If you\u2019re on the computer reading this blog, there is almost a 100% chance that you also have Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube open on your computer as well.\u00a0 In today\u2019s world, social networking sites have become an integral part of our everyday lives.\u00a0 Other than \u201cstalking\u201d photos, tweeting our every move, and watching cat videos, most people do not put a lot of thought into how social networking sites affect their lives.\u00a0 Tracy Packiam Alloway and Ross Geoffrey Alloway\u2019s 2012 paper, \u201cThe impact of engagement with social networking sites (SNSs) on cognitive skills,\u201d looks at the effects of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube use on working memory, attention skills, and reported levels of social connectedness.<\/p>\n
To explore a possible connection between social networking sites and memory, the researchers asked participants to complete some online tests in order to determine basic working memory and attention abilities.\u00a0 Attention spans directly relate to how much work someone can do, and social networking sites might take a toll on productivity.\u00a0 Working memory is the cognitive system a person uses to remember and use information for a short period of time.\u00a0 It is used for complex mental tasks and involves attention as well.\u00a0 The \u201cProcessing Letter Recall\u201d task tested memory by showing participants letters quickly right after each other and then having participants decide if the second letter was the same was the first.\u00a0 The second test, \u201cShape Recall,\u201d showed participants two shapes in quick succession and then had participants determine if the second was the same color and in the same location as the first shape. \u00a0The \u201cAttention Test\u201d had participants press the space bar each time they saw a number other than 5, every other number was considered a \u201cdistracter.\u201d \u00a0A second version had participants hit the space bar only if the number 5 was shown.\u00a0 In addition, participants completed a social connectedness scale and social networking questionnaire.\u00a0 The social connectedness scale gauged belongingness in terms of connectedness and affiliation.\u00a0 The social networking questionnaire determined how much time participants spend on social networking and how they spend that time on the social networking sites.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that certain activities on each site best predicted working memory scores through a positive relationship.\u00a0 If these activities increased, so did working memory score. \u00a0On Facebook this was checking a friend\u2019s status updates.\u00a0 This could be due to the nature of this (exhausting!) activity – it involves remembering, processing, and then updating (who doesn\u2019t like knowing every detail of someone\u2019s life) with new information in a short period of time. \u00a0Imagine seeing that your friend had recently entered in a relationship and updated his or her status about it.\u00a0 That tidbit would be important for conversation in the near future, so you\u2019re definitely going to want to remember it.\u00a0 For YouTube, simply watching videos best-predicted verbal working memory while telling friend to watch a video predicted visuo-spatial working memory. \u00a0The researchers suggested that this could be because recommending videos involves planning and keeping track of recommendations.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our beloved 140-character Twitter did not have any specific activities that predicted working memory test scores.<\/p>\n
The researchers looked at attention skills by first creating a way to describe participants based on whether they were active or passive users on social networking sites.\u00a0 The two descriptions varied with each social networking site, but were based on how frequently members engaged in certain behavior such as posting and commenting on friends\u2019 statuses.\u00a0 Active users on YouTube were people who commented on and posted videos as well as watched videos more, while passive users solely watched and told their friends to watch videos.\u00a0 The researchers also found that active users were more accurate in the attention test at first but passive users eventually became more accurate in later trials. \u00a0They also found that active users were able to focus on several things and did not disregard the distracter numbers, showing they are not as good at ignoring irrelevant information. \u00a0This suggests that they are trained to process lots of information in parallel from social networking use.\u00a0 Interestingly, as the passive users went through the trials, they were able to gain practice and be as accurate as the active users.<\/p>\n
Participants who used Facebook rated themselves as having high levels of social connectedness while Twitter and YouTube seemed to have no bearing on social connectedness.\u00a0 This is somewhat expected since Facebook is a social networking site that was created to keep people connected.\u00a0 Twitter and YouTube can be used individually but Facebook involves interacting with others.<\/p>\n
What does this all mean? \u00a0The results of this study suggest that people who use social networking sites tend to have slightly better working memory and attention skills in certain tasks.\u00a0 It is interesting that the use of social networking sites improves scores on various tasks, but it would be beneficial to look at the impact on daily activities, such as school grades and jobs – here<\/a> is another cool article on this subject!\u00a0 Of course, there is a logical and distinct negative link between memory and attention.\u00a0 When attention is divided while doing something, performance in memory related activities will be worse. \u00a0This is why it may not be the best idea to use Facebook or other social networking sites while studying.\u00a0 Divided attention while studying is definitely not productive or effective.\u00a0 Though next time your boss or your parents tells you to get off Facebook and do your work, you can say you are improving your \u201ccognitive abilities\u201d before<\/em> starting your work!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n