Facebook the Social Isolation Network

Facebook depression is it caused or is Facebook just a tool? I’ve learned a lot about Facebook Depression but I still have one source to get through. My 4th and final source is “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families” by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe gets straight to the point by calling Facebook Depression a new phenomenon. Facebook Depression is now according to this article something they believe to be as real as cyberbullying or sexting

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O'Keeffe even goes on to define it “as depression that develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression” Do people just experience depression the minute they jump on Facebook? Not probable. As the article goes on O'Keeffee explains “Acceptance by and contact with peers is an important element of adolescent life… As with offline depression, preadolescents and adolescents who suffer from Facebook depression are at risk for social isolation” In one way it doesn’t make any sense that a “social network” could cause social isolation because that’s the whole point of the website to share with others, yet in another light there are people who post who may not actually have any real friends. Meaning they post to their peers to get likes but that may be all the social interaction they may get.

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The article concludes by addressing that Pediatricians are to be held responsible to educate people about Facebook Depression. O'Keeffe thinks that “Pediatricians can help parents understand that what is happening online is an extension of these underlying issues and that parents can be most helpful if they understand the core issues and have strategies for dealing with them.” My audience is around college students, so, Why would we expect our parents to be held responsible for being educated? I think it’s because parents are the ones who worry the most and should be the first held responsible for noticing that their child could be experiencing Facebook Depression.

This source certainly raised some new questions: Is it possible that teens and young adults just stay clear of Facebook until they're fully grown?, Should Colorado health officials be held responsible for trying to improve youth's self-esteem?

As I said I have learned about Facebook Depression throughout this blog research project. I initially thought Facebook could only be used as a tool to put your thoughts online including the sad ones. My views have changed the more studies and articles I read because there are actually a few aspects of Facebook I honestly believe could make someone feel depressed and those might be the things that cause people to write the thoughts they have in the first place.

I still ponder though just because some people do encounter some of those feelings will it eventually happen to everyone. I would also be interested in knowing more about why we feel the need to share how we feel online in the first place. In my final argumentative essay I want to argue that people use Facebook as a tool more than they get depressed from using the site. Throughout my research it is proven that they can find evidence of actual depression from the analysis of college student’s statuses.

O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson. "The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families." Pediatrics 127.4 (2011): 800-804.

How Far Can Oversharing On Facebook Go?

In my first blog post, I looked at a study which reported on if users of Facebook posted statuses that were considered symptoms of depression. My second source happens to be another study by Megan Moreno and her fellow psychologists called “A Pilot Evaluation of Associations Between Displayed Depression References on Facebook and Self-reported Depression Using a Clinical Scale”. This time around the scientists asked college students who posted statuses that had depression symptoms to take an online PHQ-9 depression scale. I’m going, to be honest, why did this study really need to take place wouldn’t you assume that if someone said they were sad a lot that they are going to say they are sad on a quiz they volunteered to take? Well, that’s the whole point of science studies is prove or disprove this theory that they had. Just thought I’d mention that because I had the previous comment about my source being biased.

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According to Moreno “Though it did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.056), there was a trend that suggested depression symptom displayers were more likely than non-displayers to score into one of the depression categories (mild, moderate, or severe) based on the PHQ-9 “ With this finding does that mean I can just start going through my friends Facebook profiles and diagnose them with depression? Not exactly Moreno shuts this down very quickly by stating “These preliminary findings do not suggest that Facebook should be used to formally diagnose depression; a diagnosis of depression is comprised of symptom patterns over time. Without clinical context including duration, severity, and frequency of the displayed symptoms, formal diagnosis cannot be without clinical evaluation. However, as Facebook displays are marked with a date, it would be possible to observe not only individual references but patterns over time.” Posting on Facebook that you're sad once doesn’t mean you have depression like a teen saying there going to kill themselves because their parents wouldn’t let them go a party. It is something that has to be diagnosed by a doctor to see if the person experiencing the sadness matches the multiple symptoms such as the long time feeling of this way.

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The most interesting part of the study I found was that even though they did find evidence of people posting depressing statuses did have a correlation with the PHQ-9 tests diagnosing them. They study found that people who didn’t post such statuses also could have depression. “Findings do not suggest that Facebook displays of depression symptoms are an effective method to rule out depression, as many of the non-displayers PHQ-9 scores suggested depression”

My second blog post talked about how Facebook caused Envy when users “surveillance” other users. With my third source, it appeared that people used Facebook to post about their feelings.

A couple more questions arose to me while reading this including: Should Colorado ask institutions to look more into their students Facebook profiles to see symptoms? And Should Facebook release the PHQ-9 test to all of its users so if they wanted to know if they had depression they could have easy access?

Moreno, Megan Andreas, MD,M.S.Ed, M.P.H., et al. "A Pilot Evaluation of Associations between Displayed Depression on Facebook and Self-Reported Depression using a Clinical Scale." The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, vol. 39, no. 3, 2012., pp. 295-304 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11414-011-9258-7.