obsession with 'likes on social media research paper

Social Media ‘Likes’ Impact Teens’ Brains and Behavior

• Adolescent Development
• Adolescents
• Brain Imaging
• Psychological Science

The same brain circuits that are activated by eating chocolate and winning money are activated when teenagers see large numbers of “likes” on their own photos or the photos of peers in a social network, according to findings from a study in which researchers scanned teens’ brains while they used social media.

The study is published in Psychological Science , a journal of the Association for Psychological Science .

The 32 teenagers, ages 13-18, were told they were participating in a small social network similar to the popular photo-sharing app, Instagram. In an experiment at UCLA’s Ahmanson–Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, the researchers showed them 148 photographs on a computer screen for 12 minutes, including 40 photos that each teenager submitted, and analyzed their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. Each photo also displayed the number of likes it had supposedly received from other teenage participants — in reality, the number of likes was assigned by the researchers. (At the end of the procedure, the participants were told that the researchers decided on the number of likes a photo received.)

“When the teens saw their own photos with a large number of likes, we saw activity across a wide variety of regions in the brain,” said lead author Lauren Sherman, a researcher in the brain mapping center and the UCLA branch of the Children’s Digital Media Center, Los Angeles.

A region that was especially active is a part of the striatum called the nucleus accumbens, which is part of the brain’s reward circuitry, she said. This reward circuitry is thought to be particularly sensitive during adolescence. When the teenagers saw their photos with a large number of likes, the researchers also observed activation in regions that are known as the social brain and regions linked to visual attention.

In deciding whether to click that they liked a photo, the teenagers were highly influenced by the number of likes the photo had.

“We showed the exact same photo with a lot of likes to half of the teens and to the other half with just a few likes,” Sherman said. “When they saw a photo with more likes, they were significantly more likely to like it themselves. Teens react differently to information when they believe it has been endorsed by many or few of their peers, even if these peers are strangers.”

In the teenagers’ real lives, the influence of their friends is likely to be even more dramatic, said Mirella Dapretto, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

“In the study, this was a group of virtual strangers to them, and yet they were still responding to peer influence; their willingness to conform manifested itself both at the brain level and in what they chose to like,” said Dapretto, a senior author of the study. “We should expect the effect would be magnified in real life, when teens are looking at likes by people who are important to them.”

The teenagers in the study viewed “neutral” photos — which included pictures of food and of friends — and “risky” photos — including of cigarettes, alcohol and teenagers wearing provocative clothing.

“For all three types of photographs — neutral, risky and even their own — the teens were more likely to click like if more people had liked them than if fewer people liked them,” said Patricia Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology, director of UCLA’s Children’s Digital Media Center, Los Angeles, and the study’s other senior author. “The conformity effect, which was particularly large for their own pictures, shows the importance of peer-approval.”

When teenagers looked at risky photos compared with neutral photos, they had less activation in areas associated with cognitive control and response inhibition, including the brain’s dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral prefrontal cortices and lateral parietal cortices.

These brain regions are involved in decision-making and can inhibit us from engaging in certain activities, or give us the green light to go ahead, Dapretto said.

Seeing photos that depict risky behavior seems to decrease activity in the regions that put the brakes on, perhaps weakening teens’ “be careful” filter, she said.

This research was supported by Grants C06-RR012169 and C06-RR015431 from the National Center for Research Resources, by Grant S10-OD011939 from the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), by National Institute on Drug Abuse National Research Service Award F31-DA038578-01A1 (to L. E. Sherman), and by Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, Brain Mapping Support Foundation, Pierson-Lovelace Foundation, The Ahmanson Foundation, Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund, and Northstar Fund.

All materials have been made publicly available via Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/atj4d . The complete Open Practices Disclosure for this article can be found at http://pss.sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data . This article has received the badge for Open Materials. More information about the Open Practices badges can be found at https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki/1.%20View%20the%20Badges/ and http://pss.sagepub.com/content/25/1/3.full .

This was an intriguing study and it makes very sense. It is clear that reinforcement is a big motivating factor. It is huge that evidence from brain scans indicates that adolescent inhibition are impaired by reinforcement. It leaves me wondering and gives me more knowledge explaining the behavior of the students at my school. The reinforcement factor has had dramatic impacts the choices students make.

Interesting. I always hated social media and I finally got the guts to delete all my social media recently. Honestly, my life is so much better. I don’t feel influenced by people I never even talk to, like this study has shown it does. Technology is so powerful and useful, but it seems that social media can be bad on our mental health.

Anyway, fascinating study. Thanks

thankyou so much, this article really helps a lot on my research.

None of this is earth shattering news, in fact most of the behaviour is typical, albeit exacerbated, by using social media in excess. Yes, it is a real issue of concern, not disputing the severity at all. Sure the leting down of inhibitions, due primarily to intuiting there were no real consequences/risks, would be inviting just to see how it feels to be free from age appropirate and unacceptable behavior as learned through consequence of actions.

Using them in a Milgrim type situation may have been traumatic; being as acceptence is key at that age. Telling them the truth will not erase that emotional response they felt. Hopefully, they may realilze such 1 dimensional thoughtless behavior sucha as likes/dislikes is irrelevent in a 3-dimentional reality. So, most of us already knew this,(it started with too much TV wathcing.)therefore, what if anything did this studylead the researches to determine required more aggressive or expansive study of how to limit the impact of social media and re-inforce that it’s just a distraction and life is a co-operative interataction where we learn to counter, respond and understand how to relate and be independent, strong and compassionate for real. Instead of becoming anti social, depressed and vulnerable, which would include violence because they use social meadia in excess reinforcing a lack of the skill set to navigate life in 3-dimensions and learn to be strong, with the help of parent teachers and peers. Social media is useful, but it’s not survival and if it is, then someone is missing the boat or a new paradigm has preented itself and we are straddeling the void. (sorry long question and hardly read in as a psychologist)

Why limit it to teenagers? The same issues that social media causes for teenagers are also present in adults.

I looked into the issue of the effects social media has on us. One article I found was written by Caitlin Hoffman on Sept 11, 2019, and it discusses a study from John Hopkins University on the effects increased social media activity has on teens’ mental health. The study found that the longer people spent on social media, the more likely they were to report or display negative effects. The article says that to fix this problem we don’t have to get rid of social media time entirely but rather balance the time spent on those sites. Social media has its benefits as well as problems; it’s a way for friends to keep in touch but could also expose teens to bullying. This study seeks to truthfully inform people of the ill effects of overusing social media. Other studies I’ve read agree with what they are saying: spending too much time online has negative consequences. These social media studies are very relevant as nowadays many teens, and people in general, are using social media, and many also experience problems that could be related to improper media usage. At the end of that article, it quotes Kira Riehm, lead author, Bloomberg School of Public Health: “‘We need to find a better way to balance the benefits of social media with possible negative health outcomes,’ says Riehm. ‘Setting reasonable boundaries, improving the design of social media platforms, and focusing interventions on media literacy are all ways in which we can potentially find this equilibrium.’” As it suggests, platforms could be skillfully developed to help with this issue. Being aware of the media’s effects on us and how we use it can also help. The study here suggests that we may be inclined to like things more out of a desire to fit in than from truly liking the post. So being aware of this phenomenon may help to reduce its influence over us. Studies like these studies respect the dignity of the human person by seeking to bring to light some issues in our culture and help them to fix them. They can inspire people to better use their social media and lead happier lives. https://hub.jhu.edu/2019/09/11/social-media-teen-mental-health/

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The effect of social media influencers' on teenagers Behavior: an empirical study using cognitive map technique

• Published: 31 January 2023
• Volume 42 , pages 19364–19377, ( 2023 )

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• Karima Lajnef   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1084-6248 1  

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The increase in the use of social media in recent years has enabled users to obtain vast amounts of information from different sources. Unprecedented technological developments are currently enabling social media influencers to build powerful interactivity with their followers. These interactions have, in one way or another, influenced young people's behaviors, attitudes, and choices. Thus, this study contributes to the psychological literature by proposing a new approach for constructing collective cognitive maps to explain the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teenagers' behavior. More in depth, this work is an attempt to use cognitive methods to identify adolescents' mental models in the Tunisian context. The findings reveal that the influencers' distinctive features are interconnected. As a result, the influencer's distinctive features are confirmed in one way or another, to the teenagers' behavior. These findings provide important insights and recommendations for different users, including psychologists and academics.

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Introduction

The number of social media users has increased rapidly in the last few years. According to the global ‘State of Digital’ report (2021), the number of social media users reached 4.20 billion, which represents 53% of the world’s total population. This number has risen by more than 13% compared to the last year (2020). In Tunisia, until January 2021 the number of social media users has increased to 8.20 million, which represents 69 percent of the total population, while 97%, are accessed via mobile phones. According to the ALEXA report ( 2021 ), Google.com, Facebook are the most used networks by Tunisian people. Most importantly, 18, 5% of Facebook users are under 13 years old.

In fact, the emphasis on social media has created a consensus among tech companies, leading to the creation of more platforms. Today, the diversity of such platforms has created a new horizon of social media in terms of usage and ideas.

Many people whose careers’ are largely reliant on social media are known as "influencers". More than a profession, for some people, it is even considered as a way of life. Influencers use social media every day to express their opinions and critiques on many topics (like lifestyle, health, beauty) and objects (e.g. brands, services, and products). Accordingly, one of the most important marketing strategies in the market is relying on influencers, which has known as influencer marketing (Audrezet et al., 2020 ; Boerman, 2020 ; Lou & Yuan, 2019 ). In 2017, influencer marketing was considered as the most widespread and trendiest’ communication strategy used by the companies. Therefore, influencers have been considered by many marketing experts as opinion leaders because of their important role in persuading and influencing their followers (De Veirman et al., 2017 ). According to the two-step flow of communication theory, the influencer, as a representative of an organization, is inviting to filter, decode and create messages to match with his particular follower base (Lazarsfeld et al., 1944 ). An influencer is a mediator between consumers and organizations. According to Tarsakoo and Charoensukmongkol ( 2019 ), social media marketing implementation capabilities have a positive effect on customer relationship sustainability. In line with the premise of observational learning theory, influence occurs when the consumers use precedent information and observations shared with them gradually to extend their decision-making by evolving their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, (Bandura & Adams, 1977 ). In fact, the consumers are sizeable social networks of followers. In their turn, consumers, especially youth and adolescents, consider influencers as a source of transparency, credibility, and source of personal information from what helps the offered brands to be enlarged through the large social media network (e.g. Jin and Phua, 2014).

Social media influencers play a greater role in controlling and influencing the behavior of the consumer especially young people and teenagers (e.g. Marwick, 2015 ; Sokolova & Kefi, 2020 ). Actually, the use of Smartphone's has become an integral part of the lives of both young people and adolescents. According to Anderson ( 2018 ), 95% of teenagers aged between 13 and 17 own a Smartphone. For young people, the pre-social media era has become something of a blur. This generation has known as Generation Z where its members were born between the nineties and the 2000s. What distinguishes this generation is its extensive use of the Internet at an early age. For them, the social media presents an important part of their social life and since then many thinkers set out to explore the effects of using social media platforms at an early age on adolescents' lives. The excessive use of social media may have an effect on teens' mental health. In fact, adolescence is the interval period between childhood and adulthood. A teenager is not a child to act arbitrarily and is not an adult to make critical decisions. Therefore, young people and teenagers have considered as the most sensitive class of consumers. Teenagers' brain creates many changes that make them more sensitive to the impressions of others, especially the view of their peers (e.g. Elkind, 1967 ; Dacey & Kenny, 1994 ; Arnett, 2000 ). Adolescents' mental changes cause many psychological and cognitive problems. According to Social identity theory, teens appreciate the positive reinforcement they get by being included in a group and dislike the feeling of social rejection (Tajfel, 1972 ). To reinforce their sense of belonging, teens are following influencers on social media (e.g., Loureiro & Sarmento, 2019 ). In line with psychological theories, the attachment theory helps to clarify interpersonal relationships between humans. This theory provides the framework to explain the relationship between adolescents and influencers. Several studies have confirmed that the distinctive feature of social media influencers, including relatedness, autonomy and competence affects the behavior, the psychological situation and the emotional side of the consumers (Deci & Ryan, 2000 ). Does the distinctive feature of social media influencers affect teens' behavior? This kind of questions have become among the most controversial ones (e.g. Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017 ). This problem is still inconclusive, even not addressed in some developing countries like Tunisia. Indeed, it is clear that there are considerable gaps in terms of the academic understanding of what characteristics of social media influencers and their effect on teen behaviors. This problem still arises because the lack of empirical works is investigating in this area.

Therefore, this study contributes to the literature by different ways. First, this paper presents a review of the social media influencers' distinctive features in Tunisian context. This is important because social influencers have been considered as credible and trustworthy sources of information (e.g. Sokolova & Kefi, 2020 ). On the others hand, this study identifies the motivations that teens have for following social influencers. MICS6 Survey (2020) shows a gradual increase in suicide rates among Tunisian children (0–19 years). According to the general delegate for child protection, the phenomenon is in part linked to the intensive use of online games. Understanding the main drivers of social media influence among young Tunisians can help professionals and families guide them. Empirically, this study provides the first investigation of teens’ mental models using the cognitive approach.

The rest of this paper is organized as the following: The second part presents thetheoretical background and research hypotheses. The third part introduces the research methodology. The forth part is reserved to application and results. In the last part, both the conclusion and recommendations are highlighted.

Theoretical background and research hypotheses

Social media influencers' distinctive features.

"Informational social influence" is a concept that has been used in literature by Deutsch & Gerard, 1955 ), and defined as the change in behavior or opinions that happened when people (consumers) are conformed to other people (influencers) because they believe that they have precise and true information (e.g. Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017 , Alotaibi et al., 2019 ). According to (Chahal, 2016 ), there are two kinds of "influencers". The classic ones are the scientists, reporters, lawyers, and all others examples of people who have expert-level knowledge and the new ones are the Social media influencers. Accordingly, social media influencers have many followers that trust them especially on the topics related to their domain of knowledge (e.g. Moore et al., 2018 ). According to the Psychology of Influence perspective, people, often, do not realize that they are influenced because the effect occurs mainly in their subconscious (Pligt & Vliek, 2016 ). When influencers advocate an idea, a service, or a product, they can make a psychological conformity effect on followers through their distinctive features (Colliander, 2019 ; Jahoda, 1959 ).

Vollenbroek et al. ( 2014 ) investigated a study about social media influencers and the impact of these actors on the corporate reputation. To create their model, the authors use the Delphi method. The experts have exposed to a questionnaire that included the characteristics of influential actors, interactions, and networks. The first round of research indicates that a bulk of experts has highlighted the importance of intrinsic characteristics of influencers such as knowledge, commitment, and trust etcetera. While others believe that, the size of the network or the reach of a message determines the influence. The results of the second round indicate that the most agreed-upon distinctive characteristics to be a great influencer are being an active mind, being credible, having expertise, being authoritative, being a trendsetter, and having a substantive influence in discussions and conversations. According to previous literature, among the characteristics that distinguish the influencers is the ability to be creative, original, and unique. Recently, Casaló et al. ( 2020 ) indicated that originality and uniqueness positively influence opinion leadership on Instagram. For the rest of this section, we are going to base on the last two studies to draw on the most important distinctive features of social media influencers.

Credibility (expertise and trustworthiness)

According to Lou and Yuan ( 2019 ), one of the most distinctive characteristics that attract the audience is the influencer's credibility specifically the expertise and trustworthiness. In fact, source credibility is a good way of persuasion because it has related to many conceptualizations. Following Hovland et al. ( 1953 ), credibility has subdivided into expertise and trustworthiness. The expertise has reflected the knowledge and competence of the source (influencer) in a specific area (Ki & Kim, 2019 ; McCroskey, 1966 ). While trustworthiness is represented in influencer honesty and sincerity (Giffin, 1967 ). Such characteristics help the source (influencer) to be more convincing. According to the source credibility theory, consumers (social media audience) give more importance to the source of information to take advantage of the expertise and knowledge of influencers (e.g. Ohanian, 1990 ; Teng et al., 2014 ). Spry et al., ( 2011 ) pointed out that a trusted influencer's positive perception of a product and/or service positively affects consumers' attitudes towards recommended brandsHowever, if the product does not meet the required specifications, consumers lose trust in the product and the influencer (Cheung et al., 2009 ). Based on source credibility theory, this work tested one of the research goals: the effect of expertise and credibility on adolescent behavior.

Originality and creativity

Originality in social media represents the ability of an influencer to provide periodically new and differentiate content that attracts the attention of the audience. The content has perceived as innovative, sophisticated, and unusual. Social media influencers look for creating an authentic image in order to construct their own online identity. Marwick ( 2013 ) defined authenticity as "the way in which individuals distinguish themselves, not only from each other but from other types of media". Most of the time, an authentic and different content attracts attention, and sometimes the unusual topics make surprising (Derbaix & Vanhamme, 2003 ). According to Khamis et al. ( 2017 ), social media influencers attract the consumers' attention by posting authentic content. In fact, the audience often appreciates the originality and the creativity of the ideas (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017 ).The originality of the content posted by an influencer has considered as a way to resonate with their public (Hashoff, 2017 ). When a company seeks to promote its products and services through social media, it is looking for an influential representative who excels at presenting original and different content. The brand needs to be presented by credible and believable influencers that create authentic content (Sireni, 2020 ). One of the aims of this work is to identify the effect of the authentic content on teen’s behaviors.

Trendsetter and uniqueness

According to Maslach et al. ( 1985 ), uniqueness is the case in which the individual feels distinguished compared to others. Tian et al. ( 2001 ) admitted that individuals attempt to be radically different from others to enhance their selves and social images. The uniqueness in content represents the ability of the influencer to provide an uncirculated content specific to him. Gentina et al. ( 2014 ) proved that male adolescents take into account the uniqueness of the content when they evaluated the influencer role particularly in evaluating the role of an opinion leader. Casaló et al. ( 2020 ) indicated that uniqueness positively influences the leadership opinion. Thus, the uniqueness of influencers’ contents may affect audiences’ attitude. Therefore, we aim to test the effect of the influencers’ contents uniqueness and trendsetter on teenagers’ behaviors.

Persuasion has a substantive influence in discussions and conversations. According to the Psychology of Persuasion, the psychological tactic that revolves around harnessing the principles of persuasion supports in one way or another the influencer’s marketing. The objective is to persuade people to make purchase decisions. Persuasion aims commonly to change others attitudes and behavior in a context of relative freedom (e.g. Perloff, 2008 ; Crano & Prislin, 2011 ; Shen & Bigsb, 2013 ). According to Scheer and Stern ( 1992 ), the dynamic effect of marketing occurs when an influencer persuades consumers to participate in a specific business. Influencers' goal is to convince the audiences of their own ideas, products, or services. There are six principles of persuasion, which are consensus, consistency, scarcity, reciprocity, authority, and liking. Thus, among the objectives of this study is to set the effect of influencers' persuasion on teens' behavior.

To sum up, our hypothesis is as the following:

H1: Social media influencers' distinctive features affect teenagers’ behavior.

Social media influencers' and teenagers’ behavior

Young people and adolescents are increasingly using social media, consequently, they receive a lot of information from different sources that may influence in one way or another their behavior and decisions. Accordingly, the Digital report (2021) (published in partnership with Hootsuite and we Are Social) indicated that connected technologies became an integral part of people's lives, and it has seen great development in the last twelve months especially with regard to social media, e-commerce, video games, and streaming content. According to the statistics raised in the global State of Digital (2021), the number of social media users has increased by 490 million users around the world compared to last year to attain 4.20 billion. In Tunisia, until January 2021 the number of social media users has increased to attain 8.20 million, which represents 69 percent of the total population while 97% accessing via mobile phone. According to the ALEXA report ( 2021 ), Google.com, Facebook and YouTube are the networks most used by Tunisian people. In addition, 18, 5% of Facebook users are under 13 years old.The use of social media by young people has recently increased, which led us to ask about the influence of such an alternative on their psychological and mental conditions, their identity formation, and their self-estimation. One of this study aims is also to answer the question: why teens follow Social media influencers?

Identity formation

Identity formation relates to the complex way in which human beings institute a continued unique view of the self (Erikson, 1950 ). Consequently, this concept has largely attached to terms like self-concept, personality development, and value. Identity, in a simplified way, is an aggregation of the “self-concept, who we are” and “self-awareness” (Aronson et al., 2005 ). In line with communication theory, Scott ( 1987 ) indicated that interpersonal connection is a key factor in identity formation. Most importantly, the individual's identity formation is the cornerstone of building a personality. A stream of research indicates that consumers accept influence from others they identify with and refuse influence when they desire to disconnect (Berger & Heath, 2007 ; White & Dahl, 2006 ).

Adolescence is a transitional stage in individuals' lives that represents the interval between childhood and adulthood (e.g. Hogan & Astone, 1986 ; Sawyer et al., 2018 ). From here begins teens' psychological conflicts that call into question-related to themselves and about their role in society (e.g. Hill et al., 2018 ). In fact, teens go through many experiences because of the physical and psychological changes during the self-establishment phase, which influences not only their identity formation but also their own personality. At this stage, radical changes occur in their lives, which may affect the course of their future life. The family (precisely parents' behaviors) represents the first influencer on their kids' view of themselves, but this is not the main side. In the era of globalization and technological development, social media has become an important role in shaping the identity of adolescents (see Gajaria et al., 2011 ). In the adolescent stage, individuals start to use the flood of information received from various sources (especially from social media) to find out a sense of self and personal identity. Davis ( 2013 ) affirmed that students who communicated online with their peers express better visibility of self-concept. In its turn, self-concept visibility has related to friendship quality. According to Arnett and Hughes ( 2014 ), identity formation is the result of "thinking about the type of person you want to be” (p. 340). Due to the intense appearance of social media in the lives of teenagers, identity formation is highly affected by social media influencers' personalities. Kunkel et al. ( 2004 ) affirmed that targeted advertisements in social media affect the identity molding of teens by encouraging them to espouse new habits of appearance and consumption. Identification is easier when there is a previous model to mimic.

This work aims to explore the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on the healthy identity development of teens.

Mimetic bias

Investigating mimicry in the psychological literature is not a recent subject. Kendon ( 1970 ) and LaFrance ( 1982 ) were the first researchers that introduce the mimicry concept in literature. Nevertheless, exploring mimicry effect on peoples’ behavior presents a new area of research. Many researchers like Chartrand and Dalton ( 2009 ) and Stel & Vonk ( 2010 ) presented mimicry as the interaction of an individual with others through observing and mirroring their behaviors, attitudes, expressions, and postures. Chartrand and Dalton ( 2009 ) indicated that social surroundings are easily contagious and confirmed the high ability of individuals to mimic what they see in their social environment. Individuals resort to mimicry to fulfill their desire to belong to a group and be active members of society. Therefore, Lakin et al. ( 2003 ) affirmed that mimicry could be used to enhance social links with others. Such behavior aims to bring people closer to each other and create intimacy. White and Argo ( 2011 ) classified mimicry as conscious and unconscious. According to the Neuroscience literature, unconscious mimicry occurs due to the activation of individual mirror neurons that lead to mimic others (e.g. Hatfield et al., 1994 ). Thus, mimickers “automatically” imitate others in many situations like facial expressions (e.g., smiling), behavioral expressions (e.g., laughing), and postural expressions (e.g., hand positioning) (Meltzoff & Moore, 1983 ; LaFrance & Broadbent, 1976 ; Simner, 1971 ). On the other hand, a recent stream of research has advocated conscious mimicry (White & Argo, 2011 ; Ruvio et al., 2013 ). Ruvio et al. ( 2013 ) have presented the "Consumer’s Doppelganger Effect" theory. According to the authors, when consumers have the intention to look like their role models, they imitate them.

One of the paradoxical challenges in the adolescence period is the teens' simultaneous need for "mimic" and "differentiation ".Among the most common questions asked between adolescents is "Who we are?”. The identification of themselves based commonly on a comparison between them and members of the group to which they aim to belong. The feeling of being normal is an obsession that haunts the majority of teenagers. Their sense of being within the norm and not being alienated or disagreed with others prompts teenagers to do anything even if this poses a danger to them just to be accepted by others. Today, with the development of social media, family, peers and friends are no longer the only influencers that teens mimic, but this environment has expanded to include social media influencers. Teens give more attention to their online image and mimic social media influencers to achieve a sense of belonging. According to Cabourg and Manenti ( 2017 ), the content shared by adolescents with each other about their lives on their own social networks helps them understand and discover each other, and create their identity away from their parents. This phenomenon turns into a problem when adolescents mimic each other only not to be excluded or rejected, even if these actions do not represent them.

Another important aim of this study is to explore the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teen’s mimicry behavior.

Confirmation bias

Cabourg and Manenti ( 2017 ) pointed out that it is a necessity for a teenager to be a part of a peer group. Belonging to the group for a teenager reinforces his/her sense of existence away from family restrictions. As we have mentioned before and in line with Hernandez et al. ( 2014 ), teens need to create peer relationships, whether to contribute positively or negatively to their psychosocial side and undoubtedly play a crucial role in the development of identity. Araman and Brambilla ( 2016 ) argued that: "Teenage is an important stage in life, full of physical and psychological transformation, awakening in love and professional concerns. Identifying yourself with a group makes you feel stronger, to say that you exist, and even to distinguish yourself from society”. The development of social media platforms promotes the desire of teens to a group belonging. Social media platforms, such as tick-tock, Facebook, and Instagram, motivate their users to interact with likes and comments on others people’s posts. In fact, according to Davis ( 2012 ), casual communication between teens through social networking using text and instant messages enhances their sense of belonging. Furthermore, the author indicates that social media helps teens to compare their ideas and experiences with their peers, which support their sense of belonging. According to Zeng et al. ( 2017 ), social media interactions aim to create strong social bonds and raise emotional belonging to a community. Confirmation bias occurs when an individual cannot think and create outside the herd. Equally important, due to the confirmation bias, teens cannot identify themselves, except by flying inside the swarm. Teens may identify themselves as fans of a famous influencer just to feel the sense of belonging. This work tests the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teens’ sense of belonging.

Self-esteem

Psychological literature defines Self-esteem as the individual’s evaluation of himself or herself that can be positive or negative (Smith et al., 2014 ). Coopersmith ( 1965 ) affirmed that the self-esteem is the extent to which an individual views his self as competent and worthwhile. A stream of past works highlighted the effects of social media on self-esteem (Błachnio et al., 2016 ; Denti et al., 2012 ; Gonzales & Hancock, 2011 ). The majority of them found that audiences with low self-esteem use more social networks’ to reinforce their self-esteem. Due to technological developments, social media networks offer a self-comparison between users. According to Festinger ( 1954 ), social media users focus more on self-evaluations by making social comparisons with others concerning many issues like beauty, popularity, social classes or roles, wealth accumulation, etc. Social comparison is a part of building a teen's personal identity (Weinstein, 2017 ). Among adolescents, there are two types of comparisons on social media, which are upward comparison, and downward comparison (Steers et al., 2014 ). The first one has related to weakened levels of self-esteem and high depressive symptoms. The second one is characterized by expanding levels of self-esteem and low levels of anxiety (Burrow & Rainone, 2017 ). According to Wright et al. ( 2018 ), self-presentation on social media is related to the extent to which others accept and the determined level of belonging that based on the number of likes and comments.

This study aims to test the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teens’ self-esteem.

Digital distraction

Social media has taken over most of the spare time. It has displaced the time spent on other activities like reading, watching TV, make sports etc.… (Twenge et al., 2019 ). Consequently, the phenomenon of digital distraction has widely spread, especially with the rise of smartphones use. The results of a study established by Luna ( 2018 ) indicated that the use of smartphones during a meal leads to minimize the levels of connectedness and enjoyment and increase the levels of distraction comparing to those who set devices off. Martiz ( 2015 ) found that students with Internet addiction often feel lonely and depressed. Recently, Emerick et al. ( 2019 ) affirmed that the students themselves agree that spending a lot of time using social media leads to distraction. Many studies have proven that most teens spend a lot of time online (e.g., Anderson & Jiang, 2018 ; Twenge et al., 2018 ). Thus, they are the most vulnerable to digital distraction. We believe that whenever distinctive features of influencers are good, the most important impact they have on young people, leads to distraction.

At this level, our second hypothesis is as the following:

H2. The behavior and cognitive biases of teens are affected by social media influence.

Research methods

The cognitive maps.

The cognitive map is relatively an old technique (Huff, 1990 ). However, the use of cognitive maps in scientific research has increased in recent years. According to Axelrod ( 1976 ), a cognitive map is a mathematical model that reflects a belief system of a person. In another words, a cognitive map is a representation of causal assertion way of a person on a limited area. At the beginning of the 1970s, it was intellectually popular amongst behavioral geographers to investigate the significance of cognitive maps, and their impacts on people’s spatial behavior. A cognitive map is a type of mental representation, which serves an individual to acquire, store, recall, code, and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment. It is usually defined as the graphical representation of a person belief about a particular field. A map is not a scientific model based on objective reality, but a graphical representation of an individual's specific beliefs and ideas about complex local situations and issues. It is relatively easy for humans to look at maps (cognitive maps in our case) and understand connections, between different concepts. Cognitive maps can therefore also be thought of as graphs. Graphs can be used to represent many interesting things about our world. It can also be used to solve various problems. According to Bueno & Salmeron ( 2009 ), Cognitive Maps are a powerful technique that helps to study human cognitive phenomena and specific topics in the world. This study uses cognitive maps as a tool to investigate the mental schema of teenagers in Tunisian Scouts. In fact, cognitive mapping helps to explore the impact of social media on teenage behavior in the Tunisian context. In other words, we focus on the effect of influencers' distinctive features on teen behavior.

