Brent Alger

Prof. Evans
ENL 102
4/2.2018

Research Question: Does social media raise anxiety levels in young adults?

Group 1: Groups that talked about how social media gave anxiety to general users.
This group discusses how social media affected the anxiety levels of general users. These
studies did not get involved with any type of subclass (gender, race, etc..) except for age.

Primack, Brian. "Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and
anxiety: A nationally-representative study among U.S. young adults." Computers in Human
Behavior, edited by Matthieu Guitton, vol. 69, 2017, pp. 1-9.
This is another scientific study done looking at anxiety, this time looking more at number
of platforms used. Primack determined that there was a direct relation between number of
platforms used and level of anxiety (anxiety measured with the Patient-Reported Outcomes
Measurement Information System (PROMIS)). Primack’s study also found that this correlation
between social media platforms and anxiety remained strong after a controlled amount of time.
This study seems to have found a solid connection between the two cases.
Primack works at the Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health at the
University of Pittsburgh, so he seems very credible. Primack also has a PhD in multidisciplinary
social sciences, which would make him very knowledgeable on the subject. The greatest strength
of Primack’s study is his sample size, which consisted of 1787 U.S. young adults ages 19–32.
This sample size is extremely large, making the results of the study very reliable. Also where
Primack showed that the connection remained after the study boosts the credibility of the study.
This article shares the same scientific roots at Alkis’s study, which is nice because these
studies are rooted in proven facts, not conjecture. Primack’s study could also be looked as an
extension of Yunis’s study. The biggest thing that Primack adds to the conversation is the exact
linear relationship Primack found between anxiety and number social media platforms. This is a
strong point to bring up in the argument that social media increases anxiety, as Primack proved a
direct correlation.

Osatuyi, Babajide. "Is lurking an anxiety-masking strategy on social media sites? The effects of
lurking and computer anxiety on explaining information privacy concern on social media
platforms” Computers in Human Behavior, edited by Matthieu Guitton, vol. 49, 2015, pp. 324-
332.
This is an interesting article, as it looks at one of the aftermaths of gaining anxiety from
social media, increase in lurking. Osayuyi take the stance that lurking is a mask for social
anxiety. In his study, he found that as lurking by a user increased, their concern for social media
information privacy (which he calls CFSMIP) decrease. He also found that as their anxiety
increased, their lurking and CFSMIP increased, putting a direct connection between anxiety and
lurking. This is an important study, as it looks at the consequences social.
Osatuyi is a professor at the University of Texas, making him credible. He also has a
doctorate in Informational Studies, meaning that this type of study, one that involves private
information being made public, would be directly under his line of study. Aside from his
credentials, something that makes this study valid is the large sample size. Osatuyi sampled 250
avid social media users to contribute to his study. This large sample size helps put credibility to
his study.
This study could be tied back to Yunis’s study, as both relate to anxiety that arise from
privacy concerns. Both look at this privacy anxiety as a type of anxiety from social media, even
though Osatuyi makes it the main focus of his study. This study could almost be viewed as an
extension of my other sources. Where my other sources look at how social media has a
connection to social anxiety, this one looks at the next step. It investigates the further steps of the
dangers of social media. I think this is an important study because it is the only one of my studies
that looks at the after math of anxiety from social media

