A recent study addressed a relatively unknown subject:dissociation (a concept involving a loss of contact with the real world) associated with the intensive use of social networks . This research adds negatives to these platforms, whose reputation continues to crumble.
In 2019, a study suggested that excessive use of social media leads to riskier decision-making . Additionally, researchers have linked it to substance abuse issues. In 2020, a Netflix documentary castigated social networks, which are associated in particular with risks of addiction , depression and anxiety.
On April 28, 2022, a team from the University of Washington (United States) published a study on the ACM Digital Library platform. This work describes a particularly disturbing and unpleasant phenomenon, namely dissociation . For example, a user connects to a social network and explores its messages and notifications as well as the publications of other members. Suddenly, he realizes that some time has passed. Thus, it is a question of a loss of contact with the real world .
As part of the study, the researchers recruited 43 Twitter users in the USA. They had to install Chirp (a small extension of the application to display dialog windows every five minutes). They then asked these users to rate from 1 to 5 how attentive they were to what they were doing. According to the results, 42% of participants felt they were not focused on what they were doing at the moment. In other words, their brain navigated from one thought to another without focusing on the present moment or the immediate environment.
Researchers have attempted to counteract the effects of this dissociation using features added to the extension. For example, they tested a change in design that notably enabled users to quickly understand that all their new tweets had been read. This change then allowed them to move on more quickly and above all to bring users back to the present . According to the participants, their experience of the social network was thus more pleasant.
Nevertheless, do social networks have an interest in integrating this kind of functionality ? It seems that the answer is rather negative with regard to the economic model that these same platforms have adopted for a long time. Indeed, these networks have an interest in keep their users as long as possible in order to make them view as many advertisements as possible and to collect their personal data.
