What problems or questions in psychology are you

interested in? What makes these interesting or important

to you? How does answering these questions make a
contribution to individuals and societies?
I am interested in problems associated with self-
disclosure on social networking sites (SNS). Specifically, I
want to explore perceived appropriateness of posts on
SNS about taboo topics (e.g. income, feelings, sex life,
body issues) and regrets related with posts on SNS
among Filipino young adults. These problems are
interesting and important to me because of the
increasing availability of Internet access in the
Philippinesthe Social Networking Capital of the World
(Clemente, 2011)and impact on our daily lives, as
information and communications technology is crucial for
the development of our nation. Filipinos thrive on staying
connected with others, evidenced in kapwa (shared sense
of togetherness or connectedness to each other) being at
the heart of the structure of Filipino values (Pe-Pua &
Protecio-Marcelino, 2000). IPG Mediabrands (as cited in
GMA News Online, 2014) reports that the Internet has
become an indispensable means for Filipinos to satisfy
core human needs of relationship, diversion, progression,
recognition, and learning. Social media (e.g. e-mail, short
messaging system, instant messaging, chat rooms, and
social networking sites) enables users to stay in touch
with friends, meet new people, share new experiences,
and keep company. Among the 100 million people in the
Philippines, 47 million are active on Facebook (), with
young adults (ages 18 to 24) comprising the largest
cohort of Filipino Facebook users (38%; Young adults
dominate Facebook in the Philippines, 2012).
Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook rely
on the self-disclosures and connections their users make
(Van Ouytsel, Van Gool, & Walrave, 2014), as the primary
use of SNS is to consume and distribute personal content
about the self (Ellison, Vitak, Steinfield, Gray, & Lampe,
2011). Self-disclosurethe general process of making
oneself known to others (Jourard & Lasakow, 1958)can
be redefined in the context of SNS as the process of
communicating with others (e.g. posting photos,
thoughts, interests) and the amount of information
shared on the profile of a user (e.g. personal data such as
contact details; Krasnova & Veltri, 2012). While self-
disclosures can be simple revelations, there is a
propensity for oversharing or disclosing highly personal
information to a broad social network, as computer-
mediated communication (CMC) appears to be less
inhibiting than face-to-face communication. CMC lacks
auditory, visual, and contextual cues (i.e. eye contact,
facial expressions) and provides more time for the user to
compose and their their statements (Quinn & Oldmeadow
as cited in Green et al., 2016).
Filipino young adults, in particular, seem to use
Facebook status updates to convey their emotions,
thoughts, ideas, and opinions they refuse to disclose in
verbal, face-to-face interactions (Alto, Moya, & Valentino,
2015). Due to absence of auditory, visual, and contextual
cues and higher control and choice over the information
they disclose about themselves online, the shyness and
restraints of expression are lessened. Thus, they express
rants, opinions, anger, sadness, and happenings in daily
life via status updates in a way that cannot be done
offline.
As young adults are now sharing significantly more
about themselves than they did in the past (Camp Mobile
as cited in eMarkerter, 2014), traditional social norms of
privacy may also be changing. People may disclose overly
personal information to a network of friends of varying
degrees of personal closeness, as if they share equal
importance to the discloser (Brandtzaeg et al., 2010),
rather than a conventional limited set of trusted friends.
When a post meant for only a few people is instead read
by hundreds or more, the division between mass and
interpersonal communication is blurred.
Moreover, while the norms guiding socialization and
self-disclosure offline have been well-established, the
same cannot be said for online contexts, where it can be
trickier to identify ones audience, control the scope of
ones actions, and predict the reactions of others to them.
Although young adults have been found to devote much
for their time managing their profiles to deliver their
desired impression to their peers on SNS (Martinez-Alemn &
Wartman, 2008; Reich, 2010), they may not always anticipate
the negative consequences of their online activities and
can engage in activities that lead to consequences
spanning from regret to job loss (20 sleeper). For
instance, 22 million Filipino Facebook users actively
participated in debates about the 2016 Philippine
elections (Gavilan, 2016). Sadly, there have been
incidents of toxic, hostile debates wherein trolls intend
to degrade, threaten, and humiliate people with different
opinions. In such cases, there may be regret for both the
victim and troll which are equally important to learn
about.
Hence, exploring the nature of posts that cause on to
regret sharing on SNS, the motivation behind making
regrettable posts, the consequences of such, how to cope
with and avoid regrettable posts are significant at a time
when laws for promoting a safe and free social media are
still being formed (aside from the Cybercrime Prevention
Act of 2012). Through these inquiries, one might also be
able to uncover what behaviors young adults find
inappropriate to disclose on SNS and why, as well as how
young adults themselves react when seeing a peer
disclose information perceived as inappropriate. Through
the reaction of others, one learns which behaviour is
appropriate and inappropriate (Petronio, 2002). Still, there
is a conflict between the desire for peer and non-peer
approval and acceptance of posts on SNS (Wolfer, 2014).
For instance, teenagers might want to post on SNS about
drinking alcohol to gain peer approval, but might be wary
of the opinions of relatives. Furthermore, within the body
of SNS literature, research on the negative aspects of SNS
usage seems scarce. In fact, majority of SNS literature
appears to be Western and is lacking in the Filipino
context, despite the average 3.2 and 5.2 hours Filipinos
spend online via mobile phones and desktops and tablets,
respectively.