The psychology of social media has evolved into a phenomenon that we understand too well. Studies produced by UCLA show that the brain regions associated with our reward circuitry are activated when we see a high number of likes on posts. Today's children are three times more likely to aspire toward a career as a YouTuber rather than an astronaut, according to a new study.The number of likes, view counts and followers we get are now indicators of our social standing. Can you imaging a future where human are ranked by those social digits? Here at SparkList, we aim to minimize the glorification of stats that can be used for social competition; instead, we focus on encouraging our users to discover new activities and explore new hobbies with people just like you!
Social Contest
Cyberbullying
25% - 37% of adolescents have experienced cyberbullying in their lifetimes. As the social media industry grew, the frequency of cyberbullying incidents also increased. It effected of cyberbullying can have a tremendously negative impact on an individual’s well-being. 64% of people who have been cyberbullied say that it affects their ability to perform daily tasks. To combat this social issue, SparkList's mission is to create a sincere, authentic social environment, for those to are looking for genuine friendships.
(Image Credit to David's Legacy Foundation)
Relationship Devaluation
Most social media and networking companies implicitly and explicitly promote their users to expand their network. However, no one pays attention to the devastating psychological problem that comes with an over-sizing social circle. Given a limited amount of time and attention span, individuals simply don’t have the capacity to sustain large number of relationships. People start seeking for more attention and devaluing meaningful connections. This causality creates a vicious cycle, addiction to social media, and an uncontrollable bad-habit. Dunbar's Number Theory suggests a cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. SparkList looks into this problem, and has carefully designs our social features based on this issue.
Other Issues
