"When you follow someone on LinkedIn, join a Facebook group, or become a member of an online community, you might assume you will learn more about the content they share. Paradoxically, our study suggests the opposite happens, as individuals channel their mental energy away from knowledge gathering to mapping the social landscape, noting people's individual connections and the wider network."
"Interestingly, this shift was exhibited more among people with greater working memory capacity, so the sharper you are cognitively the more likely you are to tune that content out."
"The research involved around 1,000 adults aged between 18 and 77 across five experiments. In each study, participants engaged with simulated social media environments, such as joining groups, following pages, or becoming friends with others. Their exposure to content, as well as their memory for both content (“who knows what”) and social connections (“who knows who”), was then assessed."
Forming social connections online lowers how much people engage with and learn from posted content. Networking performance increases as attention shifts away from the content itself toward mapping social relationships. In experiments with about 1,000 adults aged 18 to 77, participants interacted with simulated social media settings such as joining groups, following pages, or becoming friends. Researchers measured exposure to content and memory for both content details and social connections. Results showed that participants focused more on “who knows who” than “who knows what.” The shift toward social mapping was stronger among individuals with greater working memory capacity.
#online-social-media #attention-and-cognition #networking-performance #working-memory #learning-and-engagement
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