Data collection and sample selection

The aim of this work is to explore the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teenagers' behavior in Tunisian context. On the other hand, this work investigates if the psychological health of teens is affected by social media influence. To analyze mentally processing multifactor-interdependencies by the human mind or a scenario with highly complex problems, we need more complex analysis methods like the cognitive map technique.

The questionnaire is one of the appropriate methods used to construct a collective cognitive map (Özesmi & Özesmi, 2004 ). Following Eden and Ackermann ( 1998 ), this study uses face-to-face interviews because it is the most flexible method for data collection and it is the appropriate way to minimize the questionnaire mistiness. The questionnaire contains two parts: the first part is reserved to identify the interviewees. The second part provides the list of concepts for each approach via cross-matrix. The questionnaire takes the form of an adjacency matrix (see Table 1 ). The data collection technique appropriate to build a cognitive map is the adjacent matrix. The adjacency matrix of a graph is an (n × n) matrix:

The variables used in the matrix can be pre-defined (by the interviewer using the previous literature) or it can be identified in the interview by the interviewees. This paper uses the first method to restrict the large number of variables related to both influencers’ distinctive features and teenagers' behavioral biases (see Table 2 ). This work identified two types of social media influencers that are Facebook bloggers and Instagrammers for two reasons. Facebook is the most coveted social network for Tunisians. It has more than 6.9 million active users in 2020 or 75% of the population (+ 13 years) of which 44.9% were female users and 55.1% male. On the other hand, Instagram is the second popular social media platform. It has more than 1.9 million, namely 21% of the Tunisian population (+ 13 years).

In this work, we deal with (10 × 10) adjacency matrix.

Experts (psychologists, academics, etc.) often analyze the relationships between social media and young people’s behavior. The contribution of this work is that we rely on the adolescents' point of view in order to test this problem using the cognitive maps method. To our knowledge, no similar research has been done before.

This work is in parallel to the framework of the Tunisian State project "Strengthening the partnership between the university and the economic and social environment". It aims to merge the scientific track with the association work. We have organized an intellectual symposium in conjunction with the Citizen Journalism Club of youth home and the Mohamed-Jlaiel Scouts Group of Mahres entitled "Social Influencers and Their Role in Changing Youth Behaviors”.This conference took place on April 3, 2021, in the hall of the municipality, under the supervision of an inspector of youth and childhood”. In fact, Scouts is a voluntary educational movement that aims to contribute to the development of young people to reach the full benefit of their physical and social capabilities to make them responsible individuals. Scouts offer children and adolescents an educational space complementary to that of the family and the school. The association emphasizes community life, taking responsibility, and learning resourcefulness.Scouting contributes to enhancing the individual's self-confidence and sense of belonging and keeps them away from digital distraction. Therefore, our sample has based on a questionnaire answered by young people belonging to the Tunisian Scoutsaged between 14 and 17 and, who belong to the Mohamed-Jlaiel Scouts Group of Mahres. In fact, scouting strengthens the willpower of young people and allows them to expand their possibilities for self-discipline. In addition, Scout youth are integrated into the community and spend more time in physical and mental activities than their peers who spend most of their free time on social media. Unfortunately, because of the epidemiological situation that Tunisia experienced during this period due to the spread of the Coronavirus, we could not summon more than 35 people, and the first sample was limited only to 25 young people. Thus, a second study with another data collection is needed. Over two successive months (November and December 2021), we make a few small workshops (due to the pandemic situation) with scouts’ young people. The second sample contains 38 teens. Therefore, our total data hold 63young people (26 female and 37 male). It should be noted that the surveys were carried out after parental consent.

We start our interviews with presenting the pros and cons of social mediaand its effect on audiences’ behavior. After forming an idea with the topic, we asked young people to answer the questionnaire presented to them after we defined and explained all the variables. We have directly supervised the questionnaire. Teens are invited to fulfill the questionnaire (in the form of a matrix) using four possibilities:

If variable i has no influence on variable j, the index (i, j) takes a value of zero

1 if variable I has a weak influence on variable j.

2 if variable I has a strong influence on variable j.

3 if variable I has a very strong influence on variable j.

To sumup, the final data contains 63 individual matrices. The aim of the questionnaire is then to build the perception maps (Lajnef et al., 2017 ).

Collective cognitive map method

This work is of qualitative investigation. The research instrument used in this study is the cognitive approach. This work aims to create a collective cognitive map using an interviewing process. Young peopleare invited to fill the adjacencymatrices by giving their opinion about the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teenagers' behavior. To draw up an overall view, individual maps (creating based on adjacency matrices) aggregated to create a collective cognitive map. Since individual maps denote individual thinking, collective map is used to understand the group thinking. The aggregation map aimed to show the point of similarities and differences between individuals (Lajnef et al., 2017 ). The cognitive map has formed essentially by two elements: concepts (variables) and links (relations between variables). The importance of a concept is mainly related to its link with other variables.

This technique helps to better understand the individual and collective cognitive universe. A cognitive map became a mathematical model that reflects a belief system of individuals since the pioneering work of Tolman ( 1948 ). Axelrod ( 1976 ) investigated the political and economic field and considered "cognitive maps" as graphs, reflecting a mental model to predict, understand and improve people's decisions. Recently, Garoui & Jarboui ( 2012 ) have defined the cognitive map as a tool aimed to view certain ideas and beliefs of an individual in a complex area. This work aims to explore a collective cognitive map to set the complex relationships between teenagers and social media influencers. For this reason, we investigate the effect of social media influencers' distinctive features on teenagers' behavior using an aggregated cognitive map.

Results and discussion

In this study, we report all measures, manipulations and exclusions.

Structural analysis and collective cognitive map

This paper uses the structural analysis method to test the relationship between the concepts and to construct a collective cognitive map. According to Godet et al. ( 2008 ), the structural analysis is “A systematic, matrix form, analysis of relations between the constituent variables of the studied system and those of its explanatory environment”. The structural analysis purpose is aimed to distinguish the key factors that identify the evolution of the system based on a matrix that determines the relationships among them (Villacorta et al., 2012 ). To deal with our problem, Micmac software allows us to treat the collected information in the form of plans and graphs in order to configure the mental representation of interviewees.

The influence × dependence chart

This work uses the factor analysis of the influence-dependence chart in which factors have categorized due to their clustered position. The influence × dependence plan depends on four categories of factors, which are the determinants variables, the result variables the relay variables, and the excluded variables. The chart has formed by four zones presented as the following (Fig.  1 ):

Influence-dependence chart, according to MICMAC method

Zone 1: Influent or determinant variables

Influent variables are located in the top left of the chart. According to Arcade et al. ( 1999 ) this category of variables represents a high influence and low dependence. These kinds of variables play and affect the dynamics of the whole system, depending on how much we can control them as key factors. The obtained results identify uniqueness, trustworthiness, and Mimetic as determinant variables. The ability of influencers’ is to provide personalized and unique content that influence Tunisian teens’ behavior. This finding is in line with Casaló et al. ( 2020 ) work. On the other hand, the results indicate that teens mimic social media influencers to feel their belonging. Such an act allows them to discover each other, and create their identity away from their parents (Cabourg & Manenti, 2017 ). The most Influential variable of the system is trustworthiness.The more trustworthiness influencers via social media are, the higher their influence on young people will be. This finding is conformed to previous studies (Giffin, 1967 ; Spry et al., 2011 ).

Zone 2: Relay variables

The intermediate or relay variables are situated at the top right of the chart. These concepts have characterized by high influence and sensitivity. They are also named “stake factors” because they are unstable. Relay variables influence the system depending on the other variables. Any effect of these factors will influence themselves and other external factors to adjust the system. In this study, most of influencers' distinctive features (persuasion, originality, and expertise) play the role of relay variables. The results indicate that the influence of persuasion affects young people's convictions, depending on other variables. The results are in line with previous studies (e.g. Perloff, 2008 ; Shen et al., 2013 ). Furthermore, the findings indicate that the more expertise social media influencers' are, the higher their influence on young people will be. The study of Ki and Kim ( 2019 ) supported our findings. Additionally, the originality of the content presented on social media attracts the audience more than the standard content. The results are in line with those of Khamis et al., ( 2017 ) and Djafarova & Rushworth ( 2017 ).

Based on the results of zone 1 and zone 2, we can sum up that Social media influencers' distinctive features tested on this work affect teenagers’ behavior. Therefore, H1 is accepted.

Zone 3: Excluded or autonomous variables

The excluded variables are positioned in the bottom left of the chart. This category of variables is characterized by a low level of influence and dependence. Such variables have no impact on the overall dynamic changes of the system because their distribution is very close to the origin. This work did not obtain this class of variables.

Zone 4: Dependent variables

The dependent variables are located at the bottom right of the chart. These variables have characterized by a low degree of influence and a high degree of dependence. These variables are less influential and highly sensitive to the rest of variables (influential and relay variables). According to our results, the dependent variables are those related to teens' behavior and cognitive biases. Social media influencers affect the identity development of teens. These findings are in line with those of Kunkel et al. ( 2004 ).The results show also that young people often identify themselves as fans of a famous influencer just to feel the belonging. These results are in line with previous studies like those of Davis ( 2012 ) and Zeng et al. ( 2017 ). Furthermore, the findings indicate that young people use more social networks’ to reinforce their self-esteem.The results confirm with those of Denti et al. ( 2012 ) and Błachnio et al. ( 2016 ).Influencers via social media play a role in digital distraction. Thus, the result found by Emerick et al. ( 2019 ) supports our findings.

Based on the results of zone 3, we can sum up that the behavior and cognitive biases of teens are affected by social media influencers. Therefore, H2 is accepted.

Collective cognitive maps

During this study, we have gathered the individuals’ matrices to create a collective cognitive mind map. The direct influence graph (Figs.  2 and 3 ) present many interesting findings. First, the high experience of influencers via social media enhances the production of original content. Furthermore, the more expertise the influencers' are, the higher their degree of persuasion on young people will be. As similar to this work, Kirmani et al. ( 2004 ) found that the influencers' experience with persuasion emerges as factors that affect customers. Beside the experience, the more an influencer provides unique and uncirculated content specific to him, the higher the originality of the content will be. Previous studies hypothesized that unique ideas are the most stringent method for producing original ideas (e.g., Wallach & Kogan,  1965 ; Wallach & Wing, 1969 ).Generally; influencers that produce different contents have a great popularity because they produce new trends. Therefore, our results indicate that young people want to be one of their fans just to feel their belonging. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the originality of content can be a source of digital distraction. Teenagers spend a lot of time on social media to keep up with new trends (e.g. Chassiakos & Stager, 2020 ).

The collective cognitive maps (25% of links)

The collective cognitive map (100% of links)

The influencers' experience and their degree of trustworthiness, besides the originality of the content, enhance their abilities to persuade adolescents. During adolescence, young people look for a model to follow. According to our results, it can be a social media influencer with a great ability to persuade.

In recent years, the increasing use of social media has enabled users to obtain a large amount of information from different sources. This evolution has affected in one way or another audience's behavior, attitudes, and decisions, especially the young people. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature in many ways. On the first hand, this paper presents the most distinctive features of social media influencers' and tests their effect on teenagers' behavior using a non-clinical sample of young Tunisians. On the other hand, this paper identifies teens' motivations for following social media influencers. This study exercises a new methodology. In fact, it uses the cognitive approach based on structural analysis. According to Benjumea-Arias et al. ( 2016 ), the aim of structural analysis is to determine the key factors of a system by identifying their dependency or influence, thus playing a role in decreasing system complexity. The present study successfully provides a collective cognitive map for a sample of Tunisian young people. This map helps to understand the impact of Facebook bloggers and Instagrammers on Tunisian teen behavior.

This study presents many important findings. First, the results find that influencers' distinctive features tested on this work affect teenagers’ behavior. In fact, influencers with a high level of honesty and sincerity prove trustworthiness among teens. This result is in line with those of Giffin ( 1967 ). Furthermore, the influencer’s ability to provide original and unique content affects the behavior of teens. These findings confirm those of Casaló et al. ( 2020 ). In addition, the ability to influence is related with the ability to persuade and expertise.

The findings related to the direct influence graph reveal that the influencers' distinctive features are interconnected. The experience, the degree of trustworthiness, and the originality of the submitted content influence the ability of an influencer to persuade among adolescents. In return, the high degree of persuasion impresses the behavior, attitudes, and decisions of teens with influences in their identity formation. The high experience and uniqueness help the influencer to make content that is more original. Young people spend more time watching original content (e.g. Chassiakos & Stager, 2020 ). Thus, the originality of content can be a source of digital distraction.

The rise in psychological problems among adolescents in Tunisia carries troubling risks. According to MICS6 Survey (2020), 18.7% of children aged 15–17 years suffer from anxiety, and 5.2% are depressed. The incidence of suicide among children (0–19 years old) was 2.07 cases per 100,000 in 2016, against 1.4 per 100,000 in 2015. Most child suicides concern 15–19-year-olds. They are in part linked to intensive use of online games, according to the general delegate of child protection. However, scientific studies rarely test the link between social media use and psychological disorders for young people in the Tunisian context. In fact, our result emphasized the important role of influencers' distinctive features and their effect on teens' behavior.

Thus, it is necessary and critical to go deeper into those factors that influence the psychological health of teens. We promote researchers to explore further this topic. They can uncover ways to help teens avoid various psychological and cognitive problems, or at least realize them and know the danger they can cause to themselves and others.

These results have many implications for different actors like researchers and experts who were interested in the psychological field.

This work suffers from some methodological and contextual limitations that call recommendations for future research. Fist, the sample size used is relatively small because of the epidemiological situation that Tunisia experienced at the time of completing this work. On the other hand, this work was limited only to study the direct relationship between variables. Therefore, we suggest expanding the questionnaire circle. We can develop this research by interviewing specialists in the psychological field. From an empirical point of view, we can go deeper into this topic by testing the indirect relationship among variables.

