negative effects of social media essay example

Feb 15, 2023

6 Example Essays on Social Media | Advantages, Effects, and Outlines

Got an essay assignment about the effects of social media we got you covered check out our examples and outlines below.

Social media has become one of our society's most prominent ways of communication and information sharing in a very short time. It has changed how we communicate and has given us a platform to express our views and opinions and connect with others. It keeps us informed about the world around us. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn have brought individuals from all over the world together, breaking down geographical borders and fostering a genuinely global community.

However, social media comes with its difficulties. With the rise of misinformation, cyberbullying, and privacy problems, it's critical to utilize these platforms properly and be aware of the risks. Students in the academic world are frequently assigned essays about the impact of social media on numerous elements of our lives, such as relationships, politics, and culture. These essays necessitate a thorough comprehension of the subject matter, critical thinking, and the ability to synthesize and convey information clearly and succinctly.

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We will provide various examples of social media essays so you may get a feel for the genre.

6 Examples of Social Media Essays

Here are 6 examples of Social Media Essays:

The Impact of Social Media on Relationships and Communication

Introduction:.

The way we share information and build relationships has evolved as a direct result of the prevalence of social media in our daily lives. The influence of social media on interpersonal connections and conversation is a hot topic. Although social media has many positive effects, such as bringing people together regardless of physical proximity and making communication quicker and more accessible, it also has a dark side that can affect interpersonal connections and dialogue.

Positive Effects:

Connecting People Across Distances

One of social media's most significant benefits is its ability to connect individuals across long distances. People can use social media platforms to interact and stay in touch with friends and family far away. People can now maintain intimate relationships with those they care about, even when physically separated.

Improved Communication Speed and Efficiency

Additionally, the proliferation of social media sites has accelerated and simplified communication. Thanks to instant messaging, users can have short, timely conversations rather than lengthy ones via email. Furthermore, social media facilitates group communication, such as with classmates or employees, by providing a unified forum for such activities.

Negative Effects:

Decreased Face-to-Face Communication

The decline in in-person interaction is one of social media's most pernicious consequences on interpersonal connections and dialogue. People's reliance on digital communication over in-person contact has increased along with the popularity of social media. Face-to-face interaction has suffered as a result, which has adverse effects on interpersonal relationships and the development of social skills.

Decreased Emotional Intimacy

Another adverse effect of social media on relationships and communication is decreased emotional intimacy. Digital communication lacks the nonverbal cues and facial expressions critical in building emotional connections with others. This can make it more difficult for people to develop close and meaningful relationships, leading to increased loneliness and isolation.

Increased Conflict and Miscommunication

Finally, social media can also lead to increased conflict and miscommunication. The anonymity and distance provided by digital communication can lead to misunderstandings and hurtful comments that might not have been made face-to-face. Additionally, social media can provide a platform for cyberbullying , which can have severe consequences for the victim's mental health and well-being.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the impact of social media on relationships and communication is a complex issue with both positive and negative effects. While social media platforms offer many benefits, such as connecting people across distances and enabling faster and more accessible communication, they also have a dark side that can negatively affect relationships and communication. It is up to individuals to use social media responsibly and to prioritize in-person communication in their relationships and interactions with others.

The Role of Social Media in the Spread of Misinformation and Fake News

Social media has revolutionized the way information is shared and disseminated. However, the ease and speed at which data can be spread on social media also make it a powerful tool for spreading misinformation and fake news. Misinformation and fake news can seriously affect public opinion, influence political decisions, and even cause harm to individuals and communities.

The Pervasiveness of Misinformation and Fake News on Social Media

Misinformation and fake news are prevalent on social media platforms, where they can spread quickly and reach a large audience. This is partly due to the way social media algorithms work, which prioritizes content likely to generate engagement, such as sensational or controversial stories. As a result, false information can spread rapidly and be widely shared before it is fact-checked or debunked.

The Influence of Social Media on Public Opinion

Social media can significantly impact public opinion, as people are likelier to believe the information they see shared by their friends and followers. This can lead to a self-reinforcing cycle, where misinformation and fake news are spread and reinforced, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

The Challenge of Correcting Misinformation and Fake News

Correcting misinformation and fake news on social media can be a challenging task. This is partly due to the speed at which false information can spread and the difficulty of reaching the same audience exposed to the wrong information in the first place. Additionally, some individuals may be resistant to accepting correction, primarily if the incorrect information supports their beliefs or biases.

In conclusion, the function of social media in disseminating misinformation and fake news is complex and urgent. While social media has revolutionized the sharing of information, it has also made it simpler for false information to propagate and be widely believed. Individuals must be accountable for the information they share and consume, and social media firms must take measures to prevent the spread of disinformation and fake news on their platforms.

The Effects of Social Media on Mental Health and Well-Being

Social media has become an integral part of modern life, with billions of people around the world using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay connected with others and access information. However, while social media has many benefits, it can also negatively affect mental health and well-being.

Comparison and Low Self-Esteem

One of the key ways that social media can affect mental health is by promoting feelings of comparison and low self-esteem. People often present a curated version of their lives on social media, highlighting their successes and hiding their struggles. This can lead others to compare themselves unfavorably, leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

Cyberbullying and Online Harassment

Another way that social media can negatively impact mental health is through cyberbullying and online harassment. Social media provides a platform for anonymous individuals to harass and abuse others, leading to feelings of anxiety, fear, and depression.

Social Isolation

Despite its name, social media can also contribute to feelings of isolation. At the same time, people may have many online friends but need more meaningful in-person connections and support. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and depression.

Addiction and Overuse

Finally, social media can be addictive, leading to overuse and negatively impacting mental health and well-being. People may spend hours each day scrolling through their feeds, neglecting other important areas of their lives, such as work, family, and self-care.

In sum, social media has positive and negative consequences on one's psychological and emotional well-being. Realizing this, and taking measures like reducing one's social media use, reaching out to loved ones for help, and prioritizing one's well-being, are crucial. In addition, it's vital that social media giants take ownership of their platforms and actively encourage excellent mental health and well-being.

The Use of Social Media in Political Activism and Social Movements

Social media has recently become increasingly crucial in political action and social movements. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have given people new ways to express themselves, organize protests, and raise awareness about social and political issues.

Raising Awareness and Mobilizing Action

One of the most important uses of social media in political activity and social movements has been to raise awareness about important issues and mobilize action. Hashtags such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, for example, have brought attention to sexual harassment and racial injustice, respectively. Similarly, social media has been used to organize protests and other political actions, allowing people to band together and express themselves on a bigger scale.

Connecting with like-minded individuals

A second method in that social media has been utilized in political activity and social movements is to unite like-minded individuals. Through social media, individuals can join online groups, share knowledge and resources, and work with others to accomplish shared objectives. This has been especially significant for geographically scattered individuals or those without access to traditional means of political organizing.

Challenges and Limitations

As a vehicle for political action and social movements, social media has faced many obstacles and restrictions despite its many advantages. For instance, the propagation of misinformation and fake news on social media can impede attempts to disseminate accurate and reliable information. In addition, social media corporations have been condemned for censorship and insufficient protection of user rights.

In conclusion, social media has emerged as a potent instrument for political activism and social movements, giving voice to previously unheard communities and galvanizing support for change. Social media presents many opportunities for communication and collaboration. Still, users and institutions must be conscious of the risks and limitations of these tools to promote their responsible and productive usage.

The Potential Privacy Concerns Raised by Social Media Use and Data Collection Practices

With billions of users each day on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, social media has ingrained itself into every aspect of our lives. While these platforms offer a straightforward method to communicate with others and exchange information, they also raise significant concerns over data collecting and privacy. This article will examine the possible privacy issues posed by social media use and data-gathering techniques.

Data Collection and Sharing

The gathering and sharing of personal data are significant privacy issues brought up by social media use. Social networking sites gather user data, including details about their relationships, hobbies, and routines. This information is made available to third-party businesses for various uses, such as marketing and advertising. This can lead to serious concerns about who has access to and uses our personal information.

Lack of Control Over Personal Information

The absence of user control over personal information is a significant privacy issue brought up by social media usage. Social media makes it challenging to limit who has access to and how data is utilized once it has been posted. Sensitive information may end up being extensively disseminated and may be used maliciously as a result.

Personalized Marketing

Social media companies utilize the information they gather about users to target them with adverts relevant to their interests and usage patterns. Although this could be useful, it might also cause consumers to worry about their privacy since they might feel that their personal information is being used without their permission. Furthermore, there are issues with the integrity of the data being used to target users and the possibility of prejudice based on individual traits.

Government Surveillance

Using social media might spark worries about government surveillance. There are significant concerns regarding privacy and free expression when governments in some nations utilize social media platforms to follow and monitor residents.

In conclusion, social media use raises significant concerns regarding data collecting and privacy. While these platforms make it easy to interact with people and exchange information, they also gather a lot of personal information, which raises questions about who may access it and how it will be used. Users should be aware of these privacy issues and take precautions to safeguard their personal information, such as exercising caution when choosing what details to disclose on social media and keeping their information sharing with other firms to a minimum.

The Ethical and Privacy Concerns Surrounding Social Media Use And Data Collection

Our use of social media to communicate with loved ones, acquire information, and even conduct business has become a crucial part of our everyday lives. The extensive use of social media does, however, raise some ethical and privacy issues that must be resolved. The influence of social media use and data collecting on user rights, the accountability of social media businesses, and the need for improved regulation are all topics that will be covered in this article.

Effect on Individual Privacy:

Social networking sites gather tons of personal data from their users, including delicate information like search history, location data, and even health data. Each user's detailed profile may be created with this data and sold to advertising or used for other reasons. Concerns regarding the privacy of personal information might arise because social media businesses can use this data to target users with customized adverts.

Additionally, individuals might need to know how much their personal information is being gathered and exploited. Data breaches or the unauthorized sharing of personal information with other parties may result in instances where sensitive information is exposed. Users should be aware of the privacy rules of social media firms and take precautions to secure their data.

Responsibility of Social Media Companies:

Social media firms should ensure that they responsibly and ethically gather and use user information. This entails establishing strong security measures to safeguard sensitive information and ensuring users are informed of what information is being collected and how it is used.

Many social media businesses, nevertheless, have come under fire for not upholding these obligations. For instance, the Cambridge Analytica incident highlighted how Facebook users' personal information was exploited for political objectives without their knowledge. This demonstrates the necessity of social media corporations being held responsible for their deeds and ensuring that they are safeguarding the security and privacy of their users.

Better Regulation Is Needed

There is a need for tighter regulation in this field, given the effect, social media has on individual privacy as well as the obligations of social media firms. The creation of laws and regulations that ensure social media companies are gathering and using user information ethically and responsibly, as well as making sure users are aware of their rights and have the ability to control the information that is being collected about them, are all part of this.

Additionally, legislation should ensure that social media businesses are held responsible for their behavior, for example, by levying fines for data breaches or the unauthorized use of personal data. This will provide social media businesses with a significant incentive to prioritize their users' privacy and security and ensure they are upholding their obligations.

In conclusion, social media has fundamentally changed how we engage and communicate with one another, but this increased convenience also raises several ethical and privacy issues. Essential concerns that need to be addressed include the effect of social media on individual privacy, the accountability of social media businesses, and the requirement for greater regulation to safeguard user rights. We can make everyone's online experience safer and more secure by looking more closely at these issues.

In conclusion, social media is a complex and multifaceted topic that has recently captured the world's attention. With its ever-growing influence on our lives, it's no surprise that it has become a popular subject for students to explore in their writing. Whether you are writing an argumentative essay on the impact of social media on privacy, a persuasive essay on the role of social media in politics, or a descriptive essay on the changes social media has brought to the way we communicate, there are countless angles to approach this subject.

