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CHAPTER IV

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This part contains the discussions of the information shared by our study participants as

well as our analysis and discussions of the themes that emerged from the participants’

descriptions of their experiences.

Reasons for Posting in Facebook

Facebook gives freedom to users to inform others of what they think and what they feel.

It allows them to express what they want to say. Facebook serves as the diary of some users and

sometimes as an avenue to express their emotions. In the interview with the Key Informants

(KI’s) that the researchers have conducted, the participants shared their views on how the

utilized Facebook as a chimney of emotion. Using the content analysis, the views of students

from senior high school and college department were joined. Among the responses given we

have identified several themes that explained why users post their personal feelings and

sentiments on Facebook which includes Self-expression, Avenue of Emotions, Family Gap,

Social Anxiety and Social attention.

Self – expression

Facebook was used by the participants as an outlet for their emotions. Self-expression is

how they want to portray and convey themselves to other people. The participants stated that

they find Facebook as a modern diary where they could express themselves as well as their
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thoughts. The researchers found out that they vent out their feelings in Facebook because they

feel that it is a way for them to share their feelings with other people. Facebook is an ideal site

for scrutiny because the site allows adolescents to formulate self-referential intentions as they

engage in self-expression online. Identifying individual differences in adolescents’ use of

Facebook as a tool for self-expression and for participating in social discourse, we can depict

adolescents’ intentions with greater accuracy. This was manifested as the participants said:

“So that people will know and for someone to relate to my personal feelings so that I would not

feel so alone.”(KI 13)

“Kay gusto nakomabasanilaunsaakongnafeel that time” (KI 1)

(Because I want them to read what I feel…) (KI 1)

“Para miskingisanaaymakabasasaakoang status.” (KI 16)

(So that someone can read my status…) (KI 16)

Humans are expressive by nature. We find ways to express ourselves either verbally or in

a non-verbal form. Self-expression is a key to understanding and asserting yourself and your own

uniqueness to the world (Adams, 2012). We have asked students on the reasons why they post

their feelings on Facebook. Our participants stated that they post their feelings on Facebook

because they want to express themselves and want to vent out and share what they feel. This is

supported by Thorkildsen and Kuan (2016) who stated that some social networking sites such as

Facebook capitalized on this perception by advertising opportunities for self-expression and

asking members to build profiles that depict their personal attributes, hobbies, and intentions .
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Avenue of Emotions

Facebook served as an avenue of emotions for the participants wherein the researchers

have found that they use Facebook to post what they feel since they found out that for them

Facebook is the best way to vent out their emotions and make it known to other people. Being an

expressive living being, they seek ways to vent out their emotions. Facebook for some of our

participants has already been considered as their diary. They find Facebook as an easy access of

emotional regulation tool where they can vent out their emotions when they do not have

someone to talk with. As manifested by the statements of our participants:

“Serve as an avenue napagawasansa feelings” (KI 7)

(Serve as an avenue to express feelings) (KI 7)

“It is just a way for me to burst my emotion” (KI 12)

“Bastawalakaymapagawasanug feelings mas better man sa Facebook nalangkay lain

man pudgud kung mag share kasatao” (KI 11)

(It is better to express what you feel on Facebook if you don’t have anything or anyone

because I find it difficult to share to people.) (KI 11)

“Ginabuhatnakong diary.” (KI 5)

(I make it as a diary) (KI 5)

These days, most people have taken social networking sites as a way to vent out their

frustrations (Shindel, 2014).Acknowledging that there are many factors that affect human

emotions, the researchers contend that individual expression of emotions can be affected by what

others in a person's social network are expressing and new technologies online gives people
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more avenues to express themselves to a wider range of social contacts (Levy, 2014). This is

supported by Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe (2007) who stated that Facebook in particular

provides opportunities for increased social capital, social interaction with others and identity

development. Facebook and related social networking sites, by allowing users to selectively

browse through and reflect on their best moments, can promote self-affirmation. These findings

suggest that social networking sites like Facebook, by promoting self-expression and

emphasizing social connections with friends and family, also foster the preservation of self-

worth (Toma & Hancock, 2013).