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Lajnef, K. The effect of social media influencers' on teenagers Behavior: an empirical study using cognitive map technique. Curr Psychol 42 , 19364–19377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04273-1

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• Published: 01 July 2020

The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent

• Ine Beyens   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7023-867X 1 ,
• J. Loes Pouwels   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9586-392X 1 ,
• Irene I. van Driel   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7810-9677 1 ,
• Loes Keijsers   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8580-6000 2 &
• Patti M. Valkenburg   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0477-8429 1  

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The question whether social media use benefits or undermines adolescents’ well-being is an important societal concern. Previous empirical studies have mostly established across-the-board effects among (sub)populations of adolescents. As a result, it is still an open question whether the effects are unique for each individual adolescent. We sampled adolescents’ experiences six times per day for one week to quantify differences in their susceptibility to the effects of social media on their momentary affective well-being. Rigorous analyses of 2,155 real-time assessments showed that the association between social media use and affective well-being differs strongly across adolescents: While 44% did not feel better or worse after passive social media use, 46% felt better, and 10% felt worse. Our results imply that person-specific effects can no longer be ignored in research, as well as in prevention and intervention programs.

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Introduction

Ever since the introduction of social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, researchers have been studying whether the use of such media may affect adolescents’ well-being. These studies have typically reported mixed findings, yielding either small negative, small positive, or no effects of the time spent using social media on different indicators of well-being, such as life satisfaction and depressive symptoms (for recent reviews, see for example 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ). Most of these studies have focused on between-person associations, examining whether adolescents who use social media more (or less) often than their peers experience lower (or higher) levels of well-being than these peers. While such between-person studies are valuable in their own right, several scholars 6 , 7 have recently called for studies that investigate within-person associations to understand whether an increase in an adolescent’s social media use is associated with an increase or decrease in that adolescent’s well-being. The current study aims to respond to this call by investigating associations between social media use and well-being within single adolescents across multiple points in time 8 , 9 , 10 .

Person-specific effects

To our knowledge, four recent studies have investigated within-person associations of social media use with different indicators of adolescent well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, depression), again with mixed results 6 , 11 , 12 , 13 . Orben and colleagues 6 found a small negative reciprocal within-person association between the time spent using social media and life satisfaction. Likewise, Boers and colleagues 12 found a small within-person association between social media use and increased depressive symptoms. Finally, Coyne and colleagues 11 and Jensen and colleagues 13 did not find any evidence for within-person associations between social media use and depression.

Earlier studies that investigated within-person associations of social media use with indicators of well-being have all only reported average effect sizes. However, it is possible, or even plausible, that these average within-person effects may have been small and nonsignificant because they result from sizeable heterogeneity in adolescents’ susceptibility to the effects of social media use on well-being (see 14 , 15 ). After all, an average within-person effect size can be considered an aggregate of numerous individual within-person effect sizes that range from highly positive to highly negative.

Some within-person studies have sought to understand adolescents’ differential susceptibility to the effects of social media by investigating differences between subgroups. For instance, they have investigated the moderating role of sex to compare the effects of social media on boys versus girls 6 , 11 . However, such a group-differential approach, in which potential differences in susceptibility are conceptualized by group-level moderators (e.g., gender, age) does not provide insights into more fine-grained differences at the level of the single individual 16 . After all, while girls and boys each represent a homogenous group in terms of sex, they may each differ on a wide array of other factors.

As such, although worthwhile, the average within-person effects of social media on well-being obtained in previous studies may have been small or non-significant because they are diluted across a highly heterogeneous population (or sub-population) of adolescents 14 , 15 . In line with the proposition of media effects theories that each adolescent may have a unique susceptibility to the effects of social media 17 , a viable explanation for the small and inconsistent findings in earlier studies may be that the effect of social media differs from adolescent to adolescent. The aim of the current study is to investigate this hypothesis and to obtain a better understanding of adolescents’ unique susceptibility to the effects of social media on their affective well-being.

Social media and affective well-being

Within-person studies have provided important insights into the associations of social media use with cognitive well-being (e.g., life satisfaction 6 ), which refers to adolescents’ cognitive judgment of how satisfied they are with their life 18 . However, the associations of social media use with adolescents’ affective well-being (i.e., adolescents’ affective evaluations of their moods and emotions 18 ) are still unknown. In addition, while earlier within-person studies have focused on associations with trait-like conceptualizations of well-being 11 , 12 , 13 , that is, adolescents’ average well-being across specific time periods 18 , there is a lack of studies that focus on well-being as a momentary affective state. Therefore, we extend previous research by examining the association between adolescents’ social media use and their momentary affective well-being. Like earlier experience sampling (ESM) studies among adults 19 , 20 , we measured adolescents’ momentary affective well-being with a single item. Adolescents’ momentary affective well-being was defined as their current feelings of happiness, a commonly used question to measure well-being 21 , 22 , which has high convergent validity, as evidenced by the strong correlations with the presence of positive affect and absence of negative affect.

To assess adolescents’ momentary affective well-being (henceforth referred to as well-being), we conducted a week-long ESM study among 63 middle adolescents ages 14 and 15. Six times a day, adolescents were asked to complete a survey using their own mobile phone, covering 42 assessments per adolescent, assessing their affective well-being and social media use. In total, adolescents completed 2,155 assessments (83.2% average compliance).

We focused on middle adolescence, since this is the period in life characterized by most significant fluctuations in well-being 23 , 24 . Also, in comparison to early and late adolescents, middle adolescents are more sensitive to reactions from peers and have a strong tendency to compare themselves with others on social media and beyond. Because middle adolescents typically use different social media platforms, in a complementary way 25 , 26 , 27 , each adolescent reported on his/her use of the three social media platforms that s/he used most frequently out of the five most popular social media platforms among adolescents: WhatsApp, followed by Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and, finally, the chat function of games 28 . In addition to investigating the association between overall social media use and well-being (i.e., the summed use of adolescents’ three most frequently used platforms), we examined the unique associations of the two most popular platforms, WhatsApp and Instagram 28 .

Like previous studies on social media use and well-being, we distinguished between active social media use (i.e., “activities that facilitate direct exchanges with others” 29 ) and passive social media use (i.e., “consuming information without direct exchanges” 29 ). Within-person studies among young adults have shown that passive but not active social media use predicts decreases in well-being 29 . Therefore, we examined the unique associations of adolescents’ overall active and passive social media use with their well-being, as well as active and passive use of Instagram and WhatsApp, specifically. We investigated categorical associations, that is, whether adolescents would feel better or worse if they had actively or passively used social media. And we investigated dose–response associations to understand whether adolescents’ well-being would change as a function of the time they had spent actively or passively using social media.

The hypotheses and the design, sampling and analysis plan were preregistered prior to data collection and are available on the Open Science Framework, along with the code used in the analyses ( https://osf.io/nhks2 ). For details about the design of the study and analysis approach, see Methods.

In more than half of all assessments (68.17%), adolescents had used social media (i.e., one or more of their three favorite social media platforms), either in an active or passive way. Instagram (50.90%) and WhatsApp (53.52%) were used in half of all assessments. Passive use of social media (66.21% of all assessments) was more common than active use (50.86%), both on Instagram (48.48% vs. 20.79%) and WhatsApp (51.25% vs. 40.07%).

Strong positive between-person correlations were found between the duration of active and passive social media use (overall: r  = 0.69, p  < 0.001; Instagram: r  = 0.38, p  < 0.01; WhatsApp: r  = 0.85, p  < 0.001): Adolescents who had spent more time actively using social media than their peers, had also spent more time passively using social media than their peers. Likewise, strong positive within-person correlations were found between the duration of active and passive social media use (overall: r  = 0.63, p  < 0.001; Instagram: r  = 0.37, p  < 0.001; WhatsApp: r  = 0.57, p  < 0.001): The more time an adolescent had spent actively using social media at a certain moment, the more time s/he had also spent passively using social media at that moment.

Table 1 displays the average number of minutes that adolescents had spent using social media in the past hour at each assessment, and the zero-order between- and within-person correlations between the duration of social media use and well-being. At the between-person level, the duration of active and passive social media use was not associated with well-being: Adolescents who had spent more time actively or passively using social media than their peers did not report significantly higher or lower levels of well-being than their peers. At the within-person level, significant but weak positive correlations were found between the duration of active and passive overall social media use and well-being. This indicates that adolescents felt somewhat better at moments when they had spent more time actively or passively using social media (overall), compared to moments when they had spent less time actively or passively using social media. When looking at specific platforms, a positive correlation was only found for passive WhatsApp use, but not for active WhatsApp use, and not for active and passive Instagram use.

Average and person-specific effects

The within-person associations of social media use with well-being and differences in these associations were tested in a series of multilevel models. We ran separate models for overall social media use (i.e., active use and passive use of adolescents’ three favorite social media platforms, see Table 2 ), Instagram use (see Table 3 ), and WhatsApp use (see Table 4 ). In a first step we examined the average categorical associations for each of these three social media uses using fixed effects models (Models 1A, 3A, and 5A) to investigate whether, on average, adolescents would feel better or worse at moments when they had used social media compared to moments when they had not (i.e., categorical predictors: active use versus no active use, and passive use versus no passive use). In a second step, we examined heterogeneity in the within-person categorical associations by adding random slopes to the fixed effects models (Models 1B, 3B, and 5B). Next, we examined the average dose–response associations using fixed effects models (Models 2A, 4A, and 6A), to investigate whether, on average, adolescents would feel better or worse when they had spent more time using social media (i.e., continuous predictors: duration of active use and duration of passive use). Finally, we examined heterogeneity in the within-person dose–response associations by adding random slopes to the fixed effects models (Models 2B, 4B, and 6B).

Overall social media use.

The model with the categorical predictors (see Table 2 ; Model 1A) showed that, on average, there was no association between overall use and well-being: Adolescents’ well-being did not increase or decrease at moments when they had used social media, either in a passive or active way. However, evidence was found that the association of passive (but not active) social media use with well-being differed from adolescent to adolescent (Model 1B), with effect sizes ranging from − 0.24 to 0.68. For 44.26% of the adolescents the association was non-existent to small (− 0.10 <  r  < 0.10). However, for 45.90% of the adolescents there was a weak (0.10 <  r  < 0.20; 8.20%), moderate (0.20 <  r  < 0.30; 22.95%) or even strong positive ( r  ≥ 0.30; 14.75%) association between overall passive social media use and well-being, and for almost one in ten (9.84%) adolescents there was a weak (− 0.20 <  r  < − 0.10; 6.56%) or moderate negative (− 0.30 <  r  < − 0.20; 3.28%) association.

The model with continuous predictors (Model 2A) showed that, on average, there was a significant dose–response association for active use. At moments when adolescents had used social media, the time they spent actively (but not passively) using social media was positively associated with well-being: Adolescents felt better at moments when they had spent more time sending messages, posting, or sharing something on social media. The associations of the time spent actively and passively using social media with well-being did not differ across adolescents (Model 2B).

Instagram use

As shown in Model 3A in Table 3 , on average, there was a significant categorical association between passive (but not active) Instagram use and well-being: Adolescents experienced an increase in well-being at moments when they had passively used Instagram (i.e., viewing posts/stories of others). Adolescents did not experience an increase or decrease in well-being when they had actively used Instagram. The associations of passive and active Instagram use with well-being did not differ across adolescents (Model 3B).

On average, no significant dose–response association was found for Instagram use (Model 4A): At moments when adolescents had used Instagram, the time adolescents spent using Instagram (either actively or passively) was not associated with their well-being. However, evidence was found that the association of the time spent passively using Instagram differed from adolescent to adolescent (Model 4B), with effect sizes ranging from − 0.48 to 0.27. For most adolescents (73.91%) the association was non-existent to small (− 0.10 <  r  < 0.10), but for almost one in five adolescents (17.39%) there was a weak (0.10 <  r  < 0.20; 10.87%) or moderate (0.20 <  r  < 0.30; 6.52%) positive association, and for almost one in ten adolescents (8.70%) there was a weak (− 0.20 <  r  < − 0.10; 2.17%), moderate (− 0.30 <  r  < − 0.20; 4.35%), or strong ( r  ≤ − 0.30; 2.17%) negative association. Figure  1 illustrates these differences in the dose–response associations.

The dose–response association between passive Instagram use (in minutes per hour) and affective well-being for each individual adolescent (n = 46). Red lines represent significant negative within-person associations, green lines represent significant positive within-person associations, and gray lines represent non-significant within-person associations. A graph was created for each participant who had completed at least 10 assessments. A total of 13 participants were excluded because they had completed less than 10 assessments of passive Instagram use. In addition, one participant was excluded because no graph could be computed, since this participant's passive Instagram use was constant across assessments.

WhatsApp use

As shown in Model 5A in Table 4 , just as for Instagram, we found that, on average, there was a significant categorical association between passive (but not active) WhatsApp use and well-being: Adolescents reported that they felt better at moments when they had passively used WhatsApp (i.e., read WhatsApp messages). For active WhatsApp use, no significant association was found. Also, in line with the results for Instagram use, no differences were found regarding the associations of active and passive WhatsApp use (Model 5B).

In addition, a significant dose–response association was found for passive (but not active) use (Model 6A). At moments when adolescents had used WhatsApp, we found that, on average, the time adolescents spent passively using WhatsApp was positively associated with well-being: Adolescents felt better at moments when they had spent more time reading WhatsApp messages. The time spent actively using WhatsApp was not associated with well-being. No differences were found in the dose–response associations of active and passive WhatsApp use (Model 6B).

This preregistered study investigated adolescents’ unique susceptibility to the effects of social media. We found that the associations of passive (but not active) social media use with well-being differed substantially from adolescent to adolescent, with effect sizes ranging from moderately negative (− 0.24) to strongly positive (0.68). While 44.26% of adolescents did not feel better or worse if they had passively used social media, 45.90% felt better, and a small group felt worse (9.84%). In addition, for Instagram the majority of adolescents (73.91%) did not feel better or worse when they had spent more time viewing post or stories of others, whereas some felt better (17.39%), and others (8.70%) felt worse.

These findings have important implications for social media effects research, and media effects research more generally. For decades, researchers have argued that people differ in their susceptibility to the effects of media 17 , leading to numerous investigations of such differential susceptibility. These investigations have typically focused on moderators, based on variables such as sex, age, or personality. Yet, over the years, studies have shown that such moderators appear to have little power to explain how individuals differ in their susceptibility to media effects, probably because a group-differential approach does not account for the possibility that media users may differ across a range of factors, that are not captured by only one (or a few) investigated moderator variables.