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Social Media: Negative Impacts

Introduction, intrusive advertising, bullying/harassment, privacy threats, works cited.

Social media is a natural phenomenon of modern hi-tech life. The impact of virtual communication is significant as people are often willing to pay more attention to online interaction. Besides, due to the development of technology, social media plays the role of platforms not only for communication but also fir effective advertising and entertainment. Digital content that is published in various groups has a large target audience, which allows influencing people and providing demand for specific goods or services. However, the controversy of the benefits of social media lies in the potentially negative impacts they have. In addition to using specialized web resources for communication, many Internet users utilize them as tools for bullying, intimidation, humiliation, and even violence. An opportunity to remain anonymous opens up significant prospects for cybercriminals, which complicates the task for law enforcement agencies. As a counterargument, today, there are various means of account verification and support services that are ready to ensure the safety of communication on social media and provide users with protection from scammers or blackmailers. Nevertheless, people who are well versed in the digital field can bypass such locks easily. Among the real negative effects that social media have, one can note intrusive advertising, bullying and harassment, privacy threats, fake news, and violence. Social media are gradually losing the function of communication tools and gaining the status of platforms that allow posting any content, including illegal and immoral materials.

Advertising on social media has become so intrusive and widespread that it has ceased to have its promotional function and often causes users more negative emotions than interest. At the same time, it is hard to get rid of advertising completely since many creators of digital content sign contracts with advertisers, and profit depends directly on the activity of the public. However, in case of excess advertising, people feel annoyed and ignore certain offers deliberately. According to Shareef et al., “irritation due to any advertisement can distract consumers from receiving the intended meaning of the statement, and thus can have a negative effect on the value of the advertising” (p. 61). Such a statement is logical because, in their quest for profit, advertisers provoke a natural reaction from the target audience to condemn the excess of promoting content. Customer perception largely depends not only on the essence of specific offers but also on the way marketers deliver them. Therefore, in case of intrusiveness, advertising content on social media causes rejection and is often blocked by users. Shareef et al. confirm this and argue that the context of marketing materials may be more important as a driver to convince the public of the value of specific goods or services (p. 66). The objectivity of such an idea is due to the fact that initially, social media were not intended for advertising, and only the creativity of marketers can be an effective way to attract public attention. Finally, Shareef et al. mention viral marketing as one of the methods of intrusive advertising on social media and note that this form of promotion are relevant only among a narrow target audience. In other words, the more annoying the advertisement is, the lower is the chance to attract a wide range of new consumers. Nevertheless, intrusive advertising is significantly less dangerous than bullying or harassment, which are found in modern social media.

The anonymity factor that may persist when interacting on social media is one of the reasons for bullying that some Internet users are forced to experience. A sense of impunity for aggressive behavior and insults towards another person exacerbate the situation. Moreover, bullying is a trend that is common in children’s communication on social media, which poses a serious threat to the fragile psyche of young users. According to Canty et al., online bullying is a unique phenomenon that has expanded in the virtual space due to the emergence of means to preserve anonymity and, in particular, the ability to go unpunished (p. 52). These factors are most obvious reasons why children, who are often humiliated by their peers on social media, become self-absorbed and cannot figure out the wrongdoers. Harassment is a similar problem, which, however, is characteristic of the adult population and often has a sexual background. Chadha et al. state that modern digital technologies “amplify attacks on gender-based and sexual minorities,” thereby acting as negative consequences of progress (p. 241). This statement assumes that the context of harassment is not limited to one topic. In addition, as findings show, virtual space is a favorable environment for this phenomenon:

Online communities and social media platforms offer many benefits, but they also have become breeding grounds for an assortment of sexist and misogynist behaviors. Importantly, the harassment behaviors evident today differ from off-line and pre-social media-era harassment, given the affordances of these networked spaces, including – but not limited to – the visibility and persistence of content, the anonymity/pseudonymity of users, the spreadability of content, and the multimediality of smartphones (Chadha et al, p. 250).

As a result, the openness of online communication creates a favorable environment for harassment and affects user behavior. Chadha et al. mention requests for personal data and addresses as easy consequences of harassment and note that people who have faced with real threats see this phenomenon as an extremely dangerous and aggressive trend (p. 243). This conclusion is logical because, despite different environments, online and real-life harassment have a common background. In this regard, the issues of privacy and accompanying risks are negative consequences of social media.

Privacy threats are fraught not only with identity theft but also with other problems that may entail anonymous bullying or blackmail. Today, for users of social media, communication options are not limited solely to correspondence. Interlocutors can comment on each other, share links, and perform other actions that go beyond a particular platform. As a result, as Aghasian et al. note, “the distribution of information in real world is almost local, the publically shared information in online social media can be retrieved on the internet anytime, anywhere and by anyone” (p. 13118). The significance of this statement is that virtually no one can be fully protected, and precautions should be taken. Aghasian et al. argue that users should be able to protect their personal data not only from intruders but also from familiar people who can become intermediaries in the leak of information (p. 13118). Those people who face privacy threats may lose their money or valuable digital content through negligence by providing their data to third parties. Due to the widespread use of virtual interaction, various leakage channels are discussed:

For example, a user normally share his/her personal information in Facebook which may pose a privacy risk. This user may share his/her occupation history and background in another site such as LinkedIn. His/her job information has again its own privacy risk, but a combination of the information from two social media accounts can pose the user to higher risk as more information is revealed. Consequently, by considering the overall information from multiple source, a more accurate quantification of the privacy disclosure score can be obtained. (Aghasian et al, p. 13118)

In addition to individual data leakage channels, the forms of privacy risks themselves are numerous. Aghasian et al. mention the threat of government data theft, the disclosure of confidential information about trade transactions, and even religious secrets (13119). Such a variety of risks explains the need for comprehensive protection. Social media, in turn, are a favorable environment for such fraud since the predominant number of Internet users have accounts at least at one specialized site. Wherein, according to Aghasian et al., “one of the challenges in addressing privacy concerns is how to measure the privacy of a user participating in multiple social networks” (p. 13129). The increasing role of social media in people’s lives inevitably leads to threats to personal data, especially if they are stored on different platforms. However, not all negative aspects of virtual communication are aimed at interacting with a particular person, and the example of fake news distributed online is a confirmation.

Social media are becoming the most common sources of news, including both entertaining content and serious political and economic reports, which, however, are not always reliable. One of the main reasons is the desire to attract a large target audience. The greater the news resonance is, the greater is the potential success of a particular media platform. For example, Shu et al. give the following statistics: “62 percent of U.S. adults get news on social media in 2016, while in 2012, only 49 percent reported seeing news on social media” (p. 22). This ratio proves that even the adult population of the country began to use virtual platforms more often. In addition, this growth may be due to the wider use of social media by numerous agencies that have individual accounts. The authors emphasize that fake news as a negative consequence of digital communication is disseminated most actively through social media due to an opportunity to create a public outcry quickly (Shu et al, p. 23). News groups fight for the target audience in any way possible, which entails publications based on unverified or false facts. Spohr explains the reasons and argues that “the producers and curators of fake news content are able to monetize their content through advertising platforms from Facebook and Google” (p. 156). This conclusion is logical since material gain is the most objective explanation for such publications. In addition, the researcher notes that fake news creates a resonance that, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, serves as a means of popularization (Spohr, p. 150). Therefore, the ability to influence the masses opens up prospects for fraudulent actions, although fake news cannot do such harm as violence, which is another negative effect of social media.

Despite the fact that violence in its natural sense cannot be realized online, the manifestations of violent acts through social media are possible. This phenomenon is similar to cyberbullying, but it involves strict measures of intimidation or harassment, while bullying can be superficial. Today, particular attention is paid to youth virtual violence, as children and adolescents are vulnerable groups. As Tripathi notes, “most children and adolescents (65-91%) report little or no involvement in violence over social media platforms” (2). At the same time, the author argues that time spent online is one of the factors on which the risk of violence depends (Tripathi, p. 3). In other words, the longer and more actively a child interacts with other users, the higher is the threat of psychological violence. This statement is reasonable and carries an open message about the need to reduce the access of young users to free online communication. Also, gender-based online violence is another form of bullying, and its consequences can be extremely dangerous from a social perspective:

Gender-based violence online is rampant, ranging from harassment of women who are public figures on social media to stalking intimate partners using purpose-built apps. This is not an issue that can be addressed by individual states alone, nor can it be addressed satisfactorily through legal means. The normalization of misogyny and abuse online both reflects and reinforces systemic inequalities. (Suzor et al, p. 84)

This position on gender-based violence proves the effect that indifference to this problem may cause. According to Suzor et al., most modern social media promote themselves as platforms for expressing individuality and personal opinions, which can be dangerous in conditions of the freedom of speech and anonymity (p. 89). Not only women but also other vulnerable groups can experience the effects of virtual violence, and impunity is one of the most dangerous consequences. The authors are convinced that “deeply entrenched structural features of existing social media platforms often exacerbate the effects of online harassment and abuse” (Suzor et al, p. 94). Thus, social media carry many negative implications, and an opportunity to go unpunished for aggressive or annoying behavior is a severe social omission.

• Aghasian, Erfan, et al. “Scoring Users’ Privacy Disclosure Across Multiple Online Social Networks.” IEEE Access , vol. 5, 2017, pp. 13118-13130.
• Canty, Justin, et al. “The Trouble with Bullying – Deconstructing the Conventional Definition of Bullying for a Child‐Centred Investigation into Children’s Use of Social Media.” Children & Society , vol. 30, no. 1, 2016, pp. 48-58.
• Chadha, Kalyani, et al. “Women’s Responses to Online Harassment.” International Journal of Communication , vol. 14, 2020, pp. 239-257.
• Shareef, Mahmud Akhter, et al. “Social Media Marketing: Comparative Effect of Advertisement Sources.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services , vol. 46, 2019, pp. 58-69.
• Shu, Kai, et al. “Fake News Detection on Social Media: A Data Mining Perspective.” ACM SIGKDD Explorations Newsletter , vol. 19, no. 1, 2017, pp. 22-36.
• Spohr, Dominic. “Fake News and Ideological Polarization: Filter Bubbles and Selective Exposure on Social Media.” Business Information Review , vol. 34, no. 3, 2017, pp. 150-160.
• Suzor, Nicolas, et al. “Human Rights by Design: The Responsibilities of Social Media Platforms to Address Gender‐Based Violence Online.” Policy & Internet , vol. 11, no. 1, 2019, pp. 84-103.
• Tripathi, Vivek. “Youth Violence and Social Media.” Journal of Social Sciences , vol. 52, no. 1-3, 2017, pp. 1-7.

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Science News

Social media harms teens’ mental health, mounting evidence shows. what now.

Understanding what is going on in teens’ minds is necessary for targeted policy suggestions

Most teens use social media, often for hours on end. Some social scientists are confident that such use is harming their mental health. Now they want to pinpoint what explains the link.

Carol Yepes/Getty Images

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By Sujata Gupta

February 20, 2024 at 7:30 am

In January, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta, appeared at a congressional hearing to answer questions about how social media potentially harms children. Zuckerberg opened by saying: “The existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between using social media and young people having worse mental health.”

But many social scientists would disagree with that statement. In recent years, studies have started to show a causal link between teen social media use and reduced well-being or mood disorders, chiefly depression and anxiety.

Ironically, one of the most cited studies into this link focused on Facebook.

Researchers delved into whether the platform’s introduction across college campuses in the mid 2000s increased symptoms associated with depression and anxiety. The answer was a clear yes , says MIT economist Alexey Makarin, a coauthor of the study, which appeared in the November 2022 American Economic Review . “There is still a lot to be explored,” Makarin says, but “[to say] there is no causal evidence that social media causes mental health issues, to that I definitely object.”

