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Wooster Social Media Survey Results by Cole Breen and Jerry Keefe

In the 21st century, social media has become a prominent feature of modern-day life. It's the ability to connect and promote information on a scale that's never been seen before in history, and it has radically changed the way our society operates and interacts with each other. Generation Z (Zoomers) is the first generation to experience an upbringing with social media and the rapid societal changes associated with it. It's become almost an inseparable fixture of our daily lives.

Jerry and I wanted to survey the upper-school student body to gather information on how we utilize social media and why we use social media. I personally thought the most interesting question we brought up in the survey is if you are honest about yourself on social media. That last question was tough for people to answer as they had to examine whether or not they are fully truthful about their lives and personal experiences on social media, and whether or not they're just creating personas to fit the 'social media ideal.'

In this article, we will go through each question and examine how the majority expressed their opinions and ideas. I'd also like to mention that we pulled our answers from all Upper School grades but the majority of responses came from juniors and sophomores.

Question 1: which of these social media platforms do you use?

According to the charts, the most popular platforms were Snapchat, Instagram, and Youtube followed by, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. To us, it's no surprise that Snapchat and Instagram are tied as the most popular choice for upper-school students. Snapchat and Instagram are unanimous features for most teenagers and young people because they are seen as a new form of communication, not unlike the telephone or text. Facebook and Instagram are both owned by the same parent company, so it's interesting how one platform is far more popular than the other simply due to the layout being slightly different. Beyond that, its merely just a name change.

Question 2: What grade are you in?

We found that the majority of our responses came from sophomores but beyond that, it was pretty equally balanced among each grade. We're not entirely sure what influenced some to respond while others chose not to. But I'd like to thank everyone who did respond because it really helped us when we were going through the data collection process. There may be some disparity in the results because it was a written response rather than a multiple choice, so some people would say 9 instead of 9th etc;

Question 3: Why do you use social media?

We found the most common responses were "to stay connected," "to talk with friends/look at memes," and "to keep in touch with people and keep up with relevant news." It seems that most people at Wooster use social media as a way to stay connected and keep up in this ever technologically-oriented and fast-paced society we've created.

Question 4: How much time on average do you spend on these platforms?

We found that most people spend at least an hour on social media each day. However, you can see that that number varies drastically due to the diverse amount of responses given to us. So, what does that really say about modern society and especially modern teenagers? Well, that's a tough question to answer because there are both positive and negative connotations to this. On the one hand, teenagers have achieved new forms of human interaction and communication. And on the other, we have begun to become reliant on little apps just to facilitate interaction as human beings.

Question 5: Are you honest about yourself on social media?

In our opinion, this last question was almost certainly the most interesting.

The majority of the twenty-six responses were usually 'somewhat' or 'yes' but I don't really know if we will ever get a true and satisfying answer to this question because this is obviously a harmful side effect to society's use of social media. And Jerry and I are not exempt from social media -- we both have an account on Instagram and many other platforms. Social media comes with good intentions, as it a way to connect individuals on a scale never seen before in history. The truth is, you can never know whether someone is telling the truth about their lives on social media as humans are just so much more complex than anyone can truly know.

Thanks for reading and responding to our survey!

-Jerry and Cole