ÄR SOCIALA MEDIER BÖRJAN PÅ EN SOCIAL KOLLAPS ELLER VERKTYG FÖR SOCIAL UTVECKLING? En kvalitativ studie om hur sociala medier påverkar unga vuxna på ett positivt sätt

Abstract

Executive summary The purpose of this study is to examine how young adults use social media and their opinions about their own use. This study will examine what positive effects and aspects young adults think social media generates. To gain deeper understandings of the subject, three research questions have been formulated: 1. What kind of opinions do young adults have about their own social media use? How does social media affect their everyday life? 2. How do young adults view the content on TikTok in relation to other social media platforms? 3. What positive effects of social media do the respondents highlight? This study employed a qualitative method with seven individuals participating in interviews. The participants were young adults aged 21-28 which provided an interesting perspective with individuals who are not raised with social media. The qualitative method was chosen to provide a deeper understanding and a more in-depth answer regarding the individuals' thoughts about social media. The study revealed that the young adults do reflect about their own social media use and that they are very aware about the fact that social media a lot of the time is a distraction. The young adults had mostly positive thoughts about social media and highlighted that social media is a great platform to talk to their friends and family. They explained that social media has helped them with keeping in touch with friends that they do not see that often. They also explained that social media is a great way to find inspiration and motivation in their day to day life. Many of them use social media to find new recipes, new books to read, travel destinations or to get motivation to clean their apartments. A couple of the respondents also highlighted that social media is a great way for people to find new friends and that this is important for people who do not have that many friends. Continuing on the subject about social media being a helpful platform to keep in contact with friends and family, the respondent said that they post on social media to show their friends their lives. They use social media to let their friends and family know what they are doing and also to see what other people are doing. They also use platforms like Instagram to save photos and create a photo album to be able to look back on. Other respondents said that they rarely post on social media simply because they do not see the point of it. They explain that they do not care for people to see what they are doing and that the people closest to them know it anyway, without posting on Instagram. As mentioned earlier the respondents had mostly positive opinions about social media and thought it was a great tool. But the result also showed that there were some negative effects. For example, most of the respondents think that social media wasted a lot of their time and that it distracted them from more important things like schoolwork. This has resulted in some of the individuals deleting the app temporarily. They all agreed that platforms like TikTok do not have a real purpose. TikTok is a platform where people come to endlessly scroll without a purpose. A lot of the time it is hard to remember what content you viewed when you log out. This is something that the respondents highlighted as problematic. This study provides a perspective on social media that is under-represented in the science world. Often the studies about social media provide a negative picture of social media and blame social media for the heightened depression and anxiety rates. This study provides a new perspective on the subject of social media effects.