Motivations and contradictions in the use of social networks in university students

Abstract

Around social networks, contradictions can be established with which one lives: individual identity versus social identity, exhibitionism versus privacy and satisfaction versus evasion, among others. Between both extremes there are shadows in the form of misinformation processes, a naive vision of the influence of social networks or lack of awareness about its repercussions, which prevent young people from integral development. It is necessary to identify factors involved in the flow and directionality of these contradictions.

The study presented follows a quantitative research design, of a non-experimental, transversal, descriptive, inferential and correlational nature. The technique used was the survey and the instrument used was a questionnaire composed of sociodemographic questions and six scales: Motivation-avoidance, motivation-self-expression, satisfaction-addiction, privacy on social networks, online images/videos and digital identity impact. The participating sample was 658 students from different Spanish universities. The results show a correlation with different degrees of intensity between the six scales. Likewise, the Kruskal Wallis test showed that factors such as gender, age, daily frequency of use of social networks, number of followers, profile privacy on networks, similarity between the real and virtual image and social awareness and personal image on the networks affect the six dimensions studied.

Everything points to the need to continue working at university levels on the use that students make of these networks through the implementation of educommunication processes, since the management of privacy, self-presentation and the configuration of identity in these networks are necessary and fundamental areas in today's society.