Research Shows That Social Media Is Harming People’s Judgement

Frequent texting and rapid-fire use of social media could be leading us down a perilous digital path toward “moral shallowness,” suggests a new Canadian study. It comes amid growing concern about whether excessive social media use encourages negative personality traits such as narcissism, insecurity and compulsive behaviour.

Logan Annisette, a psychologist at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, who led the latest research, said the moral impacts he and his team had seen could also have widespread implications.

Writing in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, he and his colleagues said: ‘Frequent use of ultra-brief social media is associated with negative effects on the user’s use of reflective thought and some indicators of compromised moral judgment.

‘This can potentially lead to a decline in academic performance and increased difficulty in the formation of social relationships – two extremely important tasks for teenagers and young adults, the age groups that text and use social media to the greatest degree.’

Researchers examined the personality traits, texting behaviour and social media use of 149 undergraduate students by asking them to complete an online questionnaire. Around 95 per cent of the participants had Facebook accounts, while 68 per cent used Twitter and 64 per cent used Instagram.

More than half said they used these social media sites for less than ten minutes each time with a third using them many times each day.

Those who tended to use social media more were more likely to rate goals like hedonism, fame and their image above those of helping their community and family.