The concern, and the studies, come from statistics showing that social media use in teens ages 13 to 17 is now almost ubiquitous. Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, and some 60 percent of teens report using Instagram or Snapchat, a 2022 survey found. (Only 30 percent said they used Facebook.) Another survey showed that girls, on average, allot roughly 3.4 hours per day to TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, compared with roughly 2.1 hours among boys. At the same time, more teens are showing signs of depression than ever, especially girls ( SN: 6/30/23 ).

As more studies show a strong link between these phenomena, some researchers are starting to shift their attention to possible mechanisms. Why does social media use seem to trigger mental health problems? Why are those effects unevenly distributed among different groups, such as girls or young adults? And can the positives of social media be teased out from the negatives to provide more targeted guidance to teens, their caregivers and policymakers?

“You can’t design good public policy if you don’t know why things are happening,” says Scott Cunningham, an economist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Increasing rigor

Concerns over the effects of social media use in children have been circulating for years, resulting in a massive body of scientific literature. But those mostly correlational studies could not show if teen social media use was harming mental health or if teens with mental health problems were using more social media.

Moreover, the findings from such studies were often inconclusive, or the effects on mental health so small as to be inconsequential. In one study that received considerable media attention, psychologists Amy Orben and Andrew Przybylski combined data from three surveys to see if they could find a link between technology use, including social media, and reduced well-being. The duo gauged the well-being of over 355,000 teenagers by focusing on questions around depression, suicidal thinking and self-esteem.

Digital technology use was associated with a slight decrease in adolescent well-being , Orben, now of the University of Cambridge, and Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, reported in 2019 in Nature Human Behaviour . But the duo downplayed that finding, noting that researchers have observed similar drops in adolescent well-being associated with drinking milk, going to the movies or eating potatoes.

Holes have begun to appear in that narrative thanks to newer, more rigorous studies.

In one longitudinal study, researchers — including Orben and Przybylski — used survey data on social media use and well-being from over 17,400 teens and young adults to look at how individuals’ responses to a question gauging life satisfaction changed between 2011 and 2018. And they dug into how the responses varied by gender, age and time spent on social media.

Social media use was associated with a drop in well-being among teens during certain developmental periods, chiefly puberty and young adulthood, the team reported in 2022 in Nature Communications . That translated to lower well-being scores around ages 11 to 13 for girls and ages 14 to 15 for boys. Both groups also reported a drop in well-being around age 19. Moreover, among the older teens, the team found evidence for the Goldilocks Hypothesis: the idea that both too much and too little time spent on social media can harm mental health.

“There’s hardly any effect if you look over everybody. But if you look at specific age groups, at particularly what [Orben] calls ‘windows of sensitivity’ … you see these clear effects,” says L.J. Shrum, a consumer psychologist at HEC Paris who was not involved with this research. His review of studies related to teen social media use and mental health is forthcoming in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research.

Cause and effect

That longitudinal study hints at causation, researchers say. But one of the clearest ways to pin down cause and effect is through natural or quasi-experiments. For these in-the-wild experiments, researchers must identify situations where the rollout of a societal “treatment” is staggered across space and time. They can then compare outcomes among members of the group who received the treatment to those still in the queue — the control group.

That was the approach Makarin and his team used in their study of Facebook. The researchers homed in on the staggered rollout of Facebook across 775 college campuses from 2004 to 2006. They combined that rollout data with student responses to the National College Health Assessment, a widely used survey of college students’ mental and physical health.

The team then sought to understand if those survey questions captured diagnosable mental health problems. Specifically, they had roughly 500 undergraduate students respond to questions both in the National College Health Assessment and in validated screening tools for depression and anxiety. They found that mental health scores on the assessment predicted scores on the screenings. That suggested that a drop in well-being on the college survey was a good proxy for a corresponding increase in diagnosable mental health disorders. 

Compared with campuses that had not yet gained access to Facebook, college campuses with Facebook experienced a 2 percentage point increase in the number of students who met the diagnostic criteria for anxiety or depression, the team found.

When it comes to showing a causal link between social media use in teens and worse mental health, “that study really is the crown jewel right now,” says Cunningham, who was not involved in that research.

A need for nuance

The social media landscape today is vastly different than the landscape of 20 years ago. Facebook is now optimized for maximum addiction, Shrum says, and other newer platforms, such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok, have since copied and built on those features. Paired with the ubiquity of social media in general, the negative effects on mental health may well be larger now.

Moreover, social media research tends to focus on young adults — an easier cohort to study than minors. That needs to change, Cunningham says. “Most of us are worried about our high school kids and younger.” 

And so, researchers must pivot accordingly. Crucially, simple comparisons of social media users and nonusers no longer make sense. As Orben and Przybylski’s 2022 work suggested, a teen not on social media might well feel worse than one who briefly logs on. 

Researchers must also dig into why, and under what circumstances, social media use can harm mental health, Cunningham says. Explanations for this link abound. For instance, social media is thought to crowd out other activities or increase people’s likelihood of comparing themselves unfavorably with others. But big data studies, with their reliance on existing surveys and statistical analyses, cannot address those deeper questions. “These kinds of papers, there’s nothing you can really ask … to find these plausible mechanisms,” Cunningham says.

One ongoing effort to understand social media use from this more nuanced vantage point is the SMART Schools project out of the University of Birmingham in England. Pedagogical expert Victoria Goodyear and her team are comparing mental and physical health outcomes among children who attend schools that have restricted cell phone use to those attending schools without such a policy. The researchers described the protocol of that study of 30 schools and over 1,000 students in the July BMJ Open.

Goodyear and colleagues are also combining that natural experiment with qualitative research. They met with 36 five-person focus groups each consisting of all students, all parents or all educators at six of those schools. The team hopes to learn how students use their phones during the day, how usage practices make students feel, and what the various parties think of restrictions on cell phone use during the school day.

Talking to teens and those in their orbit is the best way to get at the mechanisms by which social media influences well-being — for better or worse, Goodyear says. Moving beyond big data to this more personal approach, however, takes considerable time and effort. “Social media has increased in pace and momentum very, very quickly,” she says. “And research takes a long time to catch up with that process.”

Until that catch-up occurs, though, researchers cannot dole out much advice. “What guidance could we provide to young people, parents and schools to help maintain the positives of social media use?” Goodyear asks. “There’s not concrete evidence yet.”

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Social Media Use and Its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic Review

Fazida karim.

1 Psychology, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

2 Business & Management, University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, MYS

Azeezat A Oyewande

3 Family Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

4 Family Medicine, Lagos State Health Service Commission/Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos, NGA

Lamis F Abdalla

5 Internal Medicine, California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences and Psychology, Fairfield, USA

Reem Chaudhry Ehsanullah

Safeera khan.

Social media are responsible for aggravating mental health problems. This systematic study summarizes the effects of social network usage on mental health. Fifty papers were shortlisted from google scholar databases, and after the application of various inclusion and exclusion criteria, 16 papers were chosen and all papers were evaluated for quality. Eight papers were cross-sectional studies, three were longitudinal studies, two were qualitative studies, and others were systematic reviews. Findings were classified into two outcomes of mental health: anxiety and depression. Social media activity such as time spent to have a positive effect on the mental health domain. However, due to the cross-sectional design and methodological limitations of sampling, there are considerable differences. The structure of social media influences on mental health needs to be further analyzed through qualitative research and vertical cohort studies.

Introduction and background

Human beings are social creatures that require the companionship of others to make progress in life. Thus, being socially connected with other people can relieve stress, anxiety, and sadness, but lack of social connection can pose serious risks to mental health [ 1 ].

Social media

Social media has recently become part of people's daily activities; many of them spend hours each day on Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, and other popular social media. Thus, many researchers and scholars study the impact of social media and applications on various aspects of people’s lives [ 2 ]. Moreover, the number of social media users worldwide in 2019 is 3.484 billion, up 9% year-on-year [ 3 - 5 ]. A statistic in Figure  1  shows the gender distribution of social media audiences worldwide as of January 2020, sorted by platform. It was found that only 38% of Twitter users were male but 61% were using Snapchat. In contrast, females were more likely to use LinkedIn and Facebook. There is no denying that social media has now become an important part of many people's lives. Social media has many positive and enjoyable benefits, but it can also lead to mental health problems. Previous research found that age did not have an effect but gender did; females were much more likely to experience mental health than males [ 6 , 7 ].

Impact on mental health

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which people understand their abilities, solve everyday life problems, work well, and make a significant contribution to the lives of their communities [ 8 ]. There is debated presently going on regarding the benefits and negative impacts of social media on mental health [ 9 , 10 ]. Social networking is a crucial element in protecting our mental health. Both the quantity and quality of social relationships affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk [ 9 ]. The Displaced Behavior Theory may help explain why social media shows a connection with mental health. According to the theory, people who spend more time in sedentary behaviors such as social media use have less time for face-to-face social interaction, both of which have been proven to be protective against mental disorders [ 11 , 12 ]. On the other hand, social theories found how social media use affects mental health by influencing how people view, maintain, and interact with their social network [ 13 ]. A number of studies have been conducted on the impacts of social media, and it has been indicated that the prolonged use of social media platforms such as Facebook may be related to negative signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress [ 10 - 15 ]. Furthermore, social media can create a lot of pressure to create the stereotype that others want to see and also being as popular as others.

The need for a systematic review

Systematic studies can quantitatively and qualitatively identify, aggregate, and evaluate all accessible data to generate a warm and accurate response to the research questions involved [ 4 ]. In addition, many existing systematic studies related to mental health studies have been conducted worldwide. However, only a limited number of studies are integrated with social media and conducted in the context of social science because the available literature heavily focused on medical science [ 6 ]. Because social media is a relatively new phenomenon, the potential links between their use and mental health have not been widely investigated.

This paper attempt to systematically review all the relevant literature with the aim of filling the gap by examining social media impact on mental health, which is sedentary behavior, which, if in excess, raises the risk of health problems [ 7 , 9 , 12 ]. This study is important because it provides information on the extent of the focus of peer review literature, which can assist the researchers in delivering a prospect with the aim of understanding the future attention related to climate change strategies that require scholarly attention. This study is very useful because it provides information on the extent to which peer review literature can assist researchers in presenting prospects with a view to understanding future concerns related to mental health strategies that require scientific attention. The development of the current systematic review is based on the main research question: how does social media affect mental health?

Research strategy

The research was conducted to identify studies analyzing the role of social media on mental health. Google Scholar was used as our main database to find the relevant articles. Keywords that were used for the search were: (1) “social media”, (2) “mental health”, (3) “social media” AND “mental health”, (4) “social networking” AND “mental health”, and (5) “social networking” OR “social media” AND “mental health” (Table  1 ).

Out of the results in Table  1 , a total of 50 articles relevant to the research question were selected. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, duplicate papers were removed, and, finally, a total of 28 articles were selected for review (Figure  2 ).

PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Peer-reviewed, full-text research papers from the past five years were included in the review. All selected articles were in English language and any non-peer-reviewed and duplicate papers were excluded from finally selected articles.

Of the 16 selected research papers, there were a research focus on adults, gender, and preadolescents [ 10 - 19 ]. In the design, there were qualitative and quantitative studies [ 15 , 16 ]. There were three systematic reviews and one thematic analysis that explored the better or worse of using social media among adolescents [ 20 - 23 ]. In addition, eight were cross-sectional studies and only three were longitudinal studies [ 24 - 29 ].The meta-analyses included studies published beyond the last five years in this population. Table  2  presents a selection of studies from the review.

IGU, internet gaming disorder; PSMU, problematic social media use

This study has attempted to systematically analyze the existing literature on the effect of social media use on mental health. Although the results of the study were not completely consistent, this review found a general association between social media use and mental health issues. Although there is positive evidence for a link between social media and mental health, the opposite has been reported.

For example, a previous study found no relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and depression or between social media-related activities, such as the number of online friends and the number of “selfies”, and depression [ 29 ]. Similarly, Neira and Barber found that while higher investment in social media (e.g. active social media use) predicted adolescents’ depressive symptoms, no relationship was found between the frequency of social media use and depressed mood [ 28 ].

In the 16 studies, anxiety and depression were the most commonly measured outcome. The prominent risk factors for anxiety and depression emerging from this study comprised time spent, activity, and addiction to social media. In today's world, anxiety is one of the basic mental health problems. People liked and commented on their uploaded photos and videos. In today's age, everyone is immune to the social media context. Some teens experience anxiety from social media related to fear of loss, which causes teens to try to respond and check all their friends' messages and messages on a regular basis.

On the contrary, depression is one of the unintended significances of unnecessary use of social media. In detail, depression is limited not only to Facebooks but also to other social networking sites, which causes psychological problems. A new study found that individuals who are involved in social media, games, texts, mobile phones, etc. are more likely to experience depression.

The previous study found a 70% increase in self-reported depressive symptoms among the group using social media. The other social media influence that causes depression is sexual fun [ 12 ]. The intimacy fun happens when social media promotes putting on a facade that highlights the fun and excitement but does not tell us much about where we are struggling in our daily lives at a deeper level [ 28 ]. Another study revealed that depression and time spent on Facebook by adolescents are positively correlated [ 22 ]. More importantly, symptoms of major depression have been found among the individuals who spent most of their time in online activities and performing image management on social networking sites [ 14 ].

Another study assessed gender differences in associations between social media use and mental health. Females were found to be more addicted to social media as compared with males [ 26 ]. Passive activity in social media use such as reading posts is more strongly associated with depression than doing active use like making posts [ 23 ]. Other important findings of this review suggest that other factors such as interpersonal trust and family functioning may have a greater influence on the symptoms of depression than the frequency of social media use [ 28 , 29 ].

Limitation and suggestion

The limitations and suggestions were identified by the evidence involved in the study and review process. Previously, 7 of the 16 studies were cross-sectional and slightly failed to determine the causal relationship between the variables of interest. Given the evidence from cross-sectional studies, it is not possible to conclude that the use of social networks causes mental health problems. Only three longitudinal studies examined the causal relationship between social media and mental health, which is hard to examine if the mental health problem appeared more pronounced in those who use social media more compared with those who use it less or do not use at all [ 19 , 20 , 24 ]. Next, despite the fact that the proposed relationship between social media and mental health is complex, a few studies investigated mediating factors that may contribute or exacerbate this relationship. Further investigations are required to clarify the underlying factors that help examine why social media has a negative impact on some peoples’ mental health, whereas it has no or positive effect on others’ mental health.

Conclusions

Social media is a new study that is rapidly growing and gaining popularity. Thus, there are many unexplored and unexpected constructive answers associated with it. Lately, studies have found that using social media platforms can have a detrimental effect on the psychological health of its users. However, the extent to which the use of social media impacts the public is yet to be determined. This systematic review has found that social media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals. In addition, other potential causes of anxiety and depression have been identified, which require further exploration.

The importance of such findings is to facilitate further research on social media and mental health. In addition, the information obtained from this study can be helpful not only to medical professionals but also to social science research. The findings of this study suggest that potential causal factors from social media can be considered when cooperating with patients who have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. Also, if the results from this study were used to explore more relationships with another construct, this could potentially enhance the findings to reduce anxiety and depression rates and prevent suicide rates from occurring.

The content published in Cureus is the result of clinical experience and/or research by independent individuals or organizations. Cureus is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. All content published within Cureus is intended only for educational, research and reference purposes. Additionally, articles published within Cureus should not be deemed a suitable substitute for the advice of a qualified health care professional. Do not disregard or avoid professional medical advice due to content published within Cureus.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The Effects of Social Media on Society Essay

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The social networks broke into the everyday life of the majority of common people in the middle of 00s, first giving neglectful and suspicious attitude, as a tracking instrument of the government. Nevertheless, shortly, almost every individual including teenagers and elderly people, created a page on some kind of social media platform. Today it is hard to find anyone who does not have an account on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or another local network.

People post news, share impressions and pictures, follow their friends’ activity and the activity of the people they are interested in. The whole world seems to become broader, but at the same time closer, as you can track your best friend who moved to another part of the country a long time ago. However, these new opportunities also bear a certain amount of dangers. People get addicted, lose contact with reality, and unthoughtfully provide strangers with important details of their personal life.

Let us start with the advantages. Advocates claim that social media provide a connection with people, allow you to stay in touch even if you are far away from each other. That is a good point. The friend is always in the background, you might not have conversations often, but if he or she updates his or her status frequently enough, you might have an idea what is going on in his or her life.

Social networks carefully remind you of friend’s birthday or other important events of his or her life, and you do not have to keep this information in your mind. There is almost no risk to miss it. The dark side of this statement is that you lose a skill of conversation, because you do not have to ask questions. Your friend posts, you tap “Like” – everyone is happy.

You do not have to write long letters, choosing the most correct words; do not have to consider what questions to ask to find out more about the friend. Your interaction becomes kind of robotic. You start to expect post’s approval from your friend, and if there is no “Like” in response, you get upset and start developing prejudgments towards him or her. However, the friend might be far away or just have not noticed your post. A friend might be not involved in social networking that much. However, the networking has its own laws.

The second advantage claimed by advocates is that people are getting more informed, as they follow the sources with the most recent and reliable news, they choose. According to people’s point of view, of course. A person starts following a source that seems trustworthy, and thus, providing the source with the connection to own emotions, the ability to generate an own opinion.

As the information is updated constantly, and the individual consumes it regularly, the interaction starts to gain hypnotic features, and if the source is professional, it certainly knows how to make you think the way it wants.

Following celebrities and popular persons also has a negative side, as they tend to post some minor things from their everyday life. By paying too much attention to those posts, an individual starts to lose such minor things in his own life, wasting time on the activity of the person he or she will never see or will never have a chance of a personal talk.

Despite certain advantages, there are several serious dangers hidden within spreading and vast application of social networks. First, making their life look exciting and interesting, people post too much important personal information online, making it available to the vast majority of absolute strangers or envious and malevolent persons. These posts might evoke envy and anger. You never know what is going on in strangers’ head, and they already know where you live, what your parents look like and how many kids you have.

Stalking and cyberbullying are not a pleasant thing to deal with as well. Second, many people get addicted, and this addiction is similar to drug or alcohol dependence. Just compare – angriness, frustration, losing focus on real-life issues, bad temper, relationship problems, abandoning hobbies and usual interests, depression if the desired substance is beyond the reach (Robinson, Smith, and Saisan par. 8).

Does not it remind the symptoms of the frequent social media network user if the one cannot get online? Actually, there are certain official criteria for measuring internet addiction. They are the preoccupation with social networks, increasing an amount of on-line time to get satisfaction, staying online longer than planned, lying about the time spent online (Young 21).

Moreover, the National Poll states that 22% of teens check social networking sites more than ten times a day and 28% have shared personal information that they normally wouldn’t have shared in public (“Common Sense” par. 2).

As concluded on the basics of many researches, extracting “information from friends’ pages appears particularly pleasurable” and “may be linked to the activation of the appetitive system, which indicates that engaging in this particular activity may stimulate the neurological pathways known to be related to addiction experience” (Kuss and Griffiths 3532). Sounds frightening. Third, people are simply losing time they could spend on some useful activity.

Nowadays the enormous number of entertainment websites generates content that is widely spread all over the network. Users share funny pictures, quotes of famous people (frequently assigned to wrong authors), top 10 lists of the most stupid celebrities and the best places to visit from 4 p.m. till 8 p.m. The majority of this information does not even make sense, but people continue to repost it filling the online space with garbage content that takes your time as you are trying to get something important digging your way through.

The concept of friendship also shifts as people get closer to someone they have never met offline and lose their connection with offline friends. Friendship gains some new attributes and loses the old ones. People are starting to get too serious if their post was not approved, liked, or read by someone they consider as friends. People would rather provide some personal information to a complete stranger, who looks reliable online, than talk to a friend over the cup of coffee.

Thus, this behavioral pattern is more typical if the person has a lack of communication and understanding in real life (Mesch and Talmud 41). There is no correct answer if this way of acting is good or bad for the individual, but the access to online communication may cause losing individual’s ability of successful offline communication at all.

Social networks both have their advantages and disadvantages. The thoughtful application can provide people with important information. Inaccurate use may cause serious psychological, social and even criminal problems that might affect not only you but also your friends and your family members.

Works Cited

Common Sense: Is Social Networking Changing Childhood? 2009. Web.

Kuss, Daria J., and Mark D. Griffiths. “Online social networking and addiction—anreview of the psychological literature.” International journal of environmental research and public health 8.9 (2011): 3528-3552. Print.

Mesch, Gustavo S., and Ilan Talmud. “Online friendship formation, communication channels, and social closeness.” International Journal of Internet Science 1.1 (2006): 29-44. Print.

Robinson, Lawrence, Melinda Smith, and Joanna Saisan. Drug Abuse and Addiction . 2015. Web.

Young, Kimberly S. “Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation and treatment.” Innovations in clinical practice: A source book 17.1 (1999): 19-31. Print.

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Essay on Negative Effects of Social Media

Students are often asked to write an essay on Negative Effects of Social Media in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Negative Effects of Social Media

The dark side of social media.

Social media is a powerful tool, but it has negative impacts too. It can lead to addiction, affecting our daily life. Many people spend hours scrolling, ignoring real-life interactions.

Mental Health Issues

Privacy concerns.

Personal information shared on social media can be misused, leading to privacy issues. Cyberbullying is another serious concern, causing emotional distress.

Unrealistic Expectations

Social media often presents a perfect life, creating unrealistic expectations and dissatisfaction. It’s important to remember that what we see online isn’t always real.

250 Words Essay on Negative Effects of Social Media

Introduction, psychological impact.

Firstly, social media can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. The constant comparison with others’ lives, the desire for validation through likes and comments, and the fear of missing out (FOMO) can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

Secondly, privacy is a significant concern. Users often unknowingly share sensitive information, making them susceptible to data breaches and identity theft. The lack of stringent privacy policies on many platforms exacerbates this issue.

Spread of Misinformation

Lastly, social media contributes to the spread of fake news and misinformation. The speed and reach of these platforms make it easy for false information to spread, leading to confusion, panic, and in some cases, violence.

In conclusion, while social media has revolutionized communication, its negative effects cannot be ignored. It is incumbent upon users to use these platforms responsibly and be aware of the potential risks. As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility”.

500 Words Essay on Negative Effects of Social Media

Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate, connect, and share information. However, it is not without its drawbacks. While it offers numerous benefits, it has also given rise to a myriad of negative effects, impacting individuals and society.

The Erosion of Privacy

Impact on mental health.

The impact of social media on mental health is another significant concern. The pressure to maintain a perfect online persona and the constant comparison with others can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and depression. The addictive nature of social media platforms, designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible, exacerbates these issues. The dopamine hit from likes, comments, and shares can create a dependency, leading to an unhealthy relationship with these platforms.

Social media also plays a significant role in the spread of misinformation. The speed and reach of social media platforms make them a potent tool for disseminating false information, leading to real-world consequences. This phenomenon has been particularly evident in recent years, with misinformation about health, politics, and social issues spreading rapidly.

Decreased Productivity

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

Happy studying!

