Title
Ubiquity with a Dark Side: Civil-Military Gaps in Social Media Usage
Abstract
Most college undergraduates are Millennials or Generation Z members. These generations are ferocious social media consumers across a range of platforms. Research exists on the U.S. military’s adoption of social media, but less is known about the everyday implications of social media use and how service members might differ in their uses from their civilian peers. Using survey data comparing (N = 960) American civilian college students, Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets, and military academy cadets, we examine how these groups use social media, the educational and social impacts of this usage, and experiences with self-censorship and anxiety. We find a civilian-military gap when it comes to social media uses and experiences. Social media is more adverse for civilians than academy cadets in terms of time usage, impact on education, and experiences with the darker dimensions such as cyber-bullying and harassment. Civilians also practice less self-censorship of social media posts than cadets.
Department(s)
Sociology and Anthropology
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47511-6_2
Keywords
Academic impact, Civil-military gap, Cyberbullying, Social media, Time use
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Recommended Citation
De Angelis, Karin K., Ryan Kelty, Morten G. Ender, David E. Rohall, and Michael D. Matthews. "Ubiquity with a Dark Side: Civil-Military Gaps in Social Media Usage." In Social Media and the Armed Forces, pp. 15-30. Springer, Cham, 2020.
Journal Title
Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications
