Editorial: Technological addictions: The rise of social networks / Adicciones tecnológicas: El auge de las redes sociales

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. García del Castillo

Las llamadas adiciones conductuales, entre ellas Internet, siguen encontrándose en un limbo científico por las dificultades que entraña discriminar adecuadamente entre conductas, en principio normales, y patologías que podríamos considerar adictivas. La literatura científica ha sabido conceptualizar las adicciones a sustancias de una forma exhaustiva y ahora apuesta por delimitar las adicciones conductuales y sus consecuentes comportamientos de abuso en función de parámetros que están relacionados con la frecuencia de uso, el dinero invertido, la necesidad o la compulsión, así como las interferencias que puede provocar en la vida cotidiana de una persona consiguiendo que deje de cumplir sus obligaciones. Con la llegada de los Servicios de Redes Sociales (SRS) y su amplia repercusión, nos encontramos con un nuevo frente susceptible de adicción. Estos servicios, además de su atractivo y funcionalidad, cuentan con la facilidad de conexión en cualquier momento y desde cualquier lugar, lo que los convierte en potentes reforzadores inmediatos, el mejor caldo de cultivo para una adicción. Somos plenamente conscientes de que no es posible adelantarse a las tecnologías y, mucho menos, a sus posibles consecuencias, pero sería necesario profundizar más en el estado actual de las adicciones tecnológicas, en el sentido de cómo predecir su aparición entre los más jóvenes y cómo combatir terapéuticamente de una forma eficaz sus consecuentes. AbstractBehavioral addictions including Internet addiction still remaining in a scientific limbo because of the difficulties related to a properly differentiation between normal and pathological behaviors.  Literature has conceptualized substance addiction in a comprehensive manner and now stands for define the behavioral addictions and their consequential abuse behaviors as a function of parameters related to use frequency, money invested, need or compulsion, as well as the interferences in people’s daily lives that may lead them to default on their obligations. As a consequence of the advent of the Social Networking Sites (SNS) and their wide impact among population we may find a new addiction context. These services in addition to their appealing and functionality have an easy connection everywhere at any time, which makes them powerful and immediately enhancers, becoming a breeding ground for an addiction. We are fully aware that is not possible to keep ahead to the technologies and neither their consequences but extra effort is still needed to understand their mechanisms, how can we predict the appearance among young people and how can we fight therapeutically against their consequences.

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Simon Park

This paper describes the usage of Instagram (the social networking platform) in sophomore English classes at a private Japanese university. Instagram was used to help students prepare for their study abroad semester. Students created private Instagram accounts and used this platform for group exercises with a mixed group of students and staff at potential study abroad sites in the United States of America. The participants posted images and video of their daily lives and routines at their schools, and created posts based on tasks set by the instructor. Group members were then encouraged to ask each other questions and communicate through Instagram. The study found that Instagram usage has the potential to help students prepare linguistically and culturally for study abroad semesters. The paper recommends follow-up studies that use Instagram and other social networking sites to help students prepare culturally and linguistically for study abroad semesters. This has implications for language teachers who are teaching prospective study abroad students or are interested in incorporating technology into their classes, as well as coordinators of study abroad programs interested in modernizing their study abroad orientation programs. この論文では、日本の私立大学の 2 年生の英語クラスでの Instagram(SNS)の使 用法について説明します。 Instagram は、学生が留学の準備をするのを助けるため に使用されました。学生はプライベート Instagram アカウントを作成し、このプラ ットフォームを使用して、米国の潜在的な留学サイトで学生とスタッフの混合グル ープとのグループ演習を行いました。参加者は、学校での日常生活の画像や動画を 投稿し、講師が設定したタスクに基づいて投稿を作成しました。その後、グループ のメンバーはお互いに質問し、Instagram を介してコミュニケーションすることが 奨励されました。調査では、Instagram の使用により、学生が留学学期に向けて言 語的および文化的に準備するのに役立つ可能性があることがわかりました。この論 文では、Instagram やその他の SNS を使用して、学生が留学に向けて文化的および 言語的に準備するのに役立つ追跡調査を推奨しています。これは、将来の留学学生 を教えている、またはクラスにテクノロジーを組み込むことに関心のある語学教 師、および留学オリエンテーションプログラムの近代化に関心のある留学プログラ ムのコーディネーターに影響を及ぼします。


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Izaham Shah Ismail ◽  
Nurul Hidayu Shafie

