Summary

Social media: is it a blessing or a curse? Years of research show that comparing ourselves to others online, otherwise known as social comparisons, has been shown to increase feelings of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide, especially among our youth. At the same time, this research has yet to translate into effective solutions. When people are very aware of themselves and how they compare to others, they can begin to view themselves less as a person, and more like an object to be continuously evaluated. They begin to compare the ways they see themselves with the way they see themselves in comparison to others. This is a mechanism of self-focused attention and objective self-awareness, two measures that are assessed in the study. These mechanisms have been shown to be impacted by visual stimuli. Nuerohue is hoping to break new ground in testing whether a system of data-driven interventions in social media interfaces, that will help social media users limit their social comparisons and reduce negative emotions in real-time.

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How does Nuerohue plan to use the data from this research?

With this new research, Nuerohue can further demonstrate whether the design of social media contributes to mental health concerns.

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Data from this research will be used to evaluate the following:

The data findings from this research can help Nuerohue and other researchers develop new approaches for quantifying biases in attention, self-focused attention, and social comparisons as they relate to negative emotions during social media use. In addition to their quantitative findings, the team will be able to publicly share insights into when, why, and how the design of social media and how we interact with it are proponents of negative emotional experiences. These findings can help researchers create data-driven interaction design interventions to reverse undesired negative emotional implications of social media use.

MENTAL HEALTH, IMMERSIVE TECH, PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY