Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life, and WordPress are all forms of social media. Social media allows individuals to interact with each other through websites. Large amounts of exposure to social media sites, specifically Facebook, have been linked to symptoms of depression. Social media sites have become a very popular way for college students to communicate, but throughout my interviews only one people had heard of what the American Academy of Pediatrics call Facebook depression.

Johanna Munoz is a college student and frequent social media user. When Johanna was in high school she spoke at WITCC about cyber-bullying. When I asked Johanna what she thought social media was she said, “Social media is made up of social websites like Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. It’s big networks you can use to communicate with people from all around the world.”

Sue Sorenson, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, calls the interaction on social media sites “pseudo-socializing”. “The interactions users have online, through a computer screen, are not actual interactions.” I asked Sue what types of symptoms the American Academy of Pediatrics were most likely finding. She believed isolation was probably a very common symptom for some of these excessive users. Sue’s advice was to limit the amount of time you spend on these sites.

A manager at Best Buy, who is majoring in Computer Science, believes that the accessibility of technology has contributed to the popularity of social sites. He said, “Our generation relies on social media a lot. It’s just so easy for me to get online whenever or wherever because of my smart phone and almost everyone has smart phones now.” Having the ability to access these sites at all hours of the day can lead to excessive use. “There’s no reason people ever have to get off (these sites). While you’re grocery shopping you can Skype your mom. While you’re out with your friends you can be Facebooking your other friends.”

Easy accessibility to these websites has contributed to an increase in cyber-bullying. Johanna, who has spoken with students about cyber-bullying, explained that before the technology craze people could “escape bullies”. She said, “You knew where they were and the places you could go to avoid them. Now there’s no escape. People can reach you anywhere, anytime. To add to it, bullying on Facebook is very public, which is super embarrassing. Everyone can see it.”

Although Johanna had never heard of Facebook depression, she wasn’t surprised to hear that there was a possible link between high use of social media sites and depression. “People liking pictures and commenting could definitely lead to self-esteem issues, at least.”  She spoke with me about a popular application that used to be on Facebook called Hot or Not. Hot or Not permitted users to judge pictures of their Facebook friends. A picture would be displayed on the screen and the user would choose whether their friend was Hot or Not. “Feeling like you’re being judged by people is not a good feeling.”

This could affect college students for a number of different reasons. Most college students already spend a good portion of their day on the web.  Students can easily access the Internet through their phones or computers, which makes them a perfect target for excessive use. Most college students already have profiles for social media sites so they can keep in contact with friends and family back home.