through Instagram thoughts of how perfect someone
elses life seems always come to mind. These thoughts are detrimental and really

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effect our emotions towards the outside world and ourselves. The information
Mariella puts forward in this article is exactly the point I am trying to make.
Mariella talks to the cultivation effect that a social media platform such as
Instagram has on our society. The article talks about how Instagram is now our
new reality, and that what we see with our own eyes is no longer good enough.
This argument will be helpful to my research and is information I can expand
upon.

North, S. (2012). Social Medias Role in Branding: A Study of Social Media use
and the
Cultivation of Brand Affects, Trust, and Loyalty. Retrieved from Texas
ScholarWorks.
This thesis is directly related to my topic and will be very helpful
throughout my research. Nea North discusses multiple affects of social media
and the overall influence it has on our lives. First she discusses how Social
media cultivates the way we view certain brands. Advertisers enable us to feel a
certain way about a brand or product and are the ones behind the cultivation
affect.
In addition to social media affecting out perception of products and brands,
North also talks about how it alters our perceptions of one another. SelfPresentation and Self-disclosure are two aspects discussed in this thesis that
control our social media presence and drive the way we interact on these
platforms. It goes into depth discussing how we post ideal pictures to control
other peoples impressions they form about us. In addition, we use these
platforms to form, as well as maintain, relationships.
North discusses how each platform gives us different results and benefits.
Most importantly in this thesis is the social media affect on branding, regarding
our personal brand as well as product and company brands. North applies the
cultivation theory to Facebook and Twitter practices to find out how it affects our
perceptions.

J Grogan. (2014, March 10 ). Is Facebook Distorting Your View Of The World?

Heavy use of social networks can leave you irritated and sad. Retrieved
From https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/encountering-america
/201403/is facebook-distorting-your-view-the-world
The article Is Facebook Distorting Your View of The World written by
Jessica Grogan talks about social media users emotions after logging on. Grogan
highlights how she feels when uses platforms such a Facebook, she goes into

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depth about the lack of stimulation she feels from Facebook and the lingering
feelings of agitation it leaves. Grogan found that she is not the only user
experiencing these feelings discussed throughout the article.
This piece will be beneficial to my research because it proves that
Facebook can affect out outward emotions and our overall feelings toward our
surroundings. Grogan went on to talk about how Facebook also affected her well
being, prompting her to research the effects on other users. One aspect that
Grogan found, that will be helpful to my research is that our view of perfectseeming lives has a negative affect on our lives that seems less than perfect.
Users of Facebook and other social media tend to feel depressed when they
compare their lives to others after scrolling through their feeds.
In addition to depressed feelings after viewing a perfect looking picture
from one of our friends, Grogan also discusses the passive vs. active use of
Facebook. Facebook demands out attention in a way that makes us feel as
though we have to scroll through our feed, not because we want to. This feeling
causes users irritation when they fail to find something stimulating. Using
Facebook in such a passive way takes away from our daily activities and
ultimately wastes our time and leaves users feeling down.

Marche, S. (2012). Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? The Atlantic. Retrieved From

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebookmaking-us-lonely/308930/
The article Is Facebook Making Us Lonely compliments the previous
article and adds backup to the points previously made. This article, written by
Stephen Marche, highlights how this generation has surface level relationships
that ultimately leave us feeling lonely. Facebook and twitter users alike pride
themselves on having hundreds of friends and followers, however usually only a
handful of those friends are actually friends. This article discusses the difference
of real relationships in comparison to social media relationships.
A platform such as Facebook promises greater connection, and in a
sense it accomplishes that by connecting users across the globe and to those we
otherwise has lost communication with. However, Marche explains that all these
connections are really only surface level relationships. Simply liking a picture is
not as meaningful as being there in person to verbally express your opinions.
These actions tend to leave people feeling lonely due to the lack of true
interactions.
This article further discusses what aspects of Facebook are making users
feel lonelier, as well as the future impacts Facebook may have. It also discusses
what are healthy practices of Facebook vs. unhealthy practices. I will use the
findings in this article to further back up the negative affects from social media
and how it alters our perception of how we view others as well as how we feel.

