Gardner 1

Jonah Gardner
Professor Casey
English 1201
14th of April 2019

Annotated Bibliography

Andersson, Hilary. “Social Media Apps Are 'Deliberately' Addictive to Users.” BBC News, BBC, 4

July 2018, www.bbc.com/news/technology-44640959.

Hillary Andersson, a journalist at the BBC interviewed a group of Silicon Valley designers

whom formerly worked for social media tycoons such as Facebook. People such as Aza Raskin -

whom designed the infinite scroll feature, as well as Leah Pearlman – co-inventor of the

Facebook Like button; both features are now common place across the majority of social media

platforms.

In her interviewing of several former designers or employees of social media platforms,

Anderson sheds light on some of the key features within the design of these tools; and in doing

so speaks to how these features influence consumer behavior.

This will be an important piece within the examination of social media as it pertains to

behavioral influence. I am likely to draw on this source more than once, as it calls out several

influential individuals and innovations behind social media.

Becker, Stephen P., and Jessica A. Lienesch. “Nighttime Media Use in Adolescents with ADHD:

Links to Sleep Problems and Internalizing Symptoms.” Sleep Medicine, vol. 51, Nov.

2018, pp. 171–178. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2018.06.021.

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Stephen Becker and Jessica Lienesch both work at the Center for ADHD at Cincinnati

Childrens Hospital. Nighttime Media Use in Adolescents with ADHD was published in 2018 in an

academic journal of Sleep Medicine, which is supported by the World Sleep Organization. This

research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health. Stephen Becker is a

PhD graduate from Miami University and an associate professor of clinical psychology and

pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s.

This study collected data to examine the nighttime media use of adolescents with

ADHD, as it pertains to anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. The study revealed conclusive

data that media use, after 9pm, can have a significant impact on the sleep patterns of an

individual, making one’s sleep patterns shorter and more sporadic. In addition, it can increase

the risk of generalized anxiety and the internalization of symptoms.

The study was comprised of eighty-one children, ages twelve to seventeen, all of whom

have ADHD. The results clearly show a strong correlation between the use of media (texting,

playing video games, watching movies/Netflix) after 9pm, and the development of generalized

anxiety - amongst children with ADHD. Dr. Becker is extremely credible, and this research was

conducted over a two-year period.

Berryman, Chloe & Ferguson, Christopher & Negy, Charles. (2017). Social Media Use and

Mental Health among Young Adults. Psychiatric Quarterly. 89. 1-8. 10.1007/s11126-017-

9535-6.
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Chloe Berryman is a student at the University of Central Florida - Christopher Ferguson

is co-chair of psychology at Stetson University in Florida – Charles Negy, is an associate

professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida, whom earned his PhD in clinical

psychology from Texas A&M, with articles published in many academic journals and well over

two thousand citations to his name, he is the most notable author listed on the study.

Social Media Use and Mental Health among Young Adults is a study comprised of four-

hundred sixty-seven undergraduate students, examining the correlation between mental health

issues and behavior on social media. Regarding the study, Berryman was quoted saying “We

propose that research focus on the behavior of individuals rather than assume media is the root

cause of all socio-personal problems”. Results from the study show that with the exception of

vague booking (a behavior characterized by posting a vague status or caption that prompts

friends to reach out and inquire for more information and often functions as a ‘cry for help’

among individuals with pre-existing mental health problems), concerns regarding social media

use may be misplaced.

This source highlights with regard to a person’s mental health, how they use social

media, and their behavior on it, is more immediately critical to their mental health than the

amount of time spent online.

Brooks, David. “The Evolution Of Simplicity.” New York Times, vol. 165, no. 57039, 3 Nov. 2015,

p. A29. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=110678389&site=ehost-

live.
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David Brooks, a columnist at the New York Times, wrote an article titled The Evolution of

Simplicity. Brooks content is mainly focused on the social and political landscape of the United

States.

Published in 2015, he expresses concerns that we may be on a “wireless hamster

wheel”, always seeking to clear out our inboxes and chasing notifications. Brooks encourages us

to “see fewer things, but see them more deeply”.

The source is an opinion piece that will serve as background to the other, more data-

centric, sources.

Cetinkaya, Ali Sukru, and Muhammad Rashid. “The Effect of Social Media on Employees’ Job

Performance: The Mediating Role of Organizational Structure.” Journal of Organizational

Psychology, vol. 18, no. 4, Nov. 2018, pp. 94–116. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=133658870&site=eds-live.

Centinkaya, a doctor of philosophy, and Rashid, with a masters in business

administration, are two professors at Selcuk University in Turkey. The two conducted a study

amongst two-hundred-five Turkish professionals, aimed at examining the effect of social media

within a working environment.

The results indicate that if a company enables their employees to use social media on

behalf of the business, and lays out clear guidelines for social media use, it actually increases

the employees job performance. In the conclusion of the published study, Centinkaya writes
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“Social media drives organizations to decentralization and enable employees make prompt

decisions. This in return increases customer satisfaction and business competitive advantage.”

This source does seem to be potentially biased toward the use of social media. The

introduction of the study starts with a quote, saying “Social media is a platform through which

people connect or collaborate with one another inside and outside the organization.”

With the article being posted in October of 2018, it is current. It offers a balance

amongst the rest of my research - as it shows the potential benefits of social media, as a tool, to

be used by businesses not just individuals.

“Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO Social Capital, on Money as an Instrument of Change.”

YouTube, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 13 Nov. 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMotykw0SIk.

