Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Well-Being

Social media sites such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram have become an integral part of adolescents lives due to the high availability of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In this context, adolescents increasingly use social media in parallel with other activities, e.g., while talking to friends or family, or even during school classes. These activities lead to the phenomenon of being permanently online and constantly connected to others. The ongoing and diverse social media use entails a number of positive aspects such as reinforcing friendships or self-disclosure, but also poses many risks, such as communication stress or becoming a target of cyberbullying. Given the multiple uses of social media, a one-sided focus on positive or negative consequences for adolescents well-being falls s hort, as they may occur simultaneously. Therefore, the central hypothesis of this project states that social media use has both positive and negative influences on adolescents psychological, social, and physical well-being. To test this assumption, we developed an innovative theoretical model. For the first time, we integrate positive and negative consequences of social media use in three key areas of adolescents lives information management, relationship management, and identity management and simultaneously examine their influence on adolescents well-being. We will investigate six underlying processes as well as different influence factors such as individual predispositions, parental, and peer influences. This approach is a unique attempt to shed new light on how and under which circumstances social media use influences well-being in adolescence. To that end, we propose an innovative multi-method research design, which combines qualitative interviews with quantitative longitudinal surveys and momentary assessments. The proposed research design therefore allows for an in-depth understanding of social media use and its cons equenc es for adolescents well-being. In addition, the implementation of longitudinal research designs allows explaining the directionality of the proposed relationships, which can help explain contradicting findings in previous research. Overall, this project guides future research and has important implications for society at large.

Due to their permanent availability via smartphones, their almost endless range of content and as key platforms for social exchange, social media such as WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok are elemental companions in adolescents' and young adults' everyday lives. As such, young people often use social media in parallel to "real world" activities, for example while meeting up with friends (and even when talking to each other, a phenomenon called phubbing) or when homework needs to be done in order to network with non-present peers or to get new inspiration, respectively. Such constant and varied use of social media can have many positive side effects, such as more meaningful relationships and improved information management; however, it carries various risks and dangers, such as increased digital stress or cyberbullying victimization. A one-sided focus on either beneficial potentials or detrimental aspects of social media use is therefore inadequate. Instead, it must be assumed that positive and negative media effects can always occur side by side and even simultaneously. The central hypothesis of the project was therefore that the use of social media can practically always have both positive and negative influences on adolescents' and young adults' well-being. In order to test this hypothesis, an innovative theoretical framework model was developed in which positive and negative consequences of social media use on young people's well-being were examined in three central areas: information management, relationship management, and identity management. This approach is a unique attempt to shed new light on how and under which circumstances social media influences well-being during emerging adulthood, thus enabling a holistic view of potential effects. Our project results emphasize the necessity of such a perspective. On the one hand, we were able to highlight the immensely important role of social media for young people's individual coping with emotional and social challenges. Social media offers ready-to-use opportunities to communicate with other users in an active, self-determined, and self-disclosing manner, so that one feels better afterwards. On the other hand, however, it was also shown that there is much value in reflectively disengaging one's smartphone and the associated communicative benefits in order to reduce feelings of stress and loneliness, which can emerge as a result of a permanent (and permanently expected) social media presence. It is also essential to take a nuanced approach, as positive and negative consequences on various aspects of adolescent well-being typically depend on individual dispositions (e.g., susceptibility to FOMO, self-esteem) or situational, behavioral patterns (e.g., merely automated vs. compulsive checking of social media). Due to the various methods used, we were able to clarify temporal and culture-dependent relationships, which can serve as guidance for future research and also has important implications for society at large.