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22

C Malkin. (2012, November 23). How Technology Makes Us Afraid of Intimacy.

Retreived From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-craigmalkin/technology-addiction_b_1901344.html
Dr. Craig Malkin a clinical psychologist discusses the impact technology
has on our overall emotions. The findings that are discussed in this article will be
helpful to my research and I know they are reliable due to Dr. Malkins impressive
background. Reading through the article, there is a significant amount of
evidence that can back up previous findings from other articles such as Is
Facebook Making Us Lonely as well as Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the
World?.
All of three of these articles will play an important part in my writing when I
discuss emotions and how media and technology ultimately make us feel.
According to this article, (as well as the previous articles), technology can make
us feel lonely and afraid of real intimacy outside of the cyber world. I will tie this
evidence into my argument by discussing it in relation to the Cultivation theory.
The powerful pull technology and media has that is pulling us in, is also putting
us in the mindset that real interaction is scary, therefore cultivating the way we
feel towards our peers and relationships.
This source will really help to frame my argument and I plan to use these
findings on technology and loneliness to open up my research paper. I will begin
talking about these emotional effects and then lead into the cultivation theory and
medias ultimate impact on how we view the outside world due to the emotions
the media brings to surface.

Bautista, V. (2013). How to Protect Brands Against the Mean World Syndrome
in Social Media. Social Media Today. Retrieved From
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-protect-brands-againstmean-world-syndrome-social-media
This article will be extremely helpful in my research because it directly
discusses the Cultivation Theory. Throughout this article is discusses cultivation
theory as related to different aspects, such as social media. One specific part of
this article that I will be elaborating on in my own paper, is an event where
someone felt unsafe in a foreign territory due to online discussions regarding that
territory. This person was influence by a social media conversation that had to do
with the people in a certain region being pickpockets. This conversation
cultivated the way she saw these people and made her adapt the mean world
syndrome.
For my paper I will discuss this event to back up my argument that social
media can in fact alter the way we view the outside world in a negative way. In
addition this article also talks about brands and cultivation analysis. Much like the

SOCIAL MEDIA AND HOW IT CULTIVATES USER PERCEPTION

23

previous situation people are easily turned on or off to a product based on

consumer conversations. The conversation about brands then ties back into
social media and the effect social media ultimately has on brand awareness.
Not only will this article help me to further elaborate on the Cultivation
Theory but also it will really be a key source for me to tie my argument together. I
plan to use this article as a segway that will close in gaps and back up my
argument and other findings.

Hobza, C., Walker, K., Yakushko, O., Peugh, J. (2007) What About Men? Social
Comparison and the Effects of Mefia Images on Body and Self-Esteem.
The American Psychological Association. Retrieved from publication
/228626956_ What_About_Men_Social_Comparison_and_the_
Effects_of_Media_Images_on_Body_and_Self-Esteem
As many other sources focused on social media effects on women, this study
focused on how men are affects by the media. This study will be beneficial to my
own research so that I can use it to also incorporate the effects on men. I found it
difficult to find many articles regarding men and their consumption of social
media or media in general. I was fortunate to have come across this article
because it hold valuable information to help open up the discussion for men.
This article discusses the effects on both mens mental and physical
health based off of their media consumption. I will use the information in the
study to possibly contrast the effects of women versus men. In addition I would
like to discuss my own findings in contrast and try to shed light on why women
may be more severely affected.

Hunt, E. (2015) Essena ONeill Quits Instagram Claiming Social Media Is Not
Real
Life. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/media
/2015/nov/03/instagram-star-essena-oneill-quits-2d-life- to-reveal-truestory-behind-images
This article gives a real life example of the effects of social media. The
information in this article will highlight how easy it is to portray a fake life.
Information from this article will be used to compliment findings from my survey
and put them into perspective.
I plan to use this information in my findings sections as if Essena ONeill
was a subject of study. In this case ONeill provided real life experience and
discusses her addiction and negative side effects of high social media use. I will
also use this information in relation to the cultivation theory to further develop the
side that social media plays a large role in cultivating how we see the world.