To a greater or lesser extent, people are connected to social networks today, especially the youngest. Social networks are studied as areas of development and human relationship and are of great interest for research in psychology.
The keys that can be accessed from the perception of the psychologist are many, and not all positive, but there are some more important variables than others when conducting studies on social networks, especially those that speak of the useful and true use that social networks offer to people.
Being connected will allow covering important real needs such as access to information, the transmission of values and opinions and the maintenance of significant interpersonal relationships. In addition, this simple connection offers great advantages to people with reduced mobility or motor disabilities.
In general, social networks can approach people who are not close to allow us to maintain a simple contact with them and give added value to this convenience of simple, direct and easy communication.
In a very interesting study conducted by the research psychologist Raquél Suriá Martínez in 2012, these advantages of social networks were analyzed when users are people with disabilities.
The main advantages of social networks
With a great synthesis work, the author highlighted the main advantages that social networks offer their users:
- Low costs
- Fast answer
- Access to a large amount of information
- Anonymity
- Not have to scroll to communicate
All these advantages will be enhanced for people with motor disabilities.
Social integration and social skills
If we take into account the role of social networks and the experiences they offer about communicative practice, they will also offer specific advantages over the social skills of the people who use them, such as:
- express yourself more freely,
- the feedback provided by the other users to the message of the writer, or
- the search and improvement of forms of personal expression
The main results obtained offer some very interesting ideas:
- That people with disabilities have the same interest and preference towards social networks as people without disabilities
- That social networks help reduce the chances of isolation due to users’ motor difficulties
- That the social relationships that are obtained through the networks are equally valuable for people that they have met through other means
- That there is a perception of improvement in social skills by the people who were part of the study due to the practice in social interaction
Social networks will help improve social skills in people with disabilities
From psychology we try to provide information about people regardless of their situation. Once again you can see how a simple study by psychologists who listen and take into account the perception of people can provide relevant information that helps to understand and complete the information we have on a particular topic.
Currently, nobody would deny that social and communicative skills are important for personal development and in this study, it is indicated that there is a relationship between the practice of the social relationship itself and the improvements in our ability to express and relate, and with more fruits The more interest you can have.
Once again, interest, effort, and practice show that people can improve and learn in simple, pleasant and routine tasks that enrich our day-to-day life, in a complementary way to conventional specific training.