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How social media’s toxic content sends teens into ‘a dangerous spiral’

October 8, 2021 –  Eating disorders expert Bryn Austin , professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences , discusses the recent revelation that Facebook has long known that its Instagram app is harming teens ’ mental health .

Q: Leaked documents from Facebook show that the company has known for at least two years that its Instagram app is making body image issues worse for teens, particularly girls. What’s your reaction to this news?

A: I was aghast at the news—but not surprised. We’ve known for years that social media platforms—especially image-based platforms like Instagram—have very harmful effects on teen mental health, especially for teens struggling with body image, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. From experimental research, we know that Instagram, with its algorithmically-driven feeds of content tailored to each user’s engagement patterns, can draw vulnerable teens into a dangerous spiral of negative social comparison and hook them onto unrealistic ideals of appearance and body size and shape. Clinicians and parents have been sounding the alarms about this for years. So to hear that Instagram’s own research shows this too is not surprising. What astounds me, though, is what whistleblower Frances Haugen exposed: that, in internal conversations at Instagram, staff and senior leadership acknowledged these very damning findings, and yet the actions they’ve taken in response have been little more than window dressing, sidestepping the fundamental problem of the platform’s predatory algorithms. This revelation is what leaves me aghast.

Q: In a recent  blog post , Instagram’s head of public policy wrote that the company knows that social media “can be a place where people have negative experiences” and that they’re working to mitigate the problem, but added, “Issues like negative social comparison and anxiety exist in the world, so they’re going to exist on social media too.” What do you make of this argument?

A: Instagram is peddling a false narrative that the platform is simply a reflection of its users’ interests and experiences, without distortion or manipulation by the platform. But Instagram knows full well that this not true. In fact, their very business model is predicated on how much they can manipulate users’ behavior to boost engagement and extend time spent on the platform, which the platform then monetizes to sell to advertisers. Instagram is literally selling users’ attention. The company knows that strong negative emotions, which can be provoked by negative social comparison, keep users’ attention longer than other emotions—and Instagram’s algorithms are expressly designed to push teens toward toxic content so that they stay on the platform. For teens struggling with body image, anxiety, or other mental health issues, negative social comparison is a dangerous trap, intensifying their engagement with the platform while worsening their symptoms. But with Instagram’s nefarious business model, every additional minute of users’ attention—regardless of the mental health impact—translates into more profits.

Keep in mind that this is not about just about putting teens in a bad mood. Over time, with exposure to harmful content on social media, the negative impacts add up. And we now have more cause for worry than ever, with the pandemic worsening mental health stressors and social isolation for teens, pushing millions of youth to increase their social media use. We are witnessing dramatic increases in clinical level depression, anxiety, and suicidality , and eating disorders cases have doubled or even tripled at children’s hospitals across the country.

Q: What steps are necessary to lessen potential harm to teens from Instagram?

A: If we have learned anything from the recent Congressional hearings with the whistleblower, the Wall Street Journal investigative reporting, and other important research, it’s that Instagram and Facebook will not—and likely cannot—solve this very serious social problem on their own. The business model, which has proven itself to be exquisitely profitable, is self-reinforcing for investors and top management. The platform’s predatory algorithms have been aggressively guarded, keeping them from being scrutinized by the public, researchers, or government. In fact, U.S. federal regulation on social media hasn’t been meaningfully updated in decades, leaving protections for users and society woefully inadequate.

But with the new revelations, society’s opinion of the industry may have soured and there may be a new willingness to demand meaningful oversight and regulation. What’s encouraging is that on the heels of the recent Congressional hearings, there are already several pieces of legislation in the works to establish a new government system of algorithm auditors, who would have the expertise and authority to require social media algorithms to meet basic standards of safety and transparency for children and users of all ages on Instagram and other social media platforms.

Q: What advice do you have for parents, and for teens who use the platform?

A: Until we have meaningful government oversight in place, there is still a lot that teens and parents can do. Although it’s a real struggle for parents to keep their kids off social media, they can set limits on its use, for instance by requiring that everyone’s phones go into a basket at mealtimes and at bedtime. Parents can also block upsetting content and keep dialogue open about how different types of content can make a young person feel about themselves. Equally important, teens and parents can get involved in advocacy, with groups such as the Eating Disorders Coalition and others, to advance federal legislation to strengthen oversight of social media platforms. With all that we know today about the harmful effects of social media and its algorithms, combined with the powerful stories of teens, parents, and community advocates, we may finally have the opportunity to get meaningful federal regulation in place.

– Karen Feldscher

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64% of Americans say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. today

About two-thirds of Americans (64%) say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the country today, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted July 13-19, 2020. Just one-in-ten Americans say social media sites have a mostly positive effect on the way things are going, and one-quarter say these platforms have a neither positive nor negative effect.

Those who have a negative view of the impact of social media mention, in particular, misinformation and the hate and harassment they see on social media. They also have concerns about users believing everything they see or read – or not being sure about what to believe. Additionally, they bemoan social media’s role in fomenting partisanship and polarization, the creation of echo chambers, and the perception that these platforms oppose President Donald Trump and conservatives.

This is part of a series of posts on Americans’ experiences with and attitudes about the role of social media in politics today. Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand how Americans think about the impact of social media on the way things are currently going in the country. To explore this, we surveyed 10,211 U.S. adults from July 13 to 19, 2020. Everyone who took part is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.

The public’s views on the positive and negative effect of social media vary widely by political affiliation and ideology. Across parties, larger shares describe social media’s impact as mostly negative rather than mostly positive, but this belief is particularly widespread among Republicans.

Roughly half of Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (53%) say social media have a largely negative effect on the way things are going in the country today, compared with 78% of Republicans and leaners who say the same. Democrats are about three times as likely as Republicans to say these sites have a mostly positive impact (14% vs. 5%) and twice as likely to say social media have neither a positive nor negative effect (32% vs. 16%).

Among Democrats, there are no differences in these views along ideological lines. Republicans, however, are slightly more divided by ideology. Conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate to liberal Republicans to say social media have a mostly negative effect (83% vs. 70%). Conversely, moderate to liberal Republicans are more likely than their conservative counterparts to say social media have a mostly positive (8% vs. 4%) or neutral impact (21% vs. 13%).

Younger adults are more likely to say social media have a positive impact on the way things are going in the country and are less likely to believe social media sites have a negative impact compared with older Americans. For instance, 15% of those ages 18 to 29 say social media have a mostly positive effect on the way things are going in the country today, while just 8% of those over age 30 say the same. Americans 18 to 29 are also less likely than those 30 and older to say social media have a mostly negative impact (54% vs. 67%).

However, views among younger adults vary widely by partisanship. For example, 43% of Democrats ages 18 to 29 say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going, compared with about three-quarters (76%) of Republicans in the same age group. In addition, these youngest Democrats are more likely than their Republican counterparts to say social media platforms have a mostly positive (20% vs. 6%) or neither a positive nor negative effect (35% vs. 18%) on the way things are going in the country today. This partisan division persists among those 30 and older, but most of the gaps are smaller than those seen within the younger cohort.

Views on the negative impact of social media vary only slightly between social media users (63%) and non-users (69%), with non-users being slightly more likely to say these sites have a negative impact. However, among social media users, those who say some or a lot of what they see on social media is related to politics are more likely than those who say a little or none of what they see on these sites is related to politics to think social media platforms have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the country today (65% vs. 50%).

Past Pew Research Center studies have drawn attention to the complicated relationships Americans have with social media. In 2019, a Center survey found that 72% of U.S. adults reported using at least one social media site. And while these platforms have been used for political and social activism and engagement , they also raise concerns among portions of the population. Some think political ads on these sites are unacceptable, and many object to the way social media platforms have been weaponized to spread made-up news and engender online harassment . At the same time, a share of users credit something they saw on social media with changing their views about a political or social issue. And growing shares of Americans who use these sites also report feeling worn out by political posts and discussions on social media.

Those who say social media have negative impact cite concerns about misinformation, hate, censorship; those who see positive impact cite being informed

When asked to elaborate on the main reason why they think social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in this country today, roughly three-in-ten (28%) respondents who hold that view mention the spreading of misinformation and made-up news. Smaller shares reference examples of hate, harassment, conflict and extremism (16%) as a main reason, and 11% mention a perceived lack of critical thinking skills among many users – voicing concern about people who use these sites believing everything they see or read or being unsure about what to believe.

In written responses that mention misinformation or made-up news, a portion of adults often include references to the spread, speed and amount of false information available on these platforms. (Responses are lightly edited for spelling, style and readability.) For example:

“They allow for the rampant spread of misinformation.” –Man, 36

“False information is spread at lightning speed – and false information never seems to go away.” –Woman, 71

“Social media is rampant with misinformation both about the coronavirus and political and social issues, and the social media organizations do not do enough to combat this.” –Woman, 26

“Too much misinformation and lies are promoted from unsubstantiated sources that lead people to disregard vetted and expert information.” –Woman, 64

People’s responses that centered around hate, harassment, conflict or extremism in some way often mention concerns that social media contributes to incivility online tied to anonymity, the spreading of hate-filled ideas or conspiracies, or the incitement of violence.

“People say incendiary, stupid and thoughtless things online with the perception of anonymity that they would never say to someone else in person.” –Man, 53

“Promotes hate and extreme views and in some cases violence.” –Man, 69

“People don’t respect others’ opinions. They take it personally and try to fight with the other group. You can’t share your own thoughts on controversial topics without fearing someone will try to hurt you or your family.” –Woman, 65

“Social media is where people go to say some of the most hateful things they can imagine.” –Man, 46

About one-in-ten responses talk about how people on social media can be easily confused and believe everything they see or read or are not sure about what to believe.

“People believe everything they see and don’t verify its accuracy.” –Man, 75

“Many people can’t distinguish between real and fake news and information and share it without doing proper research …” –Man, 32

“You don’t know what’s fake or real.” –Man, 49

“It is hard to discern truth.” –Woman, 80

“People cannot distinguish fact from opinion, nor can they critically evaluate sources. They tend to believe everything they read, and when they see contradictory information (particularly propaganda), they shut down and don’t appear to trust any information.” –Man, 42

Smaller shares complain that the platforms censor content or allow material that is biased (9%), too negative (7%) or too steeped in partisanship and division (6%).

“Social media is censoring views that are different than theirs. There is no longer freedom of speech.” –Woman, 42

“It creates more divide between people with different viewpoints.” –Man, 37

“Focus is on negativity and encouraging angry behavior rather than doing something to help people and make the world better.” –Woman, 66

Far fewer Americans – 10% – say they believe social media has a mostly positive effect on the way things are going in the country today. When those who hold these positive views were asked about the main reason why they thought this, one-quarter say these sites help people stay informed and aware (25%) and about one-in-ten say they allow for communication, connection and community-building (12%).

“We are now aware of what’s happening around the world due to the social media outlet.” –Woman, 28

“It brings awareness to important issues that affect all Americans.” –Man, 60

“It brings people together; folks can see that there are others who share the same/similar experience, which is really important, especially when so many of us are isolated.” –Woman, 36

“Helps people stay connected and share experiences. I also get advice and recommendations via social media.” –Man, 32

“It keeps people connected who might feel lonely and alone if there did not have social media …” – Man, 65

Smaller shares tout social media as a place where marginalized people and groups have a voice (8%) and as a venue for activism and social movements (7%).

“Spreading activism and info and inspiring participation in Black Lives Matter.” –Woman, 31

“It gives average people an opportunity to voice and share their opinions.” –Man, 67

“Visibility – it has democratized access and provided platforms for voices who have been and continue to be oppressed.” –Woman, 27

Note: This is part of a series of blog posts leading up to the 2020 presidential election that explores the role of social media in politics today. Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology.