The use of ICT in education has benefitted both students and educators in the education field. Currently, social networking sites are being used widely by university students in their daily lives for various purposes such as entertainment, networking, as well as educational purposes. There are many studies conducted to figure out whether the social networking sites benefit the students in formal education but there are not many studies done to investigate whether they are beneficial to students’ informal learning, especially in English language. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the contribution of social networking sites to the university students' English informal language learning. This quantitative study was conducted on Malaysian public university students in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. A descriptive quantitative survey research was conducted in order to answer the research questions of this study. The results of this study revealed that most of the respondents learned English informally by saving interesting English quotes or images posted on social networking sites as well as by paying attention to the sentence patterns and accent while watching videos on those sites. The respondents of this study also perceived that they informally learned listening skills and vocabulary the most from the social networking sites. To conclude, social networking sites are not only useful for entertaining purposes, but they could also be used to informally learn and improve one’s English language skills.   KEYWORDS: Language Learning, English Informal Learning, Social Networking Sites, Millennials, English In Social Networking Sites, ICT In Education


Author(s):  
Roman Liubenko ◽  
Kateryna Maltseva

Nowadays, the scale of the influence the social networking sites have on the daily lives of individuals are difficult to overstate. It is particularly true in the case of young people and college students. One of the notable tendencies characterizing the situation of these social cohorts in the context of social networking sites use is a marked increase in mental health problems, regardless of gender, particularly in juncture with stress level augmentation. In this vein, an empirical investigation into online networking and stress among the student population is a reasonable research step. Our present research explores the nature of the links between social websites’ use and subjective stress levels among the student body across several different majors at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv, Ukraine). The project combined qualitative and quantitative strategies of data collection and analysis. The quantitative phase of the project (a self-administered survey, n = 166) collected cognitive and behavioral data in self-reports format that were used to test a series of hypotheses exploring the relationships between the constructs discussed above. We show that most of the students surveyed in our study typically were consumers of multiple online networking services, on average investing in the activity a total of over 3 hours per day. However, our results indicate no statistically significant links between subjective stress levels and the patterns of social networking sites’ use that were the focus of our research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (13) ◽  
pp. 5397
Author(s):  
Raquel Lozano Blasco ◽  
Cecilia Latorre Cosculluela ◽  
Alberto Quílez Robres

Despite the obvious favorable effects of social networking sites, there is a risk of developing behavioral addictions. This study aims to analyze addiction to social networks and its relationship with anxiety. A sample (n = 361) of university students (undergraduate, master’s and doctoral) comprising 87.5% women and 12.5% men with a mean age of 32.58 (SD = 12.03) and 32.36 (SD = 10.21), respectively, was included. Addiction to social networks was measured using the Social Network Addiction (SNA) questionnaire and anxiety was measured using Spanish adaptation of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI Test). The regression results show how concurrent moderating variables such as age (adulthood) predispose individuals to addiction in some way (Model 5, explained 13.5%, R2= 0.135, p = 0.040). Similarly, we found that the aspect of addiction that generates anxiety is an obsession with social networks. Anxiety arises as excessive use decreases, similar to abstinence syndrome. It is concluded that the harmlessness of social networks and their inappropriate use can lead to behavioral addiction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-86
Author(s):  
Maíra Evangelista de Sousa ◽  
Brenda Rachit