Family Gap

Facebook has been the sanctuary for some participants who think that no one can listen

about their problems in their family. The researchers have found that family gap has been one of

the reasons why the participants post their feelings in Facebook since they have no one in their

family to share their problems with. Another findings show that participants also post their

problems about their family on Facebook. This means that the reasons why a student or a

teenager post their feelings on Facebook is not only limited to the fact that they don’t have

someone in their family to share their problems, but it also includes their problems with their gap

on the members of their family. This was manifested as the participants stated:

“Dili man gudkaayo mi closesaakong family.” (KI 6)

(It is because I am not that close to my family) (KI 6)

“Usahaywalay time imongmga amigo, tapos Facebook langimongpermintekaatubang”

(KI 11)
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(Sometimes my friends do not have time and because Facebook is always present)

“Mag post nalangkokaykasagaransaakongi-post kayakoangproblemakay mama” (KI 3)

(Some of my posts are about my problem with my mother) (KI 3)

We all use social media to learn things and to connect with friends. Nowhere is the

impact of popular culture and technology on children’s relationships more noticeable than in

families. The researchers have found that both influences have contributed to a growing divide

between the traditional roles that children and their parents play while, at the same time, blurring

those same lines between parents and children.

Children who spent considerable time on Facebook indicated that they felt less supported

by their parents. Due of the lack of parent’s acumen on Facebook, they lack the authority, at least

in the eyes of their children, to regulate its use. This is supported by the statement of Taylor

(2013) which says that it is not only the children who are responsible for growing divide between

parents and offspring. Parents can be equally guilty of contributing to the distance that appears to

be increasing in families. They are often wrapped up in their own Facebook, when they could be

talking to, playing with or generally connecting with their children. It is clear that not just

children create the gap between their families but parents themselves contributein making the

gap much wider.

Social Anxiety

The fear of judgment has led many of the participants to choose to post their feelings on

Facebook rather than sharing it to people close to them. They are afraid of feedbacks and
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comments from people who they think would not understand them. Thus, it has created a

behavior called social anxiety. This is manifested on their statements below:

“Sa Facebook konaga share kaysataokaydili man koganahanug feedback” (KI 7)

(I post and share on Facebook rather than on people because I do not like feedback) (KI 7)

“Mahadlok ma judge kaydilisilamaka sabot saimoha” (KI 5)

(Afraid of judgment because they might not understand you) (KI 5)

“Kay sa Facebook dilinakamakadawatug feedbacks compared sa family” (KI 8)

(In Facebook you could not receive any feedbacks unlike in the family) (KI 8)

On our analysis of their statements, we have concluded that students or Facebook users

find it more comfortable to share what they feel to some random stranger on Facebook rather

than on a family member or close friend since those people could not judge them. Most of the

students do not like to receive any feedback and some are afraid to be judged. They have

developed social anxiety which is defined as the fear of social situations and the interaction with

other people that can automatically bring on feelings of self-consciousness, judgment, evaluation

and scrutiny.

According to Richards (2016), being judge and evaluated negatively by other people,

leads to feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, humiliation, and depression. Facebook provide

places where people can create the face they want the world to see. It allows a person to decide

exactly what image they present to others. For some people, this can lead to a near-obsession.
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This could reflect a person’s self-esteem. This is supported by the study of Maldonado (2015)

which stated that people with anxiety prefer communicating people via the internet rather than a

person so it would seem as though it would be an ideal way to initiate relationships.

Social Attention

People who could not find the attention that they want to get posts their feelings instead

for the hopes of being noticed. Facebook has been a way to satisfy the need for social attention.