Other posts in this series:

• 23% of users in U.S. say social media led them to change views on an issue; some cite Black Lives Matter
• 54% of Americans say social media companies shouldn’t allow any political ads
• 55% of U.S. social media users say they are ‘worn out’ by political posts and discussions
• Americans think social media can help build movements, but can also be a distraction
• Misinformation
• Misinformation Online
• National Conditions
• Political Discourse
• Politics Online
• Social Media

Brooke Auxier is a former research associate focusing on internet and technology at Pew Research Center .

Majorities in most countries surveyed say social media is good for democracy

­most americans favor restrictions on false information, violent content online, as ai spreads, experts predict the best and worst changes in digital life by 2035, social media seen as mostly good for democracy across many nations, but u.s. is a major outlier, the role of alternative social media in the news and information environment, most popular.

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Essay on Social Media for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on social media.

Social media is a tool that is becoming quite popular these days because of its user-friendly features. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more are giving people a chance to connect with each other across distances. In other words, the whole world is at our fingertips all thanks to social media. The youth is especially one of the most dominant users of social media. All this makes you wonder that something so powerful and with such a massive reach cannot be all good. Like how there are always two sides to a coin, the same goes for social media. Subsequently, different people have different opinions on this debatable topic. So, in this essay on Social Media, we will see the advantages and disadvantages of social media.

Advantages of Social Media

When we look at the positive aspect of social media, we find numerous advantages. The most important being a great device for education . All the information one requires is just a click away. Students can educate themselves on various topics using social media.

Moreover, live lectures are now possible because of social media. You can attend a lecture happening in America while sitting in India.

Furthermore, as more and more people are distancing themselves from newspapers, they are depending on social media for news. You are always updated on the latest happenings of the world through it. A person becomes more socially aware of the issues of the world.

In addition, it strengthens bonds with your loved ones. Distance is not a barrier anymore because of social media. For instance, you can easily communicate with your friends and relatives overseas.

Most importantly, it also provides a great platform for young budding artists to showcase their talent for free. You can get great opportunities for employment through social media too.

Another advantage definitely benefits companies who wish to promote their brands. Social media has become a hub for advertising and offers you great opportunities for connecting with the customer.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Disadvantages of Social Media

Despite having such unique advantages, social media is considered to be one of the most harmful elements of society. If the use of social media is not monitored, it can lead to grave consequences.

Thus, the sharing on social media especially by children must be monitored at all times. Next up is the addition of social media which is quite common amongst the youth.

This addiction hampers with the academic performance of a student as they waste their time on social media instead of studying. Social media also creates communal rifts. Fake news is spread with the use of it, which poisons the mind of peace-loving citizens.

In short, surely social media has both advantages and disadvantages. But, it all depends on the user at the end. The youth must particularly create a balance between their academic performances, physical activities, and social media. Excess use of anything is harmful and the same thing applies to social media. Therefore, we must strive to live a satisfying life with the right balance.

FAQs on Social Media

Q.1 Is social media beneficial? If yes, then how?

A.1 Social media is quite beneficial. Social Media offers information, news, educational material, a platform for talented youth and brands.

Q.2 What is a disadvantage of Social Media?

A.2 Social media invades your privacy. It makes you addicted and causes health problems. It also results in cyberbullying and scams as well as communal hatred.

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Effects of Social Media — Arguments Against Social Media: Overview of the Negative Facets

Arguments Against Social Media: Overview of The Negative Facets

• Categories: Effects of Social Media Social Media

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Published: Aug 14, 2023

Words: 745 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

The main arguments against social media.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Too much social media unveiling the effects of determinants in social media fatigue.

• 1 School of Music, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China
• 2 Department of Arts Management, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou, China
• 3 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, City University of Macau, Macau, Macao SAR, China
• 4 College of Landscape Architecture and Art, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
• 5 School of Music and Dance, Jiangxi University of Technology, Nanchang, China
• 6 Design College, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhoukou, Henan, China

Introduction: With the boom in social media, many people spend a lot of time on these platforms. Among them, some developed negative emotions, such as fatigue, depression, or disinterest in communicating, and used social media temporarily or permanently. Therefore, this study aims to explore the antecedents of social media fatigue, including social media helpfulness, social media self-efficacy, online subjective well-being, social comparison, compulsive social media use, privacy concerns, fear of missing out, and information overload, and to further discuss the determinants of social media fatigue on social anxiety and lurking.

Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to social media users, and 659 valid samples were obtained with the help of a purposive sampling strategy. The data was analyzed by the partial least square (PLS) method.

Results: The study found that social media self-efficacy had a significant negative effect on social media fatigue; compulsive social media use, fear of missing out, and information overload had a significant positive effect on social media fatigue; and social media fatigue had a significant positive effect on social anxiety and lurking.

Discussion: The research results can be used as a reference for social media marketers and internet service providers in developing business strategies.

1 Introduction

Today, users are becoming accustomed to using social media to send and deliver messages and video calls ( Nesi et al., 2018 ). With the popularity of social media and the increase in user dependence, it has become a part of people’s lives ( Xie et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, the outbreak of COVID-19 has had a huge impact on people’s lives. In response to the crisis brought about by the epidemic, many countries have adopted a series of preventive measures to avoid the spread of the virus. These measures include social distancing, remote working and learning, and postponement or cancelation of events or meetings ( Ares et al., 2021 ). With more and more activities taking place online, social media is now an effective and important way for users to get reliable information about global pandemics and health advice ( Pang, 2021 ).

Nowadays, tech-savvy young people make up the majority of social media users, but they often experience greater information overload in digital media environments ( Pang, 2020 , 2021 ; Liu H. et al., 2021 ; Xu et al., 2021 ). As time spent on social media increases, excessive use of social media may have physical health effects such as mental fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Research has indicated that individuals are avoiding participation in these communication services due to social media fatigue ( Whelan et al., 2020 ; Pang, 2021 ). Users do not necessarily have a strong psychological quality to resist information overload, leading to subjective fatigue and withdrawal from social media use ( Lee et al., 2016 ; Pang, 2019 ).

Clement (2020) pointed out that 93% of organizations have adopted social media as a tool in their marketing strategies and have generated huge advertising revenue, which is expected to grow by 28.4% by 2022. Research has further found that the use of social media in sales is positively correlated with salespeople’s customer knowledge, sales behavior, and performance ( Rodriguez et al., 2016 ; Itani et al., 2017 ). Social media can help organizations collect and process various customer information, thereby enabling companies to adjust their products to suit different preferences of customers ( Woodcock et al., 2011 ).

As social media usage continues to rise, consumers are beginning to experience social media fatigue. Since social media does not create content, social media marketing is entirely dependent on user-generated content to survive and thrive ( Liu et al., 2020 ). Therefore, when social media fatigue leads to reduced, suspended, or discontinued usage, or lurking to use social media without delivering content, it can lead marketers to worry that brand advertising on social media is less effective. For social network services (SNS) providers, as users reduce or withdraw from social media use, they will expect lower long-term profits ( Dhir et al., 2018 ). Scholars believe that social media fatigue has a significant negative impact on users, businesses, and service providers ( Oghuma et al., 2016 ; Shin and Shin, 2016 ). Fatigue can cause users to drop out of services, resulting in lower profits for companies and service operators.

Finally, a growing body of research has highlighted the potential relationship between increased social media use and various forms of negative mental health ( Luqman et al., 2017 ; Dhir et al., 2018 ; Logan et al., 2018 ; Abi-Jaoude et al., 2020 ; Pang, 2021 ). Previous studies have pointed out that users’ strategies in the face of social media fatigue include intentions to transfer, pause, exit, and interrupt the platform ( Ravindran et al., 2014 ; Shin and Shin, 2016 ; Luqman et al., 2017 ). However, few researches have examined lurking as a result of social media fatigue. Therefore, this study regards lurking as a consequence of social media fatigue and explores the factors that lead to social media fatigue and the psychological and behavioral effects on users. The research purpose is to explore the determinants and consequences of social media fatigue. Thus, several research questions are proposed, including (1) the factors that cause users’ social media fatigue, (2) the impact of social media fatigue on users’ psychology, and (3) the impact of social media fatigue on social anxiety and lurking.

2 Literature review and hypothesis development

The primary theoretical framework for this study on social media fatigue encompasses cognitive load theory (CLT), social cognitive theory, and social comparison theory. These theories offer an in-depth understanding of the psychological and emotional factors that lead to social media fatigue. Cognitive load theory, suggests that individuals have a finite capacity for processing information ( Sweller and Chandler, 1991 ; Sweller, 2023 ). In the realm of social media, users often encounter an overwhelming amount of information, resulting in cognitive overload and subsequent fatigue ( Kirschner et al., 2018 ). This theory clarifies why information overload and compulsive use of social media are pivotal antecedents of social media fatigue ( Chen et al., 2023 ). Additionally, social comparison theory, asserts that people assess their social and personal worth by comparing themselves to others ( Festinger, 1954 ; Powdthavee, 2024 ). On social media, this frequent comparison can lead to negative self-assessments and fatigue ( De Vries et al., 2023 ). This theory supports the inclusion of social comparison and FOMO as key antecedents in this research ( Gupta et al., 2021 ). Lastly, this research also employed social cognitive theory which indicates an individual’s confidence in coping with life stress and achieving performance ( Chou et al., 2024 ). This theory supports the social media self-efficacy antecedent of this research ( Almulla and Al-Rahmi, 2023 ). The selected antecedents—social media helpfulness, social media self-efficacy, online subjective well-being, social comparison, compulsive social media use, privacy concerns, FOMO, and information overload—are grounded in these theories ( Rezabeigi Davarani et al., 2023 ; Sweller, 2023 ). Collectively, they provide a solid theoretical foundation for exploring the determinants and consequences of social media fatigue ( Jabeen et al., 2023 ). The research aims to understand how these factors contribute to fatigue and its effects on social anxiety and lurking behaviors, offering valuable insights for social media marketers and internet service providers.

2.1 Social media fatigue

Social media fatigue comes from the word “fatigue.” Several medical studies have suggested that fatigue is a psychosomatic response and a series of phenomena of self-evaluation and stress perception ( Wijesuriya et al., 2007 ; Pang, 2021 ). Other researches define social media fatigue as a subjective and multidimensional user experience, including tiredness, annoyance, anger, disappointment, caution, loss of interest, or low need/motivation to interact with others on Social media ( Ravindran et al., 2014 ; Zhang et al., 2016 ; Teng et al., 2022 ).

In other words, excessive and compulsive use of social media, or perceived information overload on social media, may lead to users becoming tired of social media activity, a phenomenon known as social media fatigue ( Ravindran et al., 2014 ; Bright and Logan, 2018 ). Because people rely heavily on Social media to connect with others and search heavily for information about the outbreak. Users are exposed to excessive and ambiguous information on social media, resulting in fatigue ( Islam et al., 2021 ). Additionally, scholars have argued that social media fatigue is harmful to both users and service providers ( Shin and Shin, 2016 ). For example, if users continue to use social media, their boredom and lack of enthusiasm may lead to lower engagement ( Pang et al., 2024 ). Furthermore, users with social media fatigue may experience discontinuous or interrupted use behavior ( Luqman et al., 2017 ; Fu et al., 2020 ; Liu Z. et al., 2021 ). In addition, social media fatigue is closely related to the health of the mind and body. Dhir et al. (2018) and Pang (2021) indicated that it causes negative psychological effects on users, such as depression, anxiety, emotional stress, and social anxiety. In conclusion, this study proposes that determinants of social media fatigue include social media helpfulness, social media self-efficacy, online subjective well-being, social comparison, compulsive social media use, privacy concerns, fear of missing out, and information overload; the consequences are social anxiety and lurking. Next, each of these determinants and consequences is described and the research hypotheses are developed.

