THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook, RenRen, YouTube and WeChat are some of the most popular Internet applications across the world. Social Networking Sites (SNS) provide a powerful means of sharing, organizing, and finding content and contacts. Because much of the content is publicly available, it is possible to collect data from these sites and analyze their characteristics and privacy-related issues. The study of social networking sites (SNS) within the field of psychology is fairly new. It was hypothesized that Individuals who possess low self-esteem will utilize Social Networking Sites (SNS) to compensate for that deficiency. Their interactions on their Social Networking Sites (SNS) of choice will be held in greater importance than an individual with a higher self-esteem rating. This relationship was expected to be greater among girls than boys. The participants in the study were given a survey that contains questions about the types of social media they use, how often they use it, how they feel they are viewed by their peers, etc. All of the participants in the study are between seventh and eighth grade and attend a summer camp in Samsun, Turkey. These results suggest that individuals with low self-esteem hold their Social Networking Sites (SNS) interaction higher than those with high self-esteem.