Parents Beware: Facebook Linked To Increased Alcohol Abuse

Social media use has been criticized by some over and over again. Now a new study can give these critics something to feast over.

According to a new research reported by Science Daily, social media is best at influencing people and their actions. Unfortunately, the behaviors and actions social media often trigger cannot be considered positive. The Michigan State University revealed that social media use can also trigger alcohol abuse. 

The researchers revealed that in their study, the participants who were exposed to commercial ads that promote beer and drinking as opposed to bottled water were also the ones who tend to drink more or consider drinking. 

The 121 participants were divided into two groups, one of which were exposed to ads put up on Facebook while the other was exposed to ads of a bottled water. After the experiment, they were printed with two gift cards to choose from, one for the bar and one for the coffee shop.

Majority (73%) of those who viewed ads of beer chose the gift card for the bar. Among those who viewed the bar card, only 55% chose the gift card for the bar. 

"In this study we wanted to see whether just the mere exposure to alcohol messages on social media makes any difference in terms of people's expressing intentions to consume alcohol, as well as engage in alcohol-related consumption behaviors," said Saleem Alhabash, assistant professor of advertising and public relations who headed up the study. "What this tells us is there is an effect and it can be attributed to the sheer exposure to these messages," he said. "It primes them to think about alcohol," he added, in explaining the findings. 

In other news however, one benefit of social media that was recently highlighted was the fact that it is a source of news these days. According to a new study published by Pew Research Center, most people these days get their news from social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and even Snapchat are now considered the main news deliverers.