My dissertation is based on the effects of social media and technology on millennials. Millenials are the generation grown in an environment fuelled entirely by technology. The way in which they communicate has been greatly affected by advancements in technology. In particular, social media has become one of the main ways in which young people communicate with each other.
There is much discussion about the potential effects, both positive and negative, that this reliance on technology to communicate has had on young people. The topic interests me greatly, seeing as I am very interested in both technology and sociology, and this research topic has allowed me to look into both these subjects.
To undertake my research, I employed a variety of different methods. Firstly, and perhaps the most important, was directly asking younger people about their communication habits. I also asked people from other age groups to compare results between them.
Questions that were asked included:
Along with surveys, I also used published statistics in regards to the use of social media. These statistics were taken from Government agency websites, from social media websites and from blog at Thesis Helpers. I felt that relying on surveys alone would not give the best picture, as sometimes people cannot accurately answer about their communication habits.
To further solidify my research, I asked for a few volunteers who would agree to have their social media accounts monitored to see how often they were using them. The participants were also assessed on how anxious they were when talking to someone in person.
Overall, the findings were not too surprising. It was seen that those with a reliance on social media were more apprehensive to talk to a stranger. However, there was no correlation between those who seldom used social media and those who suffered anxiousness when conversing in person.
Another finding that was interesting was the fact that a very large number of people in older age groups have also adapted to the use of social media. Although their usage was below that of younger people, there is still a significant amount of older people who have taken to the use of social media.
Social media and the technology has developed to such an extent that humans no longer need to rely on face-to-face communication in many facets of life. This rapid change in the ways that humans communicate is one of the main reasons why I have chosen to pursue my thesis research topic in this area.