Some socially poor but also some socially rich adolescents feel closer to their friends after using social media

Who benefits most from using social media is an important societal question that is centered around two opposing hypotheses: the rich-get-richer versus the poor-get-richer hypothesis. This study investigated the assumption that both hypotheses may be true, but only for some socially rich and some so...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 21176 - 15
Main Authors: Pouwels, J. Loes, Valkenburg, Patti M., Beyens, Ine, van Driel, Irene I., Keijsers, Loes
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.10.2021
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
631/477
631/477/2811
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior
Adolescents
Female
Friends - psychology
Friendship
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Hypotheses
Internet Use - statistics & numerical data
Loneliness
Male
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social Behavior
Social Media - statistics & numerical data
Social networks
Teenagers
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Who benefits most from using social media is an important societal question that is centered around two opposing hypotheses: the rich-get-richer versus the poor-get-richer hypothesis. This study investigated the assumption that both hypotheses may be true, but only for some socially rich and some socially poor adolescents and across different time intervals. We employed a state-of-the-art measurement burst design, consisting of a three-week experience sampling study and seven biweekly follow-up surveys. Person-specific analyses of more than 70,000 observations from 383 adolescents revealed that 12% of the socially rich adolescents (high in friendship support or low in loneliness) felt closer to their friends after using social media, as opposed to about 25% of the socially poor adolescents (low in friendship support or high in loneliness). However, only 1 to 6% of all adolescents (socially rich and poor) felt closer both in the short- and longer-term. These results indicate that the rich-get-richer and the poor-get-richer hypotheses can hold both, but for different adolescents.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-99034-0