By providing insights into each individual’s unique susceptibility, the findings of this study provide an explanation as to why, up until now, most media effects research has only found small effects. We found that the majority of adolescents do not experience any short-term changes in well-being related to their social media use. And if they do experience any changes, these are more often positive than negative. Because only small subsets of adolescents experience small to moderate changes in well-being, the true effects of social media reported in previous studies have probably been diluted across heterogeneous samples of individuals that differ in their susceptibility to media effects (also see 30 ). Several scholars have noted that overall effect sizes may mask more subtle individual differences 14 , 15 , which may explain why previous studies have typically reported small or no effects of social media on well-being or indicators of well-being 6 , 11 , 12 , 13 . The current study seems to confirm this assumption, by showing that while the overall effect sizes are small at best, the person-specific effect sizes vary considerably, from tiny and small to moderate and strong.

As called upon by other scholars 5 , 31 , we disentangled the associations of active and passive use of social media. Research among young adults found that passive (but not active) social media use is associated with lower levels of affective well-being 29 . In line with these findings, the current study shows that active and passive use yielded different associations with adolescents’ affective well-being. Interestingly though, in contrast to previous findings among adults, our study showed that, on average, passive use of Instagram and WhatsApp seemed to enhance rather than decrease adolescents’ well-being. This discrepancy in findings may be attributed to the fact that different mechanisms might be involved. Verduyn and colleagues 29 found that passive use of Facebook undermines adults’ well-being by enhancing envy, which may also explain the decreases in well-being found in our study among a small group of adolescents. Yet, adolescents who felt better by passively using Instagram and WhatsApp, might have felt so because they experienced enjoyment. After all, adolescents often seek positive content on social media, such as humorous posts or memes 32 . Also, research has shown that adolescents mainly receive positive feedback on social media 33 . Hence, their passive Instagram and WhatsApp use may involve the reading of positive feedback, which may explain the increases in well-being.

Overall, the time spent passively using WhatsApp improved adolescents’ well-being. This did not differ from adolescent to adolescent. However, the associations of the time spent passively using Instagram with well-being did differ from adolescent to adolescent. This discrepancy suggests that not all social media uses yield person-specific effects on well-being. A possible explanation may be that adolescents’ responses to WhatsApp are more homogenous than those to Instagram. WhatsApp is a more private platform, which is mostly used for one-to-one communication with friends and acquaintances 26 . Instagram, in contrast, is a more public platform, which allows its users to follow a diverse set of people, ranging from best friends to singers, actors, and influencers 28 , and to engage in intimate communication as well as self-presentation and social comparison. Such diverse uses could lead to more varied, or even opposing responses, such as envy versus inspiration.

Limitations and directions for future research

The current study extends our understanding of differential susceptibility to media effects, by revealing that the effect of social media use on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. The findings confirm our assumption that among the great majority of adolescents, social media use is unrelated to well-being, but that among a small subset, social media use is either related to decreases or increases in well-being. It must be noted, however, that participants in this study felt relatively happy, overall. Studies with more vulnerable samples, consisting of clinical samples or youth with lower social-emotional well-being may elicit different patterns of effects 27 . Also, the current study focused on affective well-being, operationalized as happiness. It is plausible that social media use relates differently with other types of well-being, such as cognitive well-being. An important next step is to identify which adolescents are particularly susceptible to experience declines in well-being. It is conceivable, for instance, that the few adolescents who feel worse when they use social media are the ones who receive negative feedback on social media 33 .

In addition, future ESM studies into the effects of social media should attempt to include one or more follow-up measures to improve our knowledge of the longer-term influence of social media use on affective well-being. While a week-long ESM is very common and applied in most earlier ESM studies 34 , a week is only a snapshot of adolescent development. Research is needed that investigates whether the associations of social media use with adolescents’ momentary affective well-being may cumulate into long-lasting consequences. Such investigations could help clarify whether adolescents who feel bad in the short term would experience more negative consequences in the long term, and whether adolescents who feel better would be more resistant to developing long-term negative consequences. And while most adolescents do not seem to experience any short-term increases or decreases in well-being, more research is needed to investigate whether these adolescents may experience a longer-term impact of social media.

While the use of different platforms may be differently associated with well-being, different types of use may also yield different effects. Although the current study distinguished between active and passive use of social media, future research should further differentiate between different activities. For instance, because passive use entails many different activities, from reading private messages (e.g., WhatsApp messages, direct messages on Instagram) to browsing a public feed (e.g., scrolling through posts on Instagram), research is needed that explores the unique effects of passive public use and passive private use. Research that seeks to explore the nuances in adolescents’ susceptibility as well as the nuances in their social media use may truly improve our understanding of the effects of social media use.

Participants

Participants were recruited via a secondary school in the south of the Netherlands. Our preregistered sampling plan set a target sample size of 100 adolescents. We invited adolescents from six classrooms to participate in the study. The final sample consisted of 63 adolescents (i.e., 42% consent rate, which is comparable to other ESM studies among adolescents; see, for instance 35 , 36 ). Informed consent was obtained from all participants and their parents. On average, participants were 15 years old ( M  = 15.12 years, SD  = 0.51) and 54% were girls. All participants self-identified as Dutch, and 41.3% were enrolled in the prevocational secondary education track, 25.4% in the intermediate general secondary education track, and 33.3% in the academic preparatory education track.

The study was approved by the Ethics Review Board of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and was performed in accordance with the guidelines formulated by the Ethics Review Board. The study consisted of two phases: A baseline survey and a personalized week-long experience sampling (ESM) study. In phase 1, researchers visited the school during school hours. Researchers informed the participants of the objective and procedure of the study and assured them that their responses would be treated confidentially. Participants were asked to sign the consent form. Next, participants completed a 15-min baseline survey. The baseline survey included questions about demographics and assessed which social media each adolescent used most frequently, allowing to personalize the social media questions presented during the ESM study in phase 2. After completing the baseline survey, participants were provided detailed instructions about phase 2.

In phase 2, which took place two and a half weeks after the baseline survey, a 7-day ESM study was conducted, following the guidelines for ESM studies provided by van Roekel and colleagues 34 . Aiming for at least 30 assessments per participant and based on an average compliance rate of 70 to 80% reported in earlier ESM studies among adolescents 34 , we asked each participant to complete a total of 42 ESM surveys (i.e., six 2-min surveys per day). Participants completed the surveys using their own mobile phone, on which the ESM software application Ethica Data was installed during the instruction session with the researchers (phase 1). Each 2-min survey consisted of 22 questions, which assessed adolescents’ well-being and social media use. Two open-ended questions were added to the final survey of the day, which asked about adolescents’ most pleasant and most unpleasant events of the day.

The ESM sampling scheme was semi-random, to allow for randomization and avoid structural patterns in well-being, while taking into account that adolescents were not allowed to use their phone during school time. The Ethica Data app was programmed to generate six beep notifications per day at random time points within a fixed time interval that was tailored to the school’s schedule: before school time (1 beep), during school breaks (2 beeps), and after school time (3 beeps). During the weekend, the beeps were generated during the morning (1 beep), afternoon (3 beeps), and evening (2 beeps). To maximize compliance, a 30-min time window was provided to complete each survey. This time window was extended to one hour for the first survey (morning) and two hours for the final survey (evening) to account for travel time to school and time spent on evening activities. The average compliance rate was 83.2%. A total of 2,155 ESM assessments were collected: Participants completed an average of 34.83 surveys ( SD  = 4.91) on a total of 42 surveys, which is high compared to previous ESM studies among adolescents 34 .

The questions of the ESM study were personalized based on the responses to the baseline survey. During the ESM study, each participant reported on his/her use of three different social media platforms: WhatsApp and either Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and/or the chat function of games (i.e., the most popular social media platforms among adolescents 28 ). Questions about Instagram and WhatsApp use were only included if the participant had indicated in the baseline survey that s/he used these platforms at least once a week. If a participant had indicated that s/he used Instagram or WhatsApp (or both) less than once a week, s/he was asked to report on the use of Snapchat, YouTube, or the chat function of games, depending on what platform s/he used at least once a week. In addition to Instagram and WhatsApp, questions were asked about a third platform, that was selected based on how frequently the participant used Snapchat, YouTube, or the chat function of games (i.e., at least once a week). This resulted in five different combinations of three platforms: Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat (47 participants); Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube (11 participants); Instagram, WhatsApp, and chatting via games (2 participants); WhatsApp, Snapchat, and YouTube (1 participant); and WhatsApp, YouTube, and chatting via games (2 participants).

Frequency of social media use

In the baseline survey, participants were asked to indicate how often they used and checked Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube, and the chat function of games, using response options ranging from 1 ( never ) to 7 ( more than 12 times per day ). These platforms are the five most popular platforms among Dutch 14- and 15-year-olds 28 . Participants’ responses were used to select the three social media platforms that were assessed in the personalized ESM study.

Duration of social media use

In the ESM study, duration of active and passive social media use was measured by asking participants how much time in the past hour they had spent actively and passively using each of the three platforms that were included in the personalized ESM surveys. Response options ranged from 0 to 60 min , with 5-min intervals. To measure active Instagram use, participants indicated how much time in the past hour they had spent (a) “posting on your feed or sharing something in your story on Instagram” and (b) “sending direct messages/chatting on Instagram.” These two items were summed to create the variable duration of active Instagram use. Sum scores exceeding 60 min (only 0.52% of all assessments) were recoded to 60 min. To measure duration of passive Instagram use, participants indicated how much time in the past hour they had spent “viewing posts/stories of others on Instagram.” To measure the use of WhatsApp, Snapchat, YouTube and game-based chatting, we asked participants how much time they had spent “sending WhatsApp messages” (active use) and “reading WhatsApp messages” (passive use); “sending snaps/messages or sharing something in your story on Snapchat” (active use) and “viewing snaps/stories/messages from others on Snapchat” (passive use); “posting YouTube clips” (active use) and “watching YouTube clips” (passive use); “sending messages via the chat function of a game/games” (active use) and “reading messages via the chat function of a game/games” (passive use). Duration of active and passive overall social media use were created by summing the responses across the three social media platforms for active and passive use, respectively. Sum scores exceeding 60 min (2.13% of all assessments for active overall use; 2.90% for passive overall use) were recoded to 60 min. The duration variables were used to investigate whether the time spent actively or passively using social media was associated with well-being (dose–response associations).

Use/no use of social media

Based on the duration variables, we created six dummy variables, one for active and one for passive overall social media use, one for active and one for passive Instagram use, and one for active and one for passive WhatsApp use (0 =  no active use and 1 =  active use , and 0 =  no passive use and 1 =  passive use , respectively). These dummy variables were used to investigate whether the use of social media, irrespective of the duration of use, was associated with well-being (categorical associations).

Consistent with previous ESM studies 19 , 20 , we measured affective well-being using one item, asking “How happy do you feel right now?” at each assessment. Adolescents indicated their response to the question using a 7-point scale ranging from 1 ( not at all ) to 7 ( completely ), with 4 ( a little ) as the midpoint. Convergent validity of this item was established in a separate pilot ESM study among 30 adolescents conducted by the research team of the fourth author: The affective well-being item was strongly correlated with the presence of positive affect and absence of negative affect (assessed by a 10-item positive and negative affect schedule for children; PANAS-C) at both the between-person (positive affect: r  = 0.88, p < 0.001; negative affect: r  = − 0.62, p < 0.001) and within-person level (positive affect: r  = 0.74, p < 0.001; negative affect: r  = − 0.58, p < 0.001).

Statistical analyses

Before conducting the analyses, several validation checks were performed (see 34 ). First, we aimed to only include participants in the analyses who had completed more than 33% of all ESM assessments (i.e., at least 14 assessments). Next, we screened participants’ responses to the open questions for unserious responses (e.g., gross comments, jokes). And finally, we inspected time series plots for patterns in answering tendencies. Since all participants completed more than 33% of all ESM assessments, and no inappropriate responses or low-quality data patterns were detected, all participants were included in the analyses.

Following our preregistered analysis plan, we tested the proposed associations in a series of multilevel models. Before doing so, we tested the homoscedasticity and linearity assumptions for multilevel analyses 37 . Inspection of standardized residual plots indicated that the data met these assumptions (plots are available on OSF at  https://osf.io/nhks2 ). We specified separate models for overall social media use, use of Instagram, and use of WhatsApp. To investigate to what extent adolescents’ well-being would vary depending on whether they had actively or passively used social media/Instagram/WhatsApp or not during the past hour (categorical associations), we tested models including the dummy variables as predictors (active use versus no active use, and passive use versus no passive use; models 1, 3, and 5). To investigate whether, at moments when adolescents had used social media/Instagram/WhatsApp during the past hour, their well-being would vary depending on the duration of social media/Instagram/WhatsApp use (dose–response associations), we tested models including the duration variables as predictors (duration of active use and duration of passive use; models 2, 4, and 6). In order to avoid negative skew in the duration variables, we only included assessments during which adolescents had used social media in the past hour (overall, Instagram, or WhatsApp, respectively), either actively or passively. All models included well-being as outcome variable. Since multilevel analyses allow to include all available data for each individual, no missing data were imputed and no data points were excluded.

We used a model building approach that involved three steps. In the first step, we estimated an intercept-only model to assess the relative amount of between- and within-person variance in affective well-being. We estimated a three-level model in which repeated momentary assessments (level 1) were nested within adolescents (level 2), who, in turn, were nested within classrooms (level 3). However, because the between-classroom variance in affective well-being was small (i.e., 0.4% of the variance was explained by differences between classes), we proceeded with estimating two-level (instead of three-level) models, with repeated momentary assessments (level 1) nested within adolescents (level 2).

In the second step, we assessed the within-person associations of well-being with (a) overall active and passive social media use (i.e., the total of the three platforms), (b) active and passive use of Instagram, and (c) active and passive use of WhatsApp, by adding fixed effects to the model (Models 1A-6A). To facilitate the interpretation of the associations and control for the effects of time, a covariate was added that controlled for the n th assessment of the study week (instead of the n th assessment of the day, as preregistered). This so-called detrending is helpful to interpret within-person associations as correlated fluctuations beyond other changes in social media use and well-being 38 . In order to obtain within-person estimates, we person-mean centered all predictors 38 . Significance of the fixed effects was determined using the Wald test.

In the third and final step, we assessed heterogeneity in the within-person associations by adding random slopes to the models (Models 1B-6B). Significance of the random slopes was determined by comparing the fit of the fixed effects model with the fit of the random effects model, by performing the Satorra-Bentler scaled chi-square test 39 and by comparing the Bayesian information criterion (BIC 40 ) and Akaike information criterion (AIC 41 ) of the models. When the random effects model had a significantly better fit than the fixed effects model (i.e., pointing at significant heterogeneity), variance components were inspected to investigate whether heterogeneity existed in the association of either active or passive use. Next, when evidence was found for significant heterogeneity, we computed person-specific effect sizes, based on the random effect models, to investigate what percentages of adolescents experienced better well-being, worse well-being, and no changes in well-being. In line with Keijsers and colleagues 42 we only included participants who had completed at least 10 assessments. In addition, for the dose–response associations, we constructed graphical representations of the person-specific slopes, based on the person-specific effect sizes, using the xyplot function from the lattice package in R 43 .

