Passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being: Experimental and longitudinal evidence

Prior research indicates that Facebook usage predicts declines in subjective well-being over time. How does this come about? We examined this issue in 2 studies using experimental and field methods. In Study 1, cueing people in the laboratory to use Facebook passively (rather than actively) led to d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. General Vol. 144; no. 2; p. 480
Main Authors: Verduyn, Philippe, Lee, David Seungjae, Park, Jiyoung, Shablack, Holly, Orvell, Ariana, Bayer, Joseph, Ybarra, Oscar, Jonides, John, Kross, Ethan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 01.04.2015
Subjects:
Adult
Affect - physiology
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Personal Satisfaction
Social Media
Young Adult
ISSN:1939-2222, 1939-2222
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:Prior research indicates that Facebook usage predicts declines in subjective well-being over time. How does this come about? We examined this issue in 2 studies using experimental and field methods. In Study 1, cueing people in the laboratory to use Facebook passively (rather than actively) led to declines in affective well-being over time. Study 2 replicated these findings in the field using experience-sampling techniques. It also demonstrated how passive Facebook usage leads to declines in affective well-being: by increasing envy. Critically, the relationship between passive Facebook usage and changes in affective well-being remained significant when controlling for active Facebook use, non-Facebook online social network usage, and direct social interactions, highlighting the specificity of this result. These findings demonstrate that passive Facebook usage undermines affective well-being.
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ISSN:1939-2222
1939-2222
DOI:10.1037/xge0000057