2.2 Determinants of social media fatigue

2.2.1 social media helpfulness.

Today, social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) have become one of the ways users communicate with each other. They provide users with the functionality and helpfulness to engage in conversations, share ideas, form relationships, and interest groups, and develop their presence, reputation, and identity ( Kietzmann et al., 2011 ). Social media helpfulness refers to the extent to which users receive resources and useful information from exploring social media ( Bright and Logan, 2018 ). Users perceive social media to be useful because they satisfy needs, such as communicating with others, finding friends, keeping up-to-date, and being entertained on social media ( Naranjo-Zolotov et al., 2019 ; Taylor et al., 2022 ).

Foster et al. (2010) mentioned that people use social media because of their informative value. In other words, users feel that using social media is helpful to them. In addition, Logan et al. (2018) believe that users can obtain resources and useful information from social media, and then perceive the social media’s helpfulness. Therefore, this study proposes a hypothesis.

H1 : Social media helpfulness is negatively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.2 Social media self-efficacy

Bandura (1977) defines self-efficacy as the belief that an individual can organize and perform a specific action. Also, self-efficacy is a component of social cognitive theory and can be thought of as an individual’s confidence in coping with life stress and achieving performance ( Schwarzer et al., 1997 ; Alshahrani and Rasmussen Pennington, 2018 ). In addition, scholars have pointed out that people with high confidence are more likely to take action and stick with it, and they are also willing to adopt new technologies or search for useful information ( Stajkovic, 2006 ; Hocevar et al., 2014 ). In short, self-efficacy affects behavior ( Bandura, 1986 ).

Research has found that media use experience has a positive effect on self-efficacy ( Eastin and LaRose, 2000 ). As a result, users’ perceived ability to use social media increases, and their willingness to share information increases, resulting in happier feelings ( Lenhart et al., 2010 ). In addition, Bearden and Netemeyer (1999) proposed social media confidence as the ability of users to perceive their ability to process content on social media. Hocevar et al. (2014) argued that social media self-efficacy is the degree to which users perceive expected results to be achieved in social media. Logan et al. (2018) believe that users perceive social media self-efficacy, and their confidence will increase their willingness to use social media. In conclusion, this study suggests that social media users are less likely to experience social media fatigue when they perceive social media self-efficacy. Therefore, a hypothesis is proposed.

H2 : Social media self-efficacy is negatively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.3 Online subjective well-being

Subjective well-being is defined as a broad phenomenon that includes people’s emotional responses, domain satisfaction, and overall judgments of life satisfaction ( Diener et al., 1999 ). It has two important components, including emotional well-being, which assesses an individual’s mood, and cognitive well-being ( Russell and Daniels, 2018 ), which measures an individual’s life satisfaction ( Verduyn et al., 2017 ). Emotional well-being is measured by pleasant emotions (e.g., joy, happiness, ecstasy) or unpleasant emotions (e.g., guilt, sadness, stress); cognitive well-being is measured based on one’s satisfaction with life ( Di Martino et al., 2018 ). Changes in information technology can also affect subjective well-being. The popularity of information and communication technology in the media has improved people’s well-being ( Graham and Nikolova, 2013 ), but it also occupies the time when people maintain relationships with friends, which indirectly has a negative impact on subjective well-being ( Bruni and Stanca, 2008 ).

Online subjective well-being is defined as the broad range of feelings and emotions experienced by individuals using the internet and social media, such as satisfaction, well-being, and negative and positive affect ( Verduyn et al., 2017 ; Fan et al., 2019 ; Kaur et al., 2021 ; Pang and Zhang, 2024 ). Huang (2016) mentioned that online subjective well-being refers to personal well-being, perceived social support, and satisfaction with online or social media life, and online social well-being has a strong impact on the continued use intention of personal social media. Previous studies have suggested that subjective well-being can be negatively affected by social media use ( Gerson et al., 2016 ; Yao and Cao, 2017 ). Kaur et al. (2021) developed a research framework to examine the relationship between online subjective well-being and social media fatigue. They found that individuals who perceived higher online subjective well-being may experience lower fatigue due to their ability to properly balance and process social media communications.

Previous research examined subjective well-being as a consequence of social media use ( Gerson et al., 2016 ). Satici and Uysal (2015) pointed out that life satisfaction and subjective well-being are negatively correlated with adverse social media use symptoms. Kaur et al. (2021) believe that users’ satisfaction and high perceived benefits from social media enable them to have higher cognitive processing ability to deal with information and content on social media, thereby experiencing low social media fatigue. In other words, social media users with high online subjective well-being experienced fewer negative phenomena, such as fatigue. In addition, previous studies have shown that social media use and personal subjective well-being are negatively correlated with negative emotions (e.g., jealousy, depression, psychological burden) ( Tandoc et al., 2015 ; Verduyn et al., 2015 ), which in turn reduce life satisfaction ( Frison and Eggermont, 2016 ) and make social media less attractive to users ( De Vries and Kühne, 2015 ). In summary, this study proposes a hypothesis.

H3 : Online subjective well-being is negatively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.4 Social comparison

Social comparison theory (SCT) assumes that individuals may engage in two forms of social comparison, upward and downward. People assess their current abilities and ideas by comparing themselves to those who are better off (upward) or worse off (downward) ( Festinger, 1954 ; Kim and Chock, 2015 ). In the absence of objective information, people have an intrinsic drive to compare themselves with others, often to gain an accurate self-evaluation. Social media provides a wealth of easily accessible information and thus can serve as a new way for people to engage in social comparisons ( Burnell et al., 2019 ). On the other hand, if users of social media cannot have a perception of their abilities, they will compare themselves with others ( Festinger, 1954 ; Talwar et al., 2019 ). Individuals compare themselves to others when confronted with information about others, such as their occupations, abilities, and achievements ( Mussweiler et al., 2006 ). Social comparison in social media refers to the process in which individuals compare their abilities and opinions with others by browsing various information disclosed by others in the process of using social media ( Yang et al., 2018 ). They may perceive others to be relatively better placed in the community than they are and make upward social comparisons ( Latif et al., 2021 ).

Cramer et al. (2016) believe that comparing with others is a human tendency. Although SCT assumes that individuals can make upward and downward comparisons. However, studies exploring social media have shown that individuals tend to make more negative social comparisons, which can lead to decreased well-being, such as depressive symptoms ( Faranda and Roberts, 2019 ). Song et al. (2019) explained that sharing content such as videos and photos on social media to positively present themselves favorably can lead others to see their positive but distorted lives. Lim and Choi (2017) found that when social comparison becomes a stressor for using social media, it may lead to emotional exhaustion in the user experience. Based on previous research findings, this study proposes a hypothesis.

H4 : Social comparison is positively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.5 Compulsive social media use

Compulsive behavior, or compulsive use, is a repetitive addiction, such as compulsive buying, overeating, or excessive use of online social media, that can have negative personal and social consequences. Compulsive use emphasizes the abnormal behavior of individuals who are unable to rationally control or regulate their daily performance ( Gámez-Guadix et al., 2012 ; Venkatesh et al., 2019 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). In social media research, compulsive use is often associated with internet addiction disorder (IAD) ( Venkatesh et al., 2019 ). Unger et al. (2018) demonstrated that compulsive behavior is an addictive process in which vulnerable individuals seek escape from stress and anxiety and engage in frequent recreational and leisure activities. Despite intentional efforts to discourage or reduce compulsive behavior, it tends to persist ( Gong et al., 2019 ).

Masur et al. (2014) found that social media addiction often leads to wasted time, reduced social connections, lower work and school performance, loss of control, and withdrawal syndrome. Compulsive use is primarily explored within a range of unhealthy physiological behaviors, including smoking or alcohol abuse, gaming addiction, and specific social media overuse ( Soroya et al., 2021 ). Samaha and Hawi (2016) believe that smartphone addiction has a negative impact on mental health and well-being, and users with higher addiction risks experience higher perceived stress, which in turn reduces life satisfaction and academic performance. Dhir et al. (2018) used a stressor-stress-outcome (SSO) framework to explore the relationship between mental health and compulsive social media use on social media fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that compulsive social media use significantly induced social media fatigue, which in turn led to anxiety and depression. Pang’s (2021) research also obtained similar results. Compulsive social media use is one of the major contributors to social media fatigue.

Ho et al. (2014) found that excessive internet use can lead to anxiety and depression. SNS exhaustion is a psychological consequence of excessive use of social media, resulting in low satisfaction. This phenomenon reflects individuals’ psychological responses (e.g., stress) to social media use ( Maier et al., 2015 ). Elhai et al. (2016) found that compulsive mobile phone use affects people’s behavior and social interactions. Additionally, Dhir et al. (2018) found that compulsive social media use negatively affects cognition and performance and contributes to social media fatigue. According to previous studies, compulsive media use is positively correlated with social media fatigue ( Islam et al., 2021 ; Mamun et al., 2021 ). Based on the above, this study proposes a hypothesis.

H5 : Compulsive social media use is positively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.6 Privacy concerns

With the growth of social media, online privacy is a major concern for many users. The popularity of social media and the internet has also raised concerns about privacy and security, so privacy issues are becoming more and more important. Personal privacy concerns refer to the fear that one’s personal information will be collected and misused by others, and cannot be fully protected ( Stewart and Segars, 2002 ). Stutzman et al. (2011) believe that people who are more concerned about the improper use of personal information will engage in privacy protection behaviors. Bright and Logan (2018) mentioned that as users continue to share more personal information, privacy concerns will become their primary consideration when using social media and applications. Lee and Hsieh (2013) observed that privacy concerns are one of the components of fatigue.

Logan et al. (2018) pointed out that people with high social media self-efficacy tend to perceive the helpfulness of social media, and at the same time they will become more and more aware of privacy concerns, leading to social media fatigue. Users of social media may worry about the impact of their disclosure on their reputation in social media, leading to fatigue ( Lee et al., 2019 ). Bright and Logan (2018) found that people who are highly concerned about privacy are prone to social media fatigue. According to past studies, high levels of privacy concerns consume social media users’ cognition and may translate into fatigue ( Talwar et al., 2019 ; Malik et al., 2020 ; Kaur et al., 2021 ). Therefore, the hypothesis is proposed.

H6 : Privacy concerns are positively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.7 Fear of missing out

Fear is an unpleasant emotion that can damage people’s mental health. When fear is excessive, it can lead to phobias and social anxiety ( Mertens et al., 2020 ). Fear of missing out (FoMO) is defined as worry or fear of being disconnected, absent, or missing out on experiences that others (e.g., peers, friends, family) might have or enjoy. When experiencing FoMO, people may be persistently and eagerly seeking and acknowledging the activities of others, for example, constantly checking social media content, and checking whether friends are attending parties they were not invited ( Przybylski et al., 2013 ). The concept of FoMO applies offline, in real life, and online social media. FoMO is a constant state of mental flow. Users’ FoMO drives social media use, yet creates a sense of missing out ( Przybylski et al., 2013 ; Tandon et al., 2021 ). Based on the SSO framework, FoMO is one of the important stressors that put social media users under mental and emotional stress, which in turn triggers undesirable behaviors (e.g., avoidance) ( Zhang et al., 2020 ).

FoMO has been explored in past studies discussing social media ( Whelan et al., 2020 ; Tandon et al., 2021 ). Bright and Logan (2018) found that FoMO can lead to fatigue in individuals. In addition, Tandon et al. (2021) believe that if users continue to use social media due to FoMO, they will be overloaded with information and cause fatigue. Based on the above, this study proposes a hypothesis.

H7 : Fear of missing out is positively related to social media fatigue.

