Dr Ingrid Richardson, Murdoch University
Over the past decade we've witnessed the rise of what's called
the 'personal web' -technologies that help us to create, organise
and manage our own content online. We use some of these online
applications - Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, Tumblr, to name
just a few - to support our social, professional and public selves,
and these interfaces also provide personalised windows into the
lives of others. Not surprisingly, young people have been at the
forefront of personal web adoption worldwide.
There has been much speculation about the impact of online
communication on young people's wellbeing. Some research indicates
that the amount of time young people spent online has a negative
impact on the quality of their friendships and, thus, on their
wellbeing. Others have shown that under the right conditions, the
personal web can powerfully support and sustain the wellbeing of
young people, facilitating a sense of connectedness, community,
belonging and resilience. Indeed, this sense of community is
central to the appeal and popularity of social networking sites,
online forums, chat rooms, and virtual spaces.
The key phrase here is 'under the right conditions'. Several
recent studies suggest that certain kinds of online networking
activities can cause - or at least exacerbate - depression and
anxiety. In their exploration of the moods of college students (Misery
Has More Company Than People Think), Stanford University
researcher Alex Jordan and his colleagues have found that some
forms of social networking can lead us to overestimate the
happiness and success of our 'friends', such that we become
inversely less satisfied with our own lives. In her new book Alone Together, well-respected
analyst of social technologies Sherry Turkle claims services such
as FaceBook encourage a constant tweaking and spin-doctoring of the
self. This kind of on-going performance, Turkle reports, can leave
teenagers feeling exhausted and alienated, suffering what she calls
'presentation anxiety.'
This is not to say that young people's use of the personal web
cannot effectively enhance wellbeing - we know from numerous
studies that the benefits are significant. Rather, it points to the
complexities of online social interaction, and the need for
critical research that considers the many different kinds of
networking practices and their potential hazards and
benefits.