Department of Psychological Science
University of Mary Washington
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As the parent of an avid gamer, I was very interested in your inclusion of the social media use measure! In particular, I was struck by the fact that the scale you used to measure social media use is titled, The Social Media Disorder Scale. The word “disorder” caught my attention, in particular. My question revolves around the levels of social media use you saw in your sample… how much social media use is considered too much? What did you find in your sample? In other words, did your sample score near, at, or above “clinical” levels of social media use?
Importantly, you found that individuals whose sexual orientation was Other or Undecided scored significantly higher on this scale than those whose orientation was Heterosexual. What are the implications of your finding that those with atypical sexual orientations scored higher on a scale of social media disorder? Could this promote stigma or hostility towards these already marginalized groups?
Hi Dr. Mailloux, thanks for your comment! The “disorder” part of the SMDS scale was something we talked about back and forth on in regards to whether or not we should use the scale, but it was the best one we found for identifying intense social media use. Specifically, the questions revolved around using social media as a means of escape. We should probably look more at our results to see how much is too much.
As for your other question, I hope our findings don’t promote stigma, but instead I hope it may show that those who don’t have a common sexual identity, or those who are still unsure, may use social media as a means to connect with others who are like them. This is at least what could be followed up on because it’s only my assumption!
Thanks for your response, Haylee. It makes sense that these groups might use social media as an escape. Also, I wonder if it’s easier to find similar individuals online in a safe way. Lots to think about!
Nice presentation. Finding results despite the low and uneven sample sizes is impressive 🙂
You note in your discussion that future research should be done on different age groups. Do you think you’d find the same results if you used 13 year olds rather than college-aged students?
Hi Dr. McBride, thanks for the comment. I would hypothesis we may find different results for young age groups when it comes to identity development, as adolescents are more likely to feel less developed and confident in their identity (based on prior research)!
Hi everyone! Great job on your presentation! I was very intrigued with the background of your study as well as how you tackled it! It’s unfortunate that your hypothesis was partially rejected, but this definitely opened a door for more research on this topic!
Very well done presentation. I have certainly heard of such devices as gaming and social media being integral to the development one’s specific identity. Due to the disparity in the sample sizes of sexual minorities versus heterosexuals, do you believe your results would differ significantly, if at all from your present study if there was an entirely even distribution of sample sizes, and precisely where would you presume to see those differences, if any?
Great presentations everyone! I thought your topic was interesting. I wish you could have gotten more participants from the desired community. I agree that the results might have been different if you had more representation from all groups.
I really enjoyed hearing about your study! Your topic is so interesting, what a connection to make regarding sexuality and social media usage/gaming on identity development! Did your group find any background research that supported your finding of those persons identifying as “other” using social media more than those of your other groups? I am so interested in knowing, as to why that might be! Great Job!