Os sites de redes sociais facilitam a publicação, a discussão e o compartilhamento de conteúdos por cidadãos. Essas plataformas têm sido usadas na organização e na divulgação de mobilizações em massa por meio de ferramentas, como “Grupos” e “Eventos” do Facebook. Nesse contexto, destaca-se a mobilização de mulheres que articulou ações e estratégias de voto contra o candidato à presidência do Brasil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro (PSL), durante o período eleitoral de 2018 através do site de rede social Facebook. O objetivo deste artigo é compreender como as novas formas de mobilização com base online, aliadas às questões de gênero e representatividade eleitoral, contribuem para a construção de comunidades instantâneas de práticas transformadoras que se consolidam no espaço físico. Para alcançar tal objetivo, os procedimentos metodológicos são formados por uma combinação de técnicas qualitativas (observação, descrição e análise) (FRAGOSO; RECUERO; AMARAL, 2011). O objeto empírico é composto pelos Grupos “Mulheres unidas contra Bolsonaro” e “Mulheres Unidas Contra Bolsonaro | Pará” e pelo Evento “Mulheres contra O Bolsonaro | Belém”.   PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Comunicação Online; Mobilização Online; Gênero; Eleições; #EleNão.     ABSTRACT Social networking sites make it easier for citizens to publish, discuss, and share content. These platforms have been used in organizing and publicizing mass mobilizations through tools such as Facebook “Groups” and “Events”. In this context, we highlight the women mobilization who articulated voting actions and strategies against the Brazilian presidential election candidate, Jair Messias Bolsonaro (PSL), over 2018 electoral period through the social networking site Facebook. This article aims to understand how the new forms of online mobilization, allied to gender issues and electoral representativity, contribute to the construction of instant communities of transformative practices which are consolidated in the physical space. In order to do it, our methodological procedures are formed by a combination of qualitative techniques (observation, description and analysis) (FRAGOSO; RECUERO; AMARAL, 2011). The empirical object consists of the Groups “Mulheres unidas contra Bolsonaro” and " Mulheres Unidas Contra Bolsonaro | Pará” and the Event "Mulheres contra O Bolsonaro | Belém”.  KEYWORDS: Online Communication; Online Mobilization; Genre; Elections; #EleNão     RESUMEN Los sitios de redes sociales facilitan la publicación, la discusión y el intercambio de contenidos por ciudadanos. Estas plataformas se han utilizado en la organización y divulgación de movilizaciones masivas a través de herramientas, como "Grupos" y "Eventos" de Facebook. En ese contexto, se destaca la movilización de mujeres que articuló acciones y estrategias de voto contra el candidato a la presidencia de Brasil, Jair Mesias Bolsonaro (PSL), durante el período electoral de 2018 a través del sitio de redes sociales Facebook. El objetivo de este artículo es comprender cómo las nuevas formas de movilización con base online, aliadas a las cuestiones de género y representatividad electoral, contribuyen a la construcción de comunidades instantáneas de prácticas transformadoras que se consolidan en el espacio físico. Para alcanzar tal objetivo, los procedimientos metodológicos están formados por una combinación de técnicas cualitativas (observación, descripción y análisis) (FRAGOSO, RECUERO, AMARAL, 2011). El objeto empírico está compuesto por los Grupos " Mulheres unidas contra Bolsonaro" y " Mulheres Unidas Contra Bolsonaro | Pará” y el Evento "Mulheres contra O Bolsonaro | Belém".  PALABRAS CLAVE: Comunicación en línea; Movilización en línea; Género; elecciones; #EleNão.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Abdulelah A. Alghamdi ◽  
Margaret Plunkett

With the increased use of Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) in Saudi Arabia, it is important to consider the impact of this on the social lives of tertiary students, who are heavy users of such technology. A mixed methods study exploring the effect of SNSAs use on the social capital of Saudi postgraduate students was conducted using a multidimensional construct of social capital, which included the components of life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation, and political engagement. Data were collected through surveys and interviews involving 313 male and 293 female postgraduate students from Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah. Findings show that male and female participants perceived SNSAs use impacting all components of social capital at a moderate and mainly positive level. Correlational analysis demonstrated medium to large positive correlations among components of social capital. Gender differences were not evident in the life satisfaction and social trust components; however, females reported more involvement with SNSAs for the purposes of political engagement while males reported more use for civic participation, which is an interesting finding, in light of the norms and traditional culture of Saudi society.


Author(s):  
Carlota Lorenzo Romero ◽  
Efthymios Constantinides ◽  
María del Carmen Alarcón del Amo

Author(s):  
Maryam Salahshour ◽  
Halina Mohamed Dahlan ◽  
Noorminshah A. Iahad

Social networking tools have become an integral part of our daily lives. Recently, a new type of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) namely Academic Social Networking sites (ASNSs) has attracted global users. There is perceived usefulness on the impact of ASNSs on patterns of academic research activities. However, it remains unclear why some researchers do not use ASNSs at all. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore the ASNSs usage among Malaysian academic researchers and to investigate benefits, specific purpose, drivers and barriers of using ASNSs. A total of 210 completed cases were collected through paper-based and online-based questionnaire. In order to show the outcome of the research, descriptive interpretation of data is performed. The overall findings of this research indicate that there is low rate of ASNSs usage among researchers. In addition, the results show that colleagues, attitude toward technology and communication benefits are the drivers to use ASNSs and trust, privacy and security are the common barriers regarding to use ASNSs.


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