By Tikko Mercado/ reporter
Technology is not going anywhere, and social science has not kept up, a speaker told NE students March 7.
“One in eight married couples met online, and 80 percent of companies do their recruiting on social media,” NE sociology adjunct instructor Sharon Cullen said. “Social media is such a big part of our lives. It’s playing a major role in development of who we are.”
Cullen said social media usage has positive and negative effects.
“Social media connects, informs, entertains, distracts and disconnects,” she said. “We use social media to stay in touch. Social media allows us to vent to other people.”
Even with the positive effect media usage provides, our face-to-face interaction is also becoming more difficult, Cullen said.
“The shy person who can be outgoing and charming and witty online may freeze when face to face with a live person,” she said.
Jason Wright, founder and chief creator of thinkitclear.com, said technology and social media are not just for the young.
“We see it with our parents. We see it with all generations,” he said. “Technology use is a weapon of mass distraction.”
Wright explained how people who use technology to form relationships often go through what he calls the oxytocin effect.
“When we first meet somebody, and there is a romantic attraction to them, there is essentially this kick start of a chemical romance,” he said. “That chemical romance has a shelf life of about three months. Many relationships will oftentimes get to a three-month mark, and because that chemical romance begins to die down, they begin to think whether or not ‘Do I really like this person or not?’”
Amanda Kimbrough, University of Texas at Dallas research assistant, focused on the effects of social media usage in long-distance and geographically close relationships.
“Individuals in long-distance relationships experience the same or even greater levels of satisfaction and commitment relative to geographically close relationships,” she said. “Long-distance relationships often report higher quality relationships than close-distance relationships despite the limited face-to-face contact in long-distance relationships.”
Kimbrough said that romantic idealization, which occurs in the early stages of a relationship, is the tendency to describe one’s partner positively.
“The more you use technology, the more you have an overly positive view of your partner,” she said. “The more you rely on technology use and the more idealization you have for a longer period of time in your relationship, the worse it goes for your relationship satisfaction down the road.”
NE student Spencer Drabik said he thinks technology is used too much.
“Technology is growing, and we’ll know more about it as time goes on,” he said. “We don’t really know if some of these things are negative side effects.”