Three improvements were made to our original preregistered plan. First, rather than estimating the models with multilevel modelling in R 43 , we ran the preregistered models in Mplus 44 . Mplus provides standardized estimates for the fixed effects models, which offers insight into the effect sizes. This allowed us to compare the relative strength of the associations of passive versus active use with well-being. Second, instead of using the maximum likelihood estimator, we used the maximum likelihood estimator with robust standard errors (MLR), which are robust to non-normality. Sensitivity tests, uploaded on OSF ( https://osf.io/nhks2 ), indicated that the results were almost identical across the two software packages and estimation approaches. Third, to improve the interpretation of the results and make the scales of the duration measures of social media use and well-being more comparable, we transformed the social media duration scores (0 to 60 min) into scales running from 0 to 6, so that an increase of 1 unit reflects 10 min of social media use. The model estimates were unaffected by this transformation.

Reporting summary

Further information on the research design is available in the Nature Research Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

The dataset generated and analysed during the current study is available in Figshare 45 . The preregistration of the design, sampling and analysis plan, and the analysis scripts used to analyse the data for this paper are available online on the Open Science Framework website ( https://osf.io/nhks2 ).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza Prize and the Gravitation grant (NWO Grant 024.001.003; Consortium on Individual Development) awarded to P.M.V. by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Additional funding was received from the VIDI grant (NWO VIDI Grant 452.17.011) awarded to L.K. by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The authors would like to thank Savannah Boele (Tilburg University) for providing her pilot ESM results.

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Ine Beyens, J. Loes Pouwels, Irene I. van Driel & Patti M. Valkenburg

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I.B., J.L.P., I.I.v.D., L.K., and P.M.V. designed the study; I.B., J.L.P., and I.I.v.D. collected the data; I.B., J.L.P., and L.K. analyzed the data; and I.B., J.L.P., I.I.v.D., L.K., and P.M.V. contributed to writing and reviewing the manuscript.

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Beyens, I., Pouwels, J.L., van Driel, I.I. et al. The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. Sci Rep 10 , 10763 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67727-7

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Getting fewer ‘likes’ on social media can make teens anxious and depressed

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Lack of positive feedback can decrease adolescents’ feelings of self-worth, multi-institutional study finds.

Simply not getting enough validation on social media can increase depression and anxiety, especially in the most vulnerable populations for whom these platforms may contribute to a cycle of rejection.

That’s according to a new paper published in Child Development that explores the psychological effects of receiving insufficient positive feedback online.

Led by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin , a multi-institutional team, including two University of Rochester psychologists, employed an experimental social media task over three studies. The team found that teenagers who received few “likes” during a standardized social media interaction felt more strongly rejected, and reported more negative thoughts about themselves.

Study participants were told they were helping test drive a new social media program that allowed them to create a profile and interact with same-age peers by viewing and liking other people’s profiles. The “likes” received were tallied, and a ranking of the various profiles displayed them in order of most to least liked. In reality, these “likes” were assigned by computer scripts.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either few “likes” or many “likes” relative to the other displayed profiles. In a post-task questionnaire, students in the fewer-“likes” group reported more feelings of rejections and other negative emotions than those who received more “likes.”

“So much of the research on social media and mental health uses survey methods, but we know that correlation does not guarantee causation,” says study coauthor David Yeager , an associate professor of psychology at UT Austin.

“This study is an important scientific advance because it uses an experiment, and it shows that not getting enough ‘likes’ actually causes adolescents to reduce their feelings of self-worth.” Study participants were notified after the study that the “likes” they had received were random.

“Up to now, many people thought that social rejection was just a fact of life for adolescents, but that it didn’t really matter. This research demonstrates otherwise,” says coauthor Harry Reis , a professor of psychology and the Dean’s Professor in Arts, Sciences & Engineering at Rochester. Rochester associate professor of psychology Jeremy Jamieson was also part of the team.

A second study using the same experimental task found that adolescents with the strongest negative reaction to receiving insufficient “likes” were also more likely to experience symptoms of depression and had higher sensitivity to daily stressors.

According to coauthor Chris Beevers , a professor of psychology at UT Austin who leads the Institute for Mental Health Research, adolescents who feel less self-worth are at higher risk for depression. “Feedback from peers is an important source of information that shapes how adolescents view themselves.”

A third study showed that students who had been victimized by their peers at school had the most negative reactions to receiving fewer “likes” and also had the greatest propensity to attribute this lack of “likes” to flaws in their own character.

Developmental psychologists know that social status comes into sharp focus during the teenage years of human development, and adolescents are acutely aware of their relative popularity even in the absence of explicitly negative feedback.

“This study helps us understand the power of peer approval and social status during adolescence,” says the study’s lead author Hae Yeon Lee , who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University .

The authors note that social media has the potential to exacerbate feelings of rejection and inadequacy in adolescents, because those who rank lowest on the popularity hierarchy may come to social media hoping to receive the validation denied to them in their daily lives—only to experience the same disappointment of not measuring up to their peers.

“These results are striking, in part, because the adolescents aren’t getting bullied or harassed; they’re just not getting ‘liked’ as much as they want to be,” Yeager says. “And that’s leading them to show symptoms of depression.”

—Alex Reshanov, University of Texas at Austin

More in Society & Culture

Double-Tap Dopamine: The Science of Social Media Likes and Its Impact on Our Minds

Social media platforms have changed how we connect with people and create a trustable community for our brand. Especially visual platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and others have provided several opportunities to explore our creativity and share our experiences. You can share your knowledge or experience from your daily life and appreciate others’ content with the like feature on the social media app.

The tiny hearts on Instagram and other apps shows how much your post is appreciated. However, beneath this seemingly innocuous act of giving and receiving likes lies a powerful psychological phenomenon called “double-tap dopamine”. We are there to define the science behind social media likes, its influence on our brains, and its potential impact on mental health.

The neuroscience behind likes and dopamine

Before we dive into the psychology of social media addiction and how these social media likes impact individuals. We need to know the neurological underpinnings causing this behaviour in humans. 

The word dopamine is double as “feel good”, and the neurotransmitter is vital in giving our brain a pleasurable feeling. This happens when someone experiences something extraordinary or rewarding. For example, when someone appreciates us or rewards our efforts we feel pleasure because our brain releases dopamine.

The act of receiving likes on social media triggers a similar response. Every time we receive a like on a post, our brain releases dopamine, creating a sense of pleasure and satisfaction. This response establishes a reinforcing loop – the more likes we receive, the more dopamine is released, further encouraging us to seek validation through social media interactions. That’s the reason users buy TikTok likes and other services on different social media platforms.

The psychology of social validation

On social media, people feel pleasure when someone likes their post, which has become a fundamental need for humans to gain social validation. We often seek acceptance from others as it reinforces our sense of belonging and improves self-worth. Social media platforms capitalise on this innate desire by turning likes into a visible and quantifiable metric, publicly displaying the approval and popularity of a post or user.

That way, we create content that attracts maximum likes and positive feedback to improve our online presence. You might have noticed that some users even buy TikTok followers for mental satisfaction. At the same time, this need for external validation hurts self-esteem and affects individuals’ mental health on social media.

The downside of like culture

While social media likes can provide fleeting moments of joy, their overemphasis can lead to several adverse effects on mental health and well-being.

• Validation addiction. The constant pursuit of likes can become an addiction, where individuals become fixated on seeking approval through social media. This obsession can lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression if validation expectations are unmet.
• Social comparison and envy. Likes create an environment where users continuously compare themselves to others . This constant comparison can foster feelings of inadequacy and envy, as people may perceive their lives as less exciting or successful than others who receive more likes and attention.
• Fear of missing out (FOMO). Social media perpetuates the fear of missing out, as users might feel left out or disconnected if their posts do not receive as much engagement as others’. This fear can lead to compulsive checking of notifications and an unhealthy reliance on social media for self-validation.
• Shallow relationships. Pursuing likes can shift the focus from genuine connections to superficial interactions. People may prioritise crafting posts that appeal to a broader audience, sacrificing authenticity and meaningful conversations.
• Mitigating the impact. While social media likes can have detrimental effects, they are not inherently harmful. You need to know the use of things because the excessive usage of anything can make it wrong. Try to implement these effective strategies on your social media, and you’ll be able to build a healthier community online:
• Self-awareness. Be conscious of how social media affects your emotions and self-esteem. Take breaks from social media if you feel overwhelmed or find yourself seeking validation excessively.
• Authenticity over likes. Prioritise sharing content that reflects your true self, interests, and values. Genuine connections are more rewarding than fleeting likes.
• Limit screen time. Set boundaries on social media usage and allocate time for offline activities, hobbies, and face-to-face interactions.
• Positive engagement. Focus on engaging with others in a constructive and uplifting manner. Encourage meaningful conversations and support others rather than competing for likes.

Double-tap dopamine is a powerful force influencing our social media behaviour. While receiving likes can be enjoyable, an excessive emphasis on validation through likes can negatively impact our mental health and overall well-being. Understanding the neuroscience behind likes and being mindful of their effects can foster healthier habits and build more authentic connections in the digital age. The number of likes does not define your worth – your value as an individual extends far beyond the virtual world.

Tim Williamson , a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.  

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Studies prove the obsession with ‘likes’ on social media is unhealthy

Our readers have their say about the demise of sheikh sultan bin zayed, the effects of social media and materialism.

Instagram users in the UAE have noticed that likes are disappearing from the app. Reuters 

I write to you in reference to Farah Andrews' article Instagram has started hiding likes in the UAE (November 18): many studies have been conducted on the culture surrounding social media and the unhealthy obsession with "likes" and comparison to others online. A recent report from UK's Royal Society for Public Health and the Young Health Movement looked at the impact of different social media platforms on mental health. While there were some positives about accessing health information, the opportunity for self-expression and a feeling of community, the negative factors were heavy. Things like anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep quality and negative impact on body image were all reported.

Lilas Salaheddine, Abu Dhabi

Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed helped keep alive UAE’s cultural heritage

I write to you in reference to your article Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed, brother of President Sheikh Khalifa, dies (November 18): the demise of Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed is a great loss to the UAE and its people. Judging by the fact that his name was trending on social media, it is evident that the people will miss the second son of Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father. Sheikh Sultan did much for the country, especially with regard to its rich heritage. The Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Heritage Festival, of which he was a patron, included camel and saluki races, a camel beauty contest and traditional markets that sold handicrafts and hosted traditional activities. May his soul rest in peace.

K Ragavan, Bengaluru

A downside to materialism is our inability to build relationships

I write to you in reference to Daniel Sanderson's article New measures needed to combat materialism in UAE, study finds (November 6): one of the downsides to materialism is that we are happy in the company of inanimate objects. We become more reserved and increasingly resistant to the idea of socialising. This is mostly because of our excessive use of smartphones and a fascination to lead virtual lives. Some of us do not even know our neighbours. Perhaps we are busy in the hustle and bustle of life, trying to make both ends meet. But we are social animals and need to take time out to reach out to those who live in the physical spaces around us. We must work harder at building and preserving human relationships.

Mathew Litty, Dubai

Our Obsession with "Like"—Part 1

What are the real reasons behind pressing the like button.

Posted May 9, 2014

We've all done it — grazed through our Facebook news feed and updates, and impulsively hit "like."

But beyond the fact that it’s so easy to use, what exactly is it that we find so irresistible about this tiny, seemingly innocuous function? And why are we so compelled to like people, updates, and media online?

According to Facebook's Help Center, a like is “a way to give positive feedback or to connect with people you care about.” The giant recently released statistics indicating that over 65 million users like things daily, and although it’s generally more popular among younger users, people of all ages seem to enjoy pressing the like button.

The fact that it’s such a popular element of the platform’s functionality goes a long way in showing how important it is, both for the people sending it, and those of us receiving it.

What lies behind our obsession with like?

Like has become much more than just a positive reaction toward a post or update; it has evolved into a feedback toward the person her/himself. As a rule of thumb, the more likes you get, the more loved you’ll feel. In fact, according to anthropologist Krystal D'Costa, the like button has become so influential as a tool, that it can boost or shatter one’s ego — in effect, it has become "an extension of one's digital personal." Not only that, but other researchers have shown that like-based communication actually decreases the feeling of loneliness , as it conveys a sense of empathy and caring.

From the sender's perspective, sending a like can have the same effect as smiling or saying a kind word to someone. It is basically a really easy, low-cost way to communicate positive feedback.

So why do we like things? People send compliments on a daily basis for a whole range of reasons, including some rather more strategic ones such as wanting to appear nice, to ‘suck up’ to someone, or to gain something in return ("You look so nice today… Can I borrow your car?"). Complimenting a person is literally priceless — it doesn’t cost you anything and it can be accomplished with minimum effort. You don't even have to mean it — people love to receive compliments even if they are very much aware of its manipulative usage. In fact, taken to its extreme, paying a compliment is a 'legitimate' opportunity to lie, which is something that people subconsciously tend to enjoy doing from time to time.

Apart from transmitting a positive signal, the act of liking something is evidence of one's existence in the online realm. Comments affiliated with the like 'signature' actually constitute your reputation online, and liking the same things that others within our network already like reaffirms our connection with the group by identifying points we hold in common. And there is, of course, the hope that a favor will be reciprocated — I liked your post, now you have to like mine.

In recent years, the opportunity to like something or somebody has spread outside the boundaries of Facebook to other sites. One can press like after reading a news report, purchasing an accessory, or watching a movie. In these cases, liking something is an indication of the consumer's satisfaction with the product or content, in which the like becomes a way to communicate their views and thoughts to other virtual users that they’ve never met before.

Your likes reveal more about you than you think.

Aside from the positive psychological impact of the Facebook like, as a function it’s certainly not without its issues. In the Spring of 2013, a piece of research conducted by psychologists at Cambridge University blew the lid on how this easily accessible digital record of your behavior can be used (ultimately without your consent) to extract sensitive personal information about you — the kind of information that you might not even share with your closest friends.

In the study, over 58,000 volunteers consensually provided their Facebook likes, detailed demographic profiles, and the results of several psychometric tests. Using logistic/linear regression , the researchers were able to predict individual psycho-demographic profiles simply from their likes. In a nutshell, they found that your likes can reveal everything from your sexual orientation , personality traits and IQ , to your race, age and gender . They can predict your religious and political views, whether your parents are separated, how happy you are, and even whether you use addictive substances or not.

But, what drives people to like things outside the boundaries of Facebook’s walls if the action is not accompanied by a social reward? You will find out the answer in the second part of this blog.

