The Reflection of Our Social Media Usage Habits on Our Personality

Do you have a day that you spend without social media, a morning where you wake up without looking at your phone first thing in the morning, or a night where you go to sleep without swiping the screen? The adventure of social media, which started with the meeting of humanity with Facebook in 2004, took its current form with Twitter, Instagram and TikTok entering our lives with the speed of light. Social media channels, which are now an integral part of our lives, have become platforms where we share our thoughts, what we eat and drink, our travels, our daily life, our family and our friends with millions without hesitation. It is no surprise that a concept that is so integrated into almost every moment of our lives has an impact on our personality, our lives, and our choices. For this reason, most of us ask, “What do our social media usage habits say about our personality?” we are curious.

Many studies on social media and personality traits from the recent past to the present draw attention to the relationship between social media usage habits and many different emotions and concepts such as depression, loneliness, self-perception, narcissism, happiness and so on.

Social media use and personality traits

He developed a machine learning model that can investigate the relationship between personality traits and social media use, using all the statistical data they already have about the word choice of social media users, the time they spend on social media and their personalities.

It is among the most important findings of the research that the language and numeric features (such as the number of tweets, the number of followers, the number of replies in the posts) are the social media sub-dimensions that can best predict the personality traits, especially the language used in the posts.

Social media use, language skills and expressions of emotion

People with advanced language skills tend to tweet more often, and their tweets are the most liked, and they also return the fastest to their responses. In addition, among the research findings, the emotional expressions used in the sharing texts are a strong determinant in predicting the personality traits, and the people who use more negative and negative words in their posts tend to be more depressed and anxious.

It has now been scientifically proven that inferences about personality can be made from social media posts. The research findings are exemplary for many new researches in the fields of both personality psychology and information technologies with the data that can be obtained from social media applications. Conducting similar studies in the future to determine psychological disorders and tendencies in people, especially through the use of social media, sheds light on how technology can be used in the field of mental health.

Social Media and Loneliness

He pointed out that young adults' use of social media has increased in recent years and that the hours they spend in front of the screen have replaced face-to-face interactions. This study, which focuses on whether young people spend a significant part of their social lives on social media and forums, whether the presence in the digital world provides an adequate sense of social belonging and reduces the feeling of loneliness, did not come to the conclusion that there is a significant relationship between social media use and loneliness, unlike many previous studies.

Selfie Taking and Sense of Self

Based on social comparison theory; In the study, which focused on two psychological factors as social sensitivity and self-esteem, it was found that taking selfies lowered the self-esteem of individuals. In addition, it was also among the findings of the research that taking and sharing selfies increased the social sensitivity levels of individuals. On the other hand, it was pointed out that taking a selfie but saving it to the phone alone without sharing it further lowers self-esteem.

Social Media Addiction, Self-Esteem and Narcissism

When looking at the relationship between social media addiction and narcissism, it was noted that the significant relationship between the two variables could be interpreted as a sign that individuals with high narcissistic characteristics use social media excessively. Among the results of the study was the result that individuals rely on their social media accounts to meet their need to confirm their sense of self.

In addition to many studies investigating the effect of social media on our personality and life, the number of new studies continues to increase day by day. It is also possible to learn to benefit from the negative effects of social media and to turn it into a source of inspiration.