This one was a lot of fun to write. Pity I turned it in a few hours late, but I’m learning to deal with the uncertainties of mixing family and school. Once Mike is no longer working insane hours/days, I think (hope!) I should keep up better.

Anyway, this was one of those papers that I had a night to sleep on the topic (had already pulled/read most of my content), and when I sat down at the computer, it poured out in short timeframe.

Written for Psyc6211, July 3, 2009

Assignment:
Consider the following scenario: A recent article was published in a popular magazine that presented information about medical treatments that were “out of the ordinary.” For example, the article discusses many alternative “cures” to some of the most studied diseases. One segment of the article discussed how you can cure an enlarged prostate with a popular method of reducing wrinkles. While this article did provide some scientifically-based research, the findings were largely taken out of context or misrepresented in some way.

Using the critical thinking skills learned thus far in the course and with the scenario’s example article in mind, find an example of a current article or media claim that draws incorrect conclusions from its findings.

With these thoughts in mind:
Post by a brief summary of the article you located and the errors that the author makes in drawing conclusions about the findings. Then explain how the author can make the article better, using the critical thinking skills that you’ve learned to date.

Facebook! Can kill you!

Facebook: purveyors of DEATH. Or not.

The article that I found — a press release, actually — promised to give life-altering information about two very timely topics: social networking sites and the current recession. The release, “Social networks could seriously damage your health — particularly during a recession” (2009), applies to me, as both a job seeker (I hope to return to work fulltime in September) and as a user of Facebook. The release author suggests that those out of work may eschew face-to-face contact in favor of less expensive time online. The potential harm spelled out in the release is no laughing matter: “our devotion to social networks such as Facebook could alter the way genes work, upset immune responses, hormone levels, and the function of arteries, and influence mental performance” (‘Social networks,’ 2009, ¶3). Diving into the source article in the British journal Biology makes the consequences of Facebook use even more dire. The article’s author, Sigman (2009), suggests that social networking site usage may also lead to isolation, cancer, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, sleeplessness, inflammation, stroke, memory loss, and even premature death.

In light of recent New York Times pieces I’ve read about the value of social networks during a job search (Villano, 2009)(Weed, 2009), this article was a bit disheartening. You mean, to find a job, I need to use social networks, but by doing so, I might harm myself? What is a girl to do? A girl is to do her homework, that’s what a girl is to do. It turns out, all fear-mongering aside, I have no reason to fear. The research to which Sigman’s article refers not to social network usage — or even general electronic media usage, for that matter — but, rather to the primary indicators, loneliness and isolation. Social isolation, and the misery that it brings to man, is indeed implicated in all of these conditions.

Is it appropriate to blame social networks for our increased isolation? Do people eschew face-to-face contact in favor of face-to-screen time with online-only contacts? Perhaps some do. Sigman’s reference for this, however (one I had to dig to find, as it was not included in the article reference list), was an author’s personal experience — in an editorial, not even a peer-reviewed article (Abbasi, 2008). This is hardly something backed by science. If I add my personal experience with social networks to the mix — experience equally valid to one doctor’s annecdote — I find that online networks not only improve my social contacts, but also enhance my real-life connections. I may, for instance, learn more about another (local) mom’s day-to-day life, improving our ability to converse when we next meet again at a toddler play date. I also can discover more about my local connections’ personalities, assisting me in deciding with whom to spend my limited budget for face-to-face time. Social networking sites lessen, not increase, my sense of isolation.

All in all, the AIM press release and the article it references do discuss a legitimate issue; reduced social contacts are repeatedly demonstrated to have a negative effect on health. That said, placing blame on social networking sites such as Facebook is not supported by the research, and appears to be a cheap attempt at joining two “hot” news items (recession, increased social networking use) for increased consulting opportunity for AIM and readership for Sigman.

What both the release and the article neglect to discuss is the correlation/causation link between electronic media usage and loneliness. Do we give up our non-virtual social networks because of electronic media? Or, what I consider more likely, do we use online contacts as a way to build up our social lives that have been obliterated by changes in society’s general? These questions, in my opinion, would make a much more interesting — and helpful — study. It’s possible that many people use online networks as a way to mitigate otherwise unavoidable isolation.

References

Abbasi, K. (2008). MMR and the value of word of mouth in social networks [Editorial]. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 101, 215-216. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/cgi/reprint/101/5/215

Sigman, A. (2009, February). Well connected? The biological implications of ‘social networking’. Biologist, 56(1), 14-20. Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://azureim.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sigmanbiologist2009.pdf

Social networks could seriously damage your health — particularly during a recession. (2009, March 20). PRWeb. Retrieved July 2, 2009, from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/03/prweb2248584.htm

Villano, M. (2009, May 2). Job-search networks, in all shapes and sizes. New York Times, 2009, March 20 [Electronic edition]. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/jobs/03networks.html

Weed, J. (2009, May 30). Finding new employees, via social networks. New York Times, 2009, May 30 [Electronic edition]. Retrieved July 3, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/jobs/31recruit.html