Liraz Margalit, Ph.D., analyzes online consumer behavior, incorporating theory and academic research into a conceptual framework.

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• v.11; 2020 Jun

Narcissism and problematic social media use: A systematic literature review

Silvia casale.

a Department of Health Sciences, Psychology Unit, University of Florence, Via San Salvi 12, Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, Italy

Vanessa Banchi

b School of Psychology, University of Florence, Via della Torretta 16, 50135 Florence, Italy

• • Grandiose narcissism and problematic Facebook use are positively associated.
• • The grandiose narcissism–problematic Facebook use link is consistent across studies.
• • Narcissism might not have consistent effects across social media platforms.
• • The association between vulnerable narcissism and problematic social media use has been less investigated.

Introduction

The relationship between narcissism and social media use has been a topic of research since the advent of the first social media website. While numerous meta-analyses have been conducted to synthesize empirical evidence on the association between narcissism and typical online behaviors (e.g., uploading photos and usage frequency), evidence on the association between narcissism and Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) has not yet been systematized. The current study represents the first systematic review on this topic.

Electronic literature databases, including the Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and EMBASE, were searched to identify studies that examined the relationship between narcissism and PSMU. We found 14 empirical studies on narcissism and PSMU. Additionally, seven studies focused on the association with Problematic Facebook Use (PFU).

Consistent results were reported regarding the positive and significant association between grandiose narcissism and PFU (0.13 < r < 0.32). The only two studies that included a vulnerable narcissism measure reported a positive and significant correlation with PFU as well. Studies that did not distinguish between different online platforms (i.e., those measuring PSMU) reported less consistent results.

Conclusions

The results generally revealed that narcissism might be involved in PFU, but it might not have consistent effects across social media platforms. The assessment of problematic social media use without distinguishing different platforms might not individuate narcissists' preferences and risks. However, our findings need to be interpreted with caution not only due to the relatively small number of studies on this topic but also because 19 studies out 21 used a cross-sectional design.

1. Introduction

The use of social media has markedly increased over the past few years. The number of users of online social networking sites (SNSs) worldwide stood at approximately 2.46 billion in 2017, and it is estimated that there will be around 3.09 billion social media users around the globe by the end of 2021 ( Statista, 2020 ). In October 2019, Facebook (FB) alone had 2.45 billion monthly active users. Instagram (IG) has recently surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, the vast majority of whom are using it on a daily basis ( Statista, 2020 ).

Although social media platforms bring many benefits to their users, concerns have been raised about the potential adverse consequences of frequent social network activity ( Müller et al., 2016 ), especially for mental and social well-being. A systematic review of 65 studies ( Frost & Rickwood, 2017 ) has found positive associations between intensive FB use and symptoms of key psychiatric disorders (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms, body image dissatisfaction, and disordered eating). Some researchers (e.g., Kuss, 2017 ) also argue that the excessive use of social media might be linked to a behavioural addiction, which in extreme cases may manifest itself in symptoms and consequences traditionally associated with substance-related addictions (e.g., salience, tolerance, mood regulation, withdrawal, conflict, relapse). Some other researchers (see, for example, Carbonell & Panova, 2017 ) argue against classifying Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) as a psychiatric disorder, as repeated and persistent use of SNSs might result from a temporary coping strategy as an expected response to common stressors or losses (see Billieux et al., 2017 , Kardefelt-Winther, 2017 ). Therefore, the lack of consistency underlying the broader concept of PSMU makes it difficult to establish a sole definition of this phenomenon (e.g., Caci, Cardaci, Scrima, & Tabacchi, 2017 ) as well as to use the same assessment tool for assessing the problematic use of social media ( Pontes, Kuss, & Griffiths, 2015 ). The different approach and terms that have been used include (a) “Social media addiction,” “Pathological Social media use,” and “Social media disorder” used when the criteria of addiction (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse) have been considered; (b) “Problematic Social media Use” or “Problematic use of Internet communicative services” in order to not over-pathologize daily life activities; this includes both addictive-like symptoms (i.e., deficient self-regulation) and specific features such as the preference for online social interaction, which lead to the use of social media to regulate negative feelings ( Caplan, 2010 ). The same conceptual frameworks have also been applied to the excessive use of specific social media platforms (i.e., Facebook), albeit sometimes some specific terms have also been introduced. The term “Facebook intrusion” was first introduced by Elphinston and Noller (2011) to indicate an “excessive attachment to Facebook, which interferes with day-to-day activities and with relationship functioning” (p.631), and it is based on Brown’s behavioral addiction components ( 1997 ). In fact, Problematic Facebook Use (PFU) has been often considered as a distinct behaviour happening on the Internet but with specific characteristics and psychological issues involved, and it has been conceptualized and analyzed per se (see Marino, Gini, Vieno, & Spada, 2018 ).

Despite the different approaches and some conflicting positions on whether problematic SNSs use can be classified as a disorder, there is no doubt that a subset of SNSs users show a preference for computer mediated interactions and experience certain negative consequences because of their excessive use of these sites, as shown by the available empirical evidence (e.g., Casale, Fioravanti, & Caplan, 2015 ). For this reason, many efforts have been made in the last twenty years to gain an understanding of the psycho-social factors that might be implicated in developing PSMU.

1.1. Narcissism and PSMU

PSMU can be shaped by many factors. Personality is arguably a key individual difference variable that has been shown to play an important role in the initiation, development, and maintenance of addictive behaviors (see Andreassen et al., 2013 , Grant et al., 2010 ). Since the various definitions of PSMU, albeit different, agree on including addictive-like symptoms, various studies (e.g., Wang, Ho, Chan, & Tse, 2015 ) have examined the role of personality traits—generally categorized according to the Five-Factor Model. A recent meta -analysis focused on PFU ( Marino et al., 2018 ) that included 56 independent samples with a total of 27.867 participants (59.22% females) found a low positive correlation [ r  = 0.22; 95% CI [0.19, 0.26], k =  0.16, Z = 10.96, p < .001] with neuroticism and an even lower negative correlation [r = 0.16; 95% CI [-0.21, 0.09], k = . 15, Z = 4.82, p < .001] with conscientiousness. Also, the above-mentioned meta-analysis has shown that needs motivating Facebook use had the strongest association with PFU. On the one hand, this result suggests that the Big Five conceptualization of personality might not be helpful in understanding this specific type of problematic behaviour. On the other hand, this result suggests that the tendency to satisfy needs through the use of social media needs to be taken into account, in keeping with various relevant theoretical perspectives (e.g., the Uses and Gratification Theory by Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974 ; the dual factor-model of Facebook use by Nadkarni & Hofmann, 2012 ).

In light of both theories and empirical evidence, research on narcissism and social media use has been especially popular in recent years (see, for example, Bergman, Fearrington, Davenport, & Bergman, 2011 ), since it seems that the social media context offers an ideal communicative environment to satisfy narcissistic needs. Below we describe the definition of narcissism used in the present manuscript as well the theoretical reasons for why narcissism has been receiving growing scholarly attention in the social media literature in the last ten years.

Trait narcissism is considered a dimensional personality trait that consists of a grandiose self-concept as well as behaviors intended to maintain this self-concept in the face of reality (e.g., Emmons, 1984 , Morf and Rhodewalt, 2001 ). Distinct from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ), trait narcissism exists in the nonpathological population. Narcissists—a term we use as a shorthand for those scoring higher on inventories of narcissistic personality—can be divided into grandiose narcissists (GNs) and vulnerable narcissists (VNs). The existence of two forms of narcissism was first conceptualized and examined by Wink (1991) , and a portion of the psychology literature ( Hendin & Cheek, 1997 ) has confirmed the existence of these two types. Grandiose narcissism (GN) reflects traits related to grandiosity, aggression, and dominance, while vulnerable narcissism (VN) is largely marked by hypersensitivity to the opinions of others, an intense desire for approval, and defensiveness ( Dickinson & Pincus, 2003 ). Despite these differences, grandiose and vulnerable narcissism share some core traits, such as a sense of entitlement, grandiose fantasies, and the need for admiration ( Dickinson and Pincus, 2003 , Pincus et al., 2009 ).

Special emphasis has been placed on the theoretical speculation that social media are ideal environments for achieving narcissistic goals. In fact, various attributes of SNSs make them seem an ideal tool for displaying grandiosity and receiving desired attention ( Barry & McDougall, 2018 ). First, SNSs provide greater control over self-presentation, compared to face-to-face interactions, rendering them a useful venue for the development of strategic interpersonal behaviors, many of which are used by narcissists to construct and maintain a carefully considered self-image ( Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001 ). Second, social media use allows individuals to advertise their successes to a large audience, while also obtaining highly visible rewards and recognition through “likes” and positive comments from other social media users ( Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffith, 2017 ). Moreover, given the rise of SNS use on mobile devices, SNSs are accessible at all times and in all places. This implies that narcissists can both curate, manage, and promote an online “self” throughout the day and obtain frequent feedback on their efforts. For these reasons, some scholars (e.g., Ksinan & Vazsonyi, 2016 ) have recently begun to argue that high levels of narcissism might not only be associated with peculiar online behaviors (i.e., higher frequency of photo uploading) but also lead to problematic use (e.g., deficient self-regulation) and subsequent negative outcomes. That is, narcissists might become addicted to the unique communicative environment offered by social media because it is conducive the fulfilment of their self-enhancement needs. Previous studies examining the association between narcissistic traits and PSMU have shown opposite findings or, at least, inconsistent results. For example, whereas some studies have found a clear positive association between grandiose narcissism and PSMU (e.g., Andreassen et al., 2017 ), other studies have found relatively weak associations (e.g., Casale & Fioravanti, 2018 ) and no attempts have been made to systematically review the available evidence.

1.2. Aims of the review

To our knowledge, there is no systematic review on the association between the two forms of narcissism and PSMU. Existing reviews include: (a) a meta-analysis of studies ( Liu & Baumeister, 2016 ) on the association between the grandiose form and SNS activities (i.e., status updates, posting photographs, interacting with others, commenting on others’ posts, and total friends); (b) a meta-analysis ( Gnambs & Appel, 2018 ) on the links between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and social networking behaviours (e.g., uploading photos and usage frequency); (c) a systematic review ( Moor & Anderson, 2019 ) on how the dark triad/tetrad relate to antisocial online behaviors (e.g., trolling behaviors); (d) a meta-analytic review ( McCain & Campbell, 2018 ) of studies on both forms of narcissism and social media use (e.g., time spent on social media and number of selfies uploaded); and (e) a meta-analytic review focused on FB use ( Carvalho & Pianowski, 2017 ), which found a moderate effect size using number of FB friends and narcissism measures.

Especially the meta-analyses by Gnambs and Appel, 2018 , McCain and Campbell, 2018 are pertinent to the current study because both assessed time spent on social media. Both meta-analyses found grandiose narcissism to have a significant—albeit small—effect on social media usage intensity. Conversely, non-significant results were reported regarding the association with vulnerable narcissism. These two meta-analyses offer initial insights into how narcissistic traits might account not only for variations in the frequency of “normal” online behaviors (e.g., posting selfies) but also for excessive social media use. However, scholars in the field agree that time spent on social media is not necessarily indicative of problematic use for a number of reasons (see Caplan, 2010 , Griffiths, 2010 ). First, social media use is widespread especially among young adults, who tend to report intensive use of social media without experiencing any negative outcomes. According to Caplan (2003) , problematic use has more to do with the negative outcomes and with the deficient impulse control than with the excessive use. Second, whereas it is very likely that social media users who exhibit problematic use of these platforms tend to excessively use the Internet, the intense or prolonged use per se does not imply addictive symptoms ( Griffiths, 2010 ) or problematic behaviour. Finally, people who intensively use social media may not present all the behavioural addiction criteria that need to be simultaneously fulfilled in order to classify a behaviour as problematic ( Griffiths, 2009 ).

This consensus has led scholars in the field to not adopt time spent online as an indicator of problematic behaviour and to rely on broader and more exhaustive conceptualizations of the phenomenon (see Caplan, 2010 ). Despite the different approaches and terminology, there is consensus about the fact that a tendency to use social media to regulate negative emotions, an obsessive thinking pattern, deficient self-regulation, and negative outcomes related to one’s own use of social media need to be present in order to deem the use of social media as problematic (see Caplan, 2010 , Griffiths, 2010 ). In this paper, we present a systematic literature review that synthesizes the available evidence on the relationship between the two forms of narcissism and PSMU conceptualized as a multidimensional phenomenon.

This systematic literature review is guided by the Cochrane method, and the search method and findings are presented in accordance with the relevant sections of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines ( Higgins and Green, 2011 , Moher et al., 2009 ). The protocol used to conduct this review is detailed below.

2.1. Eligibility criteria

Studies were included in the systematic literature review based on the following inclusion criteria: they must (a) quantitatively examine and report the relationship between grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism or both, on the one hand, and problematic use of social media or specific social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), on the other hand; (b) use a multidimensional conceptualization of PSMU; (c) be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal; and (d) be available in English.

This systematic literature review has a focus on narcissism and PSMU at the subclinical level rather than at the clinical level in order to increase the generalizability of the findings, as understanding personality and behaviors as traits allows for greater flexibility and a deeper understanding (see Haslam, Holland, & Kuppens, 2012 ). Moreover, the vast majority of the studies in the social media field has been conducted with non-clinical populations.

2.2. Information sources and search strategies

The following databases were searched in June 2019: PsycINFO, Medline Complete, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection. The search strategy was tested and refined prior to the formal search. More specifically, a search string or subject term related to narcissism was combined with a PSMU-related search string or subject term, using Boolean operators. No limits were added to the database searches. To identify eligible publications the following combinations of key words were entered in the databases’ topic/subject search fields: “Narcissism” or “Egotism” or “Inflated self-esteem” AND “Social media addiction” or “Social media problematic use” or “Social media disorder” or “Social media abuse” or “Social media misuse” or “Social media compulsive use” or “Compulsive Use of Social Media” or “Excessive Social Media use” or “Facebook addiction” or “Facebook problematic use” or “Facebook disorder” or “Facebook abuse” or “Facebook misuse” or “Facebook intrusion” or “Facebool overuse,” or “Compulsive Facebook use” or “Excessive Facebook use”.