Vannucci, Anna. " Social media use and anxiety in emerging adults ”Journal of Affective
Disorders”, edited by Jair C. Soares & Paolo Brambilla, vol. 207, 2017, pp. 163-166.
Vannucci’s study looked at anxiety from social in young adults and found a strong
association. Her study specifically found that more time spent on social media was linked with
greater symptoms of dispositional anxiety, and linked with having a general anxiety disorder.
Vannucci even making that claim that clinicians should look at social media when treating a
person’s anxiety. This is interesting point, as this is the only one of my sources that discusses a
solution to social media anxiety, that isn’t simply to not use it. The study concluded that where
young adults are already at high risk for anxiety disorders, social media only add fuel to the
flame.
Vannucci works in the Center for Behavioral Health, at the Connecticut Children's
Medical Center, making her a credible source. Behavioral health is the perfect background to
have when investigating social media related anxiety disorders, as anxiety is a behavioral issue.
This study also gains credibility from the large sample size, which consisted of 563 emerging
adults. A large sample size always adds validity to a study.
Vannucci’s result can be tied back into Alkis and Primack’s, also both of those studies
looked at the connection between usage of social media, and level of general anxiety. I think the
most important thing that Vannucci brings to the conversation is her belief that clinicians should
be involved in helping social media anxiety. None of my other sources talked about what people
should do to help their social media anxiety, rather than just talking about how anxiety arises
from social media. This is an important point to bring up in my paper.

Group 2: Groups that talked about anxiety from social media, with more thought put
towards women.
This group looked more in depth specifically at how social media affected women’s
anxiety. These studies state that women have gained more social anxiety from social media than
men have.

Alkis, Yunus. "Development and Validation of Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users."
Computers in Human Behavior, edited by Matthieu Guitton, vol. 72, 2017, pp. 296-303.
This article takes a very scientific approach for understanding the connection between
social media and anxiety. Yunus, in his study, developed a scale intended to measure social
anxiety that came from social media, which he called the Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media
Users (SAS-SMU). Using his scale, he discovered a few things about anxiety relating to social
media. One thing that he determined was that anxiety could be broken down into four types,
shared content anxiety, privacy concern anxiety, interaction anxiety, and self-evaluation anxiety.
He also determined that females had more anxiety from social media, in term of both interaction
anxiety and privacy concerns.
Alkis is a professor at the Middle East Technical University, so it is safe to assume that
he is credible. A strength of his study was that it is very thorough. After reading thought the
methods page, it seems that Alkis left nothing unthought of when he was planning out his study.
He also had a healthy number of subjects (college students) that he used in his study. He had 174
for the first part, and over 500 for the second part. Having more people involved in the study
increases data received, which makes the study more credible.
This study fits well with Primack discoveries. Primack’s study look at the relationship
between number of social media platforms and a person’s anxiety. I think that Primack’s
argument could almost be an extension of Alkis’s study. I think an important thing that Yunus
brings to the argument is the idea of the four types of anxiety. This adds a new depth to my
research question that I had never considered before. I had always thought of anxiety as a one
factor type of thing, but Yunis expanded my idea. Another thing that Yunis brings to the table is
his idea that females get more anxiety than men from social media. This makes sense to me but it
was something I did not really think of it.
Dunne, Daisy, and Jane Kirby. "Depression and Anxiety Soars in Young Women in Age of
Social Media." Western Mail, Sep 30, 2016, pp. 5, ProQuest,
This article looked specifically at female aged 16 to 24 social media user, and found that
females are at a higher risk to get anxiety from social media, and that the risk is on the rise. The
article looks at how women exhibiting behavior of common mental heath disorders have greatly
increased, particularly while men’s signs have barely increased at all. Dunne also found that the
gap in social media anxiety between men and women is growing, and that women are far more
likely to physically harm themselves than men. This article then looked at how social media is
potentially linked to this increase in anxiety.
Dunne has a BSc in biology from the University of Bristol and an MA is science
journalism from the University of London, making her a very credible source in regards to
anxiety gained from social media. The only weakness in her article is that she does not actually
prove anything herself, instead making conjectures based off other studies. However, the studies
she brings up seem to be very credible, which boosts her articles validity.
Her ideas can also be tied into Yunis’s ideas, as he showed that females had more anxiety
from social media, in term of both interaction anxiety and privacy concerns. Both studies show
that social media has had a far greater impact on women than men. I think this is the most
important thing that Dunne adds to the arguments. She really showed just how much of a toll
social media has had on young women. Although Yunis had some ideas about how social media
has affected women, Dunne makes it the centerpiece of her argument.