Not everyone who uses Facebook has the same intention like sharing what they feel. Instead

some post their status on Facebook because they crave for attention. As indicated on the

statement of one participant:

“My eagerness sometimes for social attention” (KI 2)

Everyone likes to be looked at, talked to, and listened to by other people. They like

validation of worth. But not many would go out of their way to make this happen. The ones that

do, however, are called attention seekers. Attention seekers indulge in behaviors, either

voluntarily or involuntarily, which would make them the center of attention. People tend to use

Facebook as a self-expression tool, they usually embellish the truth and hide the unpleasant or

embarrassing aspects of their lives. As a result, we see only the bright side of others’ lives.

According to Runkevicius (2014) this really harms people’s perception of reality and, sooner or

later, it can lead to the jealousy and the feelings of inadequacy or resentment. Social attention is

very common to Facebook to gain likes and rose to fame. Some of those who seek attention

cannot find the warmth they needed from those people who are close to them personally.
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Feeling after Posting on Facebook

Facebook provides an alternative emotional outlet that allows users to express what they

feel. Facebook has been the sanctuary of the unsaid feelings that they kept inside themselves. It

served as an avenue of emotion which contains every unspoken word. Posting in Facebook

helped the participants to feel free and lift the burden that they have in their shoulders because of

the problems that they could not tell other people. Using the content analysis we gathered the

responses of senior high school and college department students. We have identified two themes

that explained what users feel after they post on Facebook which includes Emotional satisfaction

and Emotional anxiety.

Emotional Satisfaction

People often share emotions with others in order to manage their emotional experiences.

The researchers have found that the participants find emotional satisfaction when they post their

feelings in Facebook. This is because the tension that is inside them is being released.

Satisfaction is indicated on the statements of the participants:

“I feel calmness of the mind and satisfaction” (KI 2)

“Happy kaydaghanmo like ugmo comment” (KI 4)

(Happy because there are a lot of people who will like and comment) (KI 4)

“Happy kaymakapagawasman kosaakoanggibati” (KI 15)

(I am happy because I can vent out my feelings) (KI 15)

Based on our analysis of the statements of our participants, the researchers have

concluded that emotional satisfaction is brought about by the feeling of happiness by being able
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to release the tension or feelings inside them. Having someone who could agree and sympathize

with them is also one of the factors that brought emotional satisfaction to the participants.

This is supported by Ghewari (2014) where he stated that sharing opens one up,

expressing one’s feelings soothes tension and worries. It is further explained by Sharma (2015)

who stated that expression of emotion is a socially legitimate tool for expressing how we feel.

Facebook satisfies the cravings of the users to show what they feel since it provides an

alternative vent to express anger or say something about what they feel. The study, conducted by

Carnegie Mellon University and Facebook researchers, showed personalized posts and

comments make people happier basically making them emotionally satisfied (Beall, 2016).

Feeling good which referred to the ways in which receiving likes and validation makes one feel

good about oneself or makes one feel better when feeling down (Graff, 2016).

Emotional Anxiety

As much as Facebook can promote emotional satisfaction it also has its negative sides.

Emotional anxiety is the feeling of an individual where one is afraid of not being able to meet up

the expectation that one has already set up. They feel anxious whenever they post their feelings

on Facebook because the purpose on why they post on Facebook is not to express what they feel

but rather to gain likes that is why they have a different behavior or reaction towards the

comments and likes on their posts. This is manifested as a participant stated that:

“First mabalakakungnaa bay likes or kung naa bay mu comment” (KI 16)

(First I worry if someone will like or comment…) (KI 16)

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Facebook can be a big help for other people to express their feelings by posting it.

However, according to Maldonado (2015) using social networking sites, namely Facebook, can

increase people’s stress levels, produce anxiety and negatively affect a person’s sense of self. As

we have processed the statement of our key informant we found that there is also a downfall or

disadvantage in the usage of Facebook as an emotional outlet. Some does not post on Facebook

because they want to vent out their emotion but instead some post because they want to gain

likes and comments.

According to Pantic (2014) the prolonged use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as

Facebook, may be related to signs and symptoms of depression. This is supported by Maldonado

(2015) where he stated that Facebook increases people’s anxiety levels by making them feel

inadequate and generating excess worry and stress.