2.3. Study quality

The search strategy was applied to each database, and the identified records were downloaded and merged into a single EndNote library. Duplicate articles (i.e., those identified by the search strategy in multiple databases) were eliminated, then the titles and abstracts of the records were double screened. Two reviewers (SC and VB) checked the titles, abstracts, and full-texts of the initial search results independently. Those articles deemed ineligible by both reviewers (based on their title and abstracts) were excluded. The search selection process is detailed in Fig. 1 . The studies were critically appraised using the AXIS tool, a quality assessment tool for observational cross-sectional studies ( Downes, Brennan, Williams, & Dean, 2016 ). The tool comprises 21 items for which there are three response options (“yes,” “no,” or “don’t know”) to assess study quality and reporting transparency (with “yes” scored as 1, and “no” or “don’t know” scored as 0). A quality score out of 21 is then generated. It is worth noting that the tool allows each study to be assigned a score, but the interpretation of these scores is subjective. We used the following guidelines, which are already in use ( Moor & Anderson, 2019 ): scores indicating low quality = 1–7; scores indicating medium quality = 8–14; scores indicating high quality = 15–20). The quality score for each study identified by this systematic review is presented in Table 2 and Table 3 , and any additional comments on study quality are presented throughout the results.

PRISMA flowchart depicting the study selection process.

Studies on narcissism and PSMU included in the review (n = 14).

Studies about narcissism and PFU included in the review (n = 7).

3.1. Study characteristics

The initial search yielded a total of 1213 documents. After the title and the abstract were doubled screened, 17 fit the inclusion criteria. Four additional papers were identified with a manual search of the reference list of the key studies.

All the 21 articles were published between 2015 and 2019, thus reflecting the recent and increasing scientific interest on this research topic. Nineteen studies were cross-sectional and two were longitudinal. Three studies were conducted in Germany, three in Turkey, two in Poland, two in Italy, two in Malaysia, three in Korea, and one each in Norway, the Netherlands, China, Pakistan, Australia, and India. Undergraduate students were the most commonly used samples (n = 14), four studies used convenient community samples, one study used a sample of high school students, one study focused on employees, and one study used a sample of inpatients with psychological disorders. The grandiose form of narcissism was assessed in 18 out of the 21 studies whereas the vulnerable form of narcissism was assessed in six out of the 21 studies. 14 articles assessed the association between narcissism and generalized PSMU, whereas the other seven were focused on PFU. Table 1 shows the measures used by the studies included in the review.

Measures used in the studies (n = 21) included in the review.

3.2. Main findings

Results concerning the association between grandiose narcissism and generalized PSMU appear to be inconsistent across the studies ( Table 2 ). Seven studies reported a significant positive correlation ranging from r  = 0.06 ( Andreassen et al., 2017 ) to r  = 0.38 ( Liu & Ma, 2018 ). In keeping with these results, Hawk, van den Eijnden, van Lissa, and ter Bogt (2019) found that adolescents’ grandiose narcissism scores predicted social media addiction total score via attention seeking one year later. Conversely, four studies did not find a significant correlation at the bivariate level, and one study did not find significant differences between GNs and non-narcissists in PSMU scores. The three studies investigating vulnerable narcissism and PSMU reported a significant moderate positive association ( r  = 0.45 by Lee, 2017 ; r  = 0.48 by Liu & Ma, 2018 ; and r  = 0.40 by Shin, Lee, Chyung, Kim, & Jung, 2016 ). Similarly, a study comparing vulnerable narcissists and non-narcissists found the former to have significantly higher scores on a PSMU measure relative to both non grandiose and non-narcissists ( Casale, Fioravanti, Rugai, Flett, & Hewitt, 2016 ).

More consistent results were found when research focused on PFU ( Table 3 ) in that all seven studies found significant positive correlations with narcissism, be it grandiose or vulnerable. The association with the grandiose form, which was assessed in six out seven studies, ranged from r = 0.13 to r = 032. The association with the vulnerable form, which was assessed in two studies, ranged from r = 0.20 to r = 0.25.

4. Discussion

The aim of this review was to examine and critically appraise the existing quantitative research on narcissism and PSMU to increase our understanding of this relationship. First, two different trends emerged: some authors did not distinguish between different online media (i.e., PSMU was defined as a generalized difficulty in regulating one’s own use of various social media) whereas some others focused on PFU. On the one hand, this might indicate a tendency to consider PFU as a distinct behaviour that deserves to be conceptualized and analyzed as a single construct ( Marino et al., 2018 ). On the other hand, it is not possible to rule out that some studies focused on FB simply because it was the only available online social network till some time ago and still is the most commonly used social networking online medium ( Statista, 2020 ).

Consistent results were found regarding the positive and significant association between grandiose narcissism and PFU, and the only two studies that included a vulnerable narcissism measure reported a positive and significant correlation as well. Conversely, studies investigating PSMU use as a unitary category (i.e., studies that did not distinguish between different online platforms) reported less consistent results. This result implies that narcissism might not have consistent effects across social media platforms, and some key differences between the platforms might exist. In other words, one possibility is that different SNSs differ in the extent to which they facilitate the narcissistic needs satisfaction, which, in turn, has been found to be associated with problematic use (see Casale & Fioravanti, 2018 ). For example, Twitter differs from Facebook in certain functional ways. Facebook, in particular, has been described as “an ideal tool for self-promotion as users can frequently post status updates, comments or photos of themselves and reasonably expect timely and frequent positive feedback” ( Panek, Nardis, & Konrath, 2013, p . 2006). Differently from Facebook, Twitter may not be as good a tool for self-promotion, as it limits the length of tweets to 140 characters ( Davenport, Bergman, Bergman, & Fearrington, 2014 ). Also, Twitter allows users greater anonymity than Facebook, which may privilege the content of one’s message over one’s projected identity, and research has shown that Twitter use is driven primarily by interest for entertainment news, celebrity news, and sports news ( Hargittai & Litt, 2011 ). The current findings confirm that FB might be particularly appealing to both grandiose and vulnerable narcissists in that the current review shows that it is more likely for narcissists to be at risk for PFU than at a risk for a more general difficulty in regulating one’s own use of online social media. Moreover, the findings of the present systematic review suggest that future research should make hypotheses specific to different social media platforms since the lack of specification regarding the type of sites included under the umbrella of “social networking” might elide important differences in people’s motivations for using SNSs ( Davenport et al., 2014 ).

Although this first systematic review makes important contributions to understanding the relations between the need to satisfy narcissistic needs and problematic use of online social platforms, there are limitations that need to be kept in mind. First, this review relied almost exclusively on concurrent associations. Unfortunately, this research field is still dominated by cross-sectional studies, which hamper the possibility to establish the direction of the association between narcissism and PSMU. The only two studies that collected data at multiple points have reported that grandiose narcissism predicts PSMU ( Hawk et al., 2019 ) and PFU ( Brailovskaia & Margraf, 2017 ) one year later. Longitudinal studies are especially needed in this field because it is impossible to rule out the possibility that problematic use of SNSs reinforces the very issues that led to its use in the first place ( Slater, 2007 ), thereby helping to sustain those particular narcissistic needs and desired gratifications. Although narcissism is often conceptualized as a stable trait, some researchers have suggested that narcissism and social media use are mutually reinforcing. Halpern, Valenzuela, and Katz (2016) , for example, conducted a cross-lagged analysis of a two-wave, panel survey in order to determine whether narcissists take selfies as an outlet for maintaining their positive self-views or whether selfies increase their levels of narcissism. Their findings point toward the presence of a self-reinforcement effect by which narcissism influences selfie production, which, in turn, increases the levels of narcissism reported by users over time. Moreover, longitudinal investigations would be able to answer the question whether such relations tend to remain stable over time, or whether they change in strength in different life periods. In addition, the majority of the studies involved convenience samples made up entirely by college students (n = 14), and only one study ( Andreassen et al., 2017 ) reported efforts to ensure the sample being nationally representative. Finally, it is noteworthy that only one study (i.e., Brailovskaia, Margraf, & Köllner, 2019 ) was conducted with a sample composed of a non-general population sample. Future studies should pay more attention to clinical samples as well as to adolescents, since high-school students are the population more involved in online social platforms. Future research should also pay attention to potential moderators of the relationship bewteen the two forms of narcissism and PSMU. Previous studies highlighted that online social media allow greater control over self-presentation, and this means that they might be particularly appealing for those narcissists who search for admiration by projecting a perfect image (i.e. perfectionistic self-presentation might moderate the association between narcissism and PSMU; see Casale et al., 2016 ).

Beyond these limitations, the current findings have both theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical point of view, they highlight one of the potential psychological risk factors for problematic use of online social platforms, particularly Fb. From the practical point of view, they highlight that it is important for clinicians and counselors to evaluate and address the needs that narcissists try to meet through the use of FB, in order to also reduce the behavioural symptoms of Fb addiction. In fact, according to the already mentioned Uses and Gratifications different people can use the same medium for very different purposes. This might imply that treatments that focus on the behavioral dimensions of PSMU (e.g., the lack of control on one's own use) without addressing those needs that led to the problematic use in the first place are less likely to be effective.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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• Miscellaneous
• Social Media

Why Do We Get So Obsessed With ‘Likes’ On Social Media?

In recent years, online social platforms have become essential to our everyday life. It is hard to imagine a person in 2020 who is not aware of the existence of these networks. They have completely transformed the way people communicate, make a living, and learn new information. People have become famous and earning a decent living through social media platforms. While some achieve this through hard work and organic growth, many influencers buy Instagram likes $1 to increase profile visits and overall exposure rates.

Instagram has superseded family albums, Twitter works as a personal diary, and YouTube can serve as the tool for self-realization. Social media-based small businesses experience much faster and bigger profits than ever before and can compete with established brands.

What is the recipe for the success we are witnessing online? How have the media created hooks that grabbed onto the majority of the planet’s population? This question has quite a simple answer: people love expressing themselves and receiving feedback to grow their self-esteem. Interestingly, the number of likes a person receives tends to correlate with their feeling of self-worth. Social platforms allow you to share your experience and opinions on anything and everything, directly to anyone and everyone you want to reach. Just as importantly, they allow you to receive instant feedback on your thoughts through the simple yet elegant and effective tool that is the “like” button.

People who are able to gross more likes are likely to become influencers. In that role, they can represent the voice of a certain group and gather strong communities online. Basically, that is how popularity works in the twenty-first century.

Social media-based small businesses experience much faster and bigger profits than ever before and can compete with established brands with scheduling posts with Facebook post scheduler .

SO WHY DO PEOPLE USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social platforms have become a universal tool for making your voice sound louder and your personality shine brighter. In general, people use social networks to:

● Share and receive information they regard valuable or products that proved valuable to them ● Feel involved in global matters ● Keep in touch with family and friends ● Create and develop their public image ● Demonstrate their beliefs, social positions, and relationship status ● Get a sense of fulfillment by receiving instant feedback (likes, comments, etc.)

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT LIKES?

Unlike commenting options, likes are a much more interesting and suitable way to express our opinions in the modern world. We live in an enormous swirl of different information within an endless variety of topics. Likes represent the way of living that is relevant for most of us now—a fast, along-the-way reaction to the loads of things happening around us. They are now a universal symbol of support of one’s social position and convictions.

Thus, the main goal of any user on any social platform is to gather as many likes for Threads  as possible to make the network algorithms work. Simply put, more likes equals faster and more productive spread of a persona. The same goes for businesses too.

In this pursuit of higher ratings, many people are also using boosters for their account. The most common example would be the paid services for automatic likes on Instagram or Facebook. They provide the opportunity to increase your popularity more quickly.

WHY ARE LIKES SO ADDICTIVE?

In the modern world, grossing likes has become a sort of drug. That is because it activates a boost of the hormone called dopamine, which you also get from eating chocolate or winning a lottery. Just like fast food, being popular online creates a cycle of reward which makes you crave more. A famous study investigated the impact of social media on users’ brains; among other conclusions, it showed that when people see a post with a large number of likes, they engage more with it, even if it is published by a complete stranger. This effect is usually called “follow the crowd logic.”

HOW ARE LIKES AFFECTING INDIVIDUALS?

Getting a big number of likes boosts self-esteem and is a benchmark for achievement. We become proud of ourselves, because the likes we achieve are equal to social approval. This feeling is very addictive, and sometimes people get really carried away with it.

The simplicity of sharing our lives with strangers is erasing the borders of intimacy. People not only share good parts of their lives but sad ones as well. It may create a negative reaction, but it may also have a useful effect: Sometimes sharing a bad experience can help others with similar experiences cope. Other users, though they may be strangers, can show their support and provide comfort. By pressing the “like” button, people can reach out to each other.

GREAT NUMBERS EQUALS GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

The impact of social media is huge, and besides the positive feelings of self-fulfillment and high self-esteem, it also creates and enhances serious negative phenomenons.

The key concerns:

● Cyberbullying and hatred. The Internet is not always a safe space, especially for young adults and children. Your personal information made public may be mocked or underestimated, or even used for threats or provocation. People can be much more rude and cruel online than in real life because they feel anonymous and free of moral stoppers. Cyberbullying can lead to dire consequences.

● Fakes and lies. Social platforms provide a wide and fast circulation of information. It is a great advantage and disadvantage at the same time. Social media serves the good for different events or urgent situations, but it spreads misinformation and panic as well. Any unreliable information can quickly transform into widely approved belief, so one must always check the sources behind newly circulating information.

● Cybercrime. The rate of cybercrime, like identity theft, stalking, and misuse of personal information, has severely increased due to users’ carelessness as regards their privacy. Many people realize that they have shared something that should not be public when it is too late. Also, terrorist organizations are using social media for propaganda purposes and recruiting new members.

● Degradation and fear of real-life communication. With the growth of online dating and communication, some have started avoiding real-life contact. Humans tend toward laziness, and the possibility of keeping in touch with everyone without as much effort is appealing. As a result, more and more people are ending up lonely and depressed instead of having an actual social life.

● Low productivity. Many corporations block access to social networking sites because they cause employees to get distracted from their work. We lose track of time when scrolling our newsfeeds.

● Exaggerated dependence on other people’s opinions and crooked terms of perfection. As mentioned above, a big number of likes is equal to society’s approval. Self-concept is now more affected by comparison based on the physical or social attributes of other people. This fact makes many of us, especially young adults, engage in pursuit after the illusion of perfection. They try to correspond to social demands, which can never be completely objective because everyone is different and has their own idea of ideal appearance, behavior, and everything else. Failing to fulfill the requirements set by popular influencers leads to low self-esteem, anxiety, and in severe cases, to mental and physical disorders like anorexia or self-harm.

IN CONCLUSION

In the modern world we cannot ignore the impact of social media on our lives. The growth of social platforms is changing the lifestyle of the whole planet.

Obsession with likes is not a serious disease of a particular nation. Technology and its development is not a problem. The wish to nurture your self-esteem and cope with anxiety by getting more likes is not a problem. The problem is that people get carried away and start replacing real-life achievements with the virtual illusion of self-worth.

In order to break the addiction to likes, all society should work on it. The balance between virtual and real-life has to be reviewed and promoted via social platforms for the health of our future as human beings.

Tagged with: Facebook , Instagram , social media , Twitter