Chamath Palihapitiya, a former high-ranking Facebook executive, speaks about the tools

developed by social media companies. He speaks mainly about the how certain features were

optimized over time with the consequence being – they turned out to be extremely addictive…

but the strength of this addiction seems to be far out of scale with what some of the inventors

ever could have predicted

This source is a video clip, consisting largely of opinionated material, which is made

significant by the nature of the close relationship that Palihapitiya had with Facebook. He was

formerly the longest tenured member of the Facebook Executive Team

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Carter, Clint. “REBOOT.” Bloomberg Businessweek, no. 4609, Apr. 2019, p. 45. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=135593193&site=eds-live.

Clint Carter is a freelance contributor to Bloomberg Business. Yet, in this particular

source, he is summarizing Cal Newport’s book titled Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused

Life in a Noisy World. Newport is a tenured associate professor of Computer Science at

Georgetown University, acquired his PhD from MIT, and has published six books.

In his book, Digital Minimalism, Newport suggests that people can suffer from “solitary

deficit”, by always being connected via phones and social media people fail to harness their

alone time. He argues that digital interaction should not be a substitute for actual real-time

conversation. He says, “Our brains really don’t understand a like or a birthday wish on

Facebook” and proposes that we’d call them instead. Newport’s aim is to get his reader to

realize the frequency with which we impulsively check social media, and to ask us to consider if

it is helping us to achieving our goals or hurting us.

This source is a periodical opinion piece published in Bloomberg Business, the original

author is not well known - however the referenced author, Newport, is very well established.

This source is factually based, but serves mainly as background or supplementary opinion to the

rest of my research.

CNBC. “Former Facebook Exec Chamath Palihapitiya On Social Media, Bitcoin, And Elon Musk

(Full) | CNBC.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Dec. 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zyRpq2ODrE.
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As stated in the earlier citation, Palihapitya was a highly influencial figure within the

Facebook group; his comments that he made in the earlier cited interview, went viral - as they

were somewhat controversial… Within this video clip he doubles down on his comments that

he made at the Stanford Business School.

Hüseyin Bilal MACİT, et al. “A Research on Social Media Addiction and Dopamine Driven

Feedback.” Mehmet Akif Ersoy Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, no.

3, 2018, p. 882. EBSCOhost, doi:10.30798/makuiibf.435845.

Hüseyin Bilal Macit, a professor of computer science at Mehmet Akif Ersoy University in

Turkey studied the addictive nature of the dopamine, created as a response to using social

meda. In this study he verified that social media has the capability of becoming a neuro-

chemical addiction.

This source will act as background information as I further explore the psychological and

behavioral influence of social media usage.

Moulin, Kerry L., and Chia-Jung Chung. “Technology Trumping Sleep: Impact of Electronic Media

and Sleep in Late Adolescent Students.” Journal of Education and Learning, vol. 6, no. 1,

Jan. 2017, pp. 294–321. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1125237&site=eds-live.

Kerry and Chia-Jung Chung published a research study in the Journal of Education and

Learning, in 2016 entitled Technology Trumping Sleep. They explored the impact of media use

in the evening, and whether or not it interfered with either schoolwork or sufficient sleep. The
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eighty-nine high school and college level students were examined to see what impact there

may be in students’ ability for academic success, and if that was related to the lack of sleep or

media use.

The research concluded that “Students allow their social digital world to impede and

compete with their academic time and biological sleep cycle”

This data offers a connection between media use, or more broadly screen time, and the

potential health issue of sleep deprivation.

“More Time on Social Media Is Not Linked to Poor Mental Health.” Www.springer.com,

Springer, 2 Nov. 2017, www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-

english-research-news/more-time-on-social-media-is-not-linked-to-poor-mental-

health/15185572.

A short article in which Chloe Berryman speaks to the study she did, as cited above in

“Berryman, Chloe & Ferguson, Christopher & Negy, Charles. (2017). Social Media Use and

Mental Health among Young Adults.”

Pandey, Erica. “Sean Parker: Facebook Was Designed to Exploit Human ‘Vulnerability.’” Axios,

Axios, 9 Nov. 2017, www.axios.com/sean-parker-facebook-was-designed-to-exploit-

human-vulnerability-1513306782-6d18fa32-5438-4e60-af71-13d126b58e41.html.

Sean Parker was president of Facebook until 2006, and in this interview he speaks about

the early days of Facebook and how they were the first to successfully implement certain

innovations that hacked human behavior. In it Parker says ” The thought process that went into
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building these applications… That thought process was all about, how do we consume as much

of your time and conscious attention as possible?”.

Although this piece is a simple person to person interview, Parker opens up about the

truth behind how social media apps are designed; this source acts both as proof that social

media applications were designed to keep your attention, and highlights the potential ethical

issues behind the design of social media.

Pittman, Matthew, and Brandon Reich. “Social Media and Loneliness: Why an Instagram Picture

May Be Worth More than a Thousand Twitter Words.” Computers in Human Behavior,

vol. 62, Sept. 2016, pp. 155–167. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.084.

Pittman and Reich’s study entitled, Social Media and Loneliness, was published in the

journal Computers in Human Behavior in 2016. Pittman, an associate professor at Rowan

University, has been published in many academic journals, such as the Journal of Social Media

in Society, and the Journal of Media Ethics. The study focused on the differential impact

between image-based and test based social media and surveyed two hundred fifty three

people.

The basis of the study is that image-based platforms offer greater intimacy when

compared to text-based social media platforms and therefore have greater potential to

ameliorate feelings of loneliness. The results suggest that, when using an image-based form of

social media, user’s happiness tends to go up and in contrast use of text-based media which

had less of an effect on peoples experience of loneliness.

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The data within the survey is quantitatively conclusive, however there are many

variables that can occur when surveying people regarding their emotional state. The data

recorded does present interesting evidence, that different types of social media present have

different sorts of ways of impacting on the brain.