2.2.8 Information overload

With the development of information technology, there are more channels for individuals to obtain a large amount of information than before. The negative results brought about by too much information have also attracted increasing attention from researchers ( Luqman et al., 2017 ). Humans have a limited ability to process information, and information that exceeds this ability will lead to performance degradation ( Hunter, 2004 ). Information overload is defined as a situation in which a large amount of input information exceeds the information processing capacity of an individual ( Jones et al., 2004 ; Soto-Acosta et al., 2014 ; Guo et al., 2020 ; Islam et al., 2021 ). Various social media have been used as sources of crisis events and related information during COVID-19 ( Islam et al., 2021 ). At the same time, young people frequently and excessively participate in social media activities and continuously obtain various COVID-19 information from there, which may lead to an overload of relevant information and lead to adverse psychological consequences ( Liu Z. et al., 2021 ; Soroya et al., 2021 ). In addition, large amounts of information can be generated and disseminated rapidly on social media. Information overload occurs when people are exposed to more information than they can process efficiently ( Maier et al., 2015 ; Zhang et al., 2016 ).

The limited capacity mode shows that individuals have limited resources to process information. Lang (2000) believed that information overload has an impact on social media fatigue. In a social media environment, users acquire vast amounts of information ( Bright and Logan, 2018 ). However, the stress of social media-induced information overload can lead to emotional fatigue in users. When users cannot effectively integrate, absorb, and utilize too much information, it will have an impact on work, life, and interpersonal relationships ( Zhang et al., 2021 ). In conclusion, information overload on social media may trigger user fatigue ( Ravindran et al., 2014 ; Lee et al., 2016 ). Thus, the hypothesis is proposed.

H8 : Information overload is positively related to social media fatigue.

2.3 Consequences of social media fatigue

2.3.1 social anxiety.

Schlenker and Leary (1982) defined social anxiety as the anxiety that individuals feel when they are concerned about interpersonal evaluation when they make a specific impression on those they talk to in real or virtual social situations. Social anxiety refers to the pervasive and debilitating experience of discomfort and avoidance of interpersonal interactions due to fear of being negatively judged, rejected, or embarrassed ( Panayiotou et al., 2020 ; Islam et al., 2021 ; Ran et al., 2022 ). Previous studies have pointed out that social anxiety is an important emotional factor, which is closely related to mobile phone addiction ( Annoni et al., 2021 ). In addition, some studies related to the Internet have explored social anxiety ( Hwang et al., 2020 ; Pitcho-Prelorentzos et al., 2020 ; Cao et al., 2022 ), arguing that information overload can affect emotional stress through social media fatigue and social anxiety ( Pang, 2021 ).

In recent years, researchers have begun to explore the social anxiety of social media users. Scholars believe that when experiencing fatigue, users’ cognitive abilities decline, thereby predisposing them to inadequate regulation and control of emotions and attention, such as anxiety ( Grieve et al., 2013 ; Fox and Moreland, 2015 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). Social anxiety, considered a negatively reactive emotion, is a cognitive, psychological, and behavioral anxiety disorder associated with cognitive dysfunction and fatigue ( Keles et al., 2020 ). When users experience social media fatigue, the psychological and physical effects are profound, including emotional anxiety and decreased life satisfaction and productivity ( Dhir et al., 2018 ). Alkis et al. (2017) developed and verified the social anxiety scale of social media users, and found that undergraduate students have social anxiety caused by social media, and have higher social anxiety for SNS. Social media fatigue refers to negative emotional responses to activities on social media such as tiredness, burnout, exhaustion, frustration, and lack of interest in communicating. Based on previous literature, this study proposes the following hypothesis.

H9 : Social media fatigue is positively related to social anxiety.

2.3.2 Lurking

Social media users have shown mental and psychological deterioration due to social media fatigue ( Dhir et al., 2018 ). Thus, users facing social media fatigue are more willing to change their status quo and existing unhealthy status ( Maier et al., 2015 ). Lurking is associated with non-posting behavior and is defined as inactive online user behavior. They rarely post, are silent, do not participate, or have not been involved and contributed to online activities ( Nonnecke and Preece, 2001 ). These users become social media lurkers ( Sun et al., 2014 ). And lurking behavior can influence others to become lurkers ( Zhang et al., 2021 ). Moreover, Rui and Stefanone (2013) believe that some users who find it difficult to adapt to the diversity of social media will overload their information, making users unable to cope effectively and choose to be lurkers. Lurking was perceived by users as a safer and easier social strategy for coping with such distress. Wisniewski et al. (2014) argue that, for social media users, lurking acts as a maladaptive countermeasure to reduce their short-term stress at the expense of increasing long-term stress.

Researchers have found that social media fatigue may be an important driver of discontinuous use intentions ( Ravindran et al., 2014 ; Zhang et al., 2016 ). The variety of information and social demands on social media can overwhelm users’ processing capabilities. Users can experience fatigue after expending too much energy dealing with these demands. Lurking behaviors induced by social media fatigue include ignorance, avoidance, and withdrawal ( Zhang et al., 2020 ). Users may use the above behaviors to escape negative emotions and fatigue ( Khan, 2017 ). Based on the above findings, this study puts forward the following hypothesis.

H10 : Social media fatigue is positively related to lurking.

2.4 Social media fatigue as a mediator

The rationale for selecting social media fatigue as a mediator in this research lies in its links to both the antecedents and outcomes of this study. Empirical studies have shown that variables such as information overload, compulsive use of social media, social comparison, and FOMO are direct contributors to social media fatigue ( Przybylski et al., 2013 ; Bright et al., 2015 ; Dhir et al., 2018 ). Cognitive load theory posits that the cognitive burden from excessive information and compulsive behaviors leads to fatigue ( Sweller, 2023 ), while social comparison theory suggests that social comparisons and FOMO result in emotional depletion ( Powdthavee, 2024 ). These antecedents are specifically tied to social media fatigue, making it a more appropriate construct for the unique context of social media use. Additionally, existing research indicates that social media fatigue is a predictor of behaviors such as lurking and psychological states like social anxiety ( Świątek et al., 2021 ; Hong et al., 2023 ). Consequently, social media fatigue is used as the mediator because it effectively represents the mental and emotional stress associated with social media, providing a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for examining how these antecedents lead to the identified outcomes. Hence, this research aims to examine the several indirect relationships generated from the theoretical framework with social media fatigue being a mediating variable.

Through a literature review, this study attempts to identify the determinants that influence social media fatigue, and its possible consequences, then formulate hypotheses and construct a research model (see Figure 1 ).

Figure 1 . Research model.

3 Research method

3.1 research design.

Based on the identified characteristics, the researchers defined the target population consisting of individuals who spent a significant amount of time on social media, engaged in frequent social media interactions, or exhibited behaviors indicative of compulsive social media use. The researchers employed a purposive sampling technique, which is characterized by the deliberate selection of participants possessing certain qualities that are of interest to the researcher. In this study, the researchers purposively selected participants through social media platforms known for high levels of user engagement, such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter based on their social media usage patterns, and targeted individuals who exhibited behaviors indicative of potential susceptibility to social media fatigue.

The study used an online questionnaire and posted the URL of the questionnaire on social media. In addition, to improve the recovery of valid questionnaires, this study also commissioned a professional academic questionnaire company to distribute. The questionnaire was distributed from February 8, 2021 to March 9, 2022. Each questionnaire was answered anonymously. Finally, a total of 659 valid questionnaires were collected. The demographics of the respondents are shown in Table 1 .

Table 1 . Demographic statistics ( N  = 659).

The research questionnaire was divided into two parts, containing questions related to social media use and demographics (e.g., gender, age, occupation, education, and most used social media). Questions about social media use are based on previous research. The questions on social media helpfulness and self-efficacy were taken from Bright et al. (2015) ; the questions on online subjective well-being were referenced from Ahn and Shin (2013) , Brunstein (1993) , Chang and Hsu (2016) , and Diener et al. (2015) ; the questions on social comparison were referenced from Gibbons and Buunk (1999) , Latif et al. (2021) , Reer et al. (2019) , and Talwar et al. (2019) ; the questions on compulsive social media use are taken from Panda and Jain (2018) ; the questions on privacy concerns are taken from Dhir et al. (2018) and Malhotra et al. (2004) ; the questions on FoMO were taken from Przybylski et al. (2013) ; the questions on information overload were taken from Zhang et al. (2016) ; the questions on social media fatigue were taken from Dhir et al. (2018) , Islam et al. (2021) , and Whelan et al. (2020) ; the questions on social anxiety were taken from Alkis et al. (2017) ; and the questions on lurking were taken from Osatuyi (2015) . The measurement scale was a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 for “strongly disagree” to 7 for “strongly agree.” Respondents were asked to answer based on their own experience. Also, this study sought advice from experts to improve the quality of the questionnaire. The questionnaire is provided in the Supplementary Material section of the research.

The research analyzed the data in two steps by employing a partial least squares (PLS) methodology. Firstly, the analysis regarding the convergent and discriminant validity of constructs was analyzed ( Anderson and Gerbing, 1988 ; Rahardja et al., 2023 ). In the second step, the analysis regarding path coefficients and hypotheses was conducted. This study selected the PLS methodology because of its capability to analyze relationships ( Petter et al., 2007 ) and complicated frameworks ( Chin and Newsted, 1999 ; Tao et al., 2022 ).

4 Research results

4.1 reliability and validity.

This study applied Partial Least Squares (PLS) to test the measurement model and validate the research model. First, the reliability was tested by Composite Reliability (CR) and Cronbach’s Alpha. Hulland (1999) suggested that CR should be greater than 0.7, indicating that the measured variables are internally consistent. The CR of the latent variable in this study was between 0.780 and 0.950 (see Table 2 ), which was greater than the recommended value (0.7), indicating a good level and internal consistency of the measurement constructs. Hair et al. (2017) suggested that Cronbach’s Alpha is greater than 0.7, indicating that the constructs have good reliability. Table 2 shows that except for Cronbach’s Alpha for the construct “lurking,” which is less than 0.7, the others range from 0.765 to 0.934 (see Table 2 ), which means that the questionnaire has good reliability.

Table 2 . Reliability and validity analysis.

Next, this study examined convergent validity and discriminant validity. Discriminant Validity refers to the degree of correlation between different constructs. When the correlation between the constructs is low, it means that the constructs are different from each other, i.e., they have discriminant validity. The purpose of measuring convergent validity is to ensure that all questions in a construct have a high correlation with that construct. This study used PLS to test Factor Loading and Average Variance Extracted (AVE). The factor loadings ranged from 0.516 to 0.971 (see Table 2 ), which was greater than the recommended value (0.5) by Hair et al. (2017) , indicating that the questions had convergent validity. In addition, this study had questions regarding the eight determinants of social media fatigue. One of the questions on social media helpfulness resulted in an AVE lower than Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) suggested value (0.5) and was removed. The AVE ranged from 0.542 to 0.822, indicating that the constructs had convergent validity. In addition, the correlations between the other constructs were smaller than the square root of the AVE for each construct, indicating discriminant validity (see Table 3 ). In addition to the Fornell-Larker Discriminant Validity, this study further tested the discriminant validity with the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT). Table 4 shows that the HTMT ranged from 0.050 to 0.881, which is smaller than the value suggested by Henseler et al. (2015) (0.900), indicating that this study had discriminant validity. Table 5 further indicates the cross-loadings of the constructs. The highlighted values indicate that a cross-loading value for a specific construct will be the highest in the latent structure in comparison to other values. Hence, the cross-loadings further reaffirm a satisfactory discriminant validity for the constructs of this study.

Table 3 . Fornell-Larker discriminant validity.

Table 4 . Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio (HTMT).

Table 5 . Cross-loadings.

4.2 Structural equation modeling analysis

After testing the reliability and validity of the measurement model, the hypothesis testing analysis was performed on the structural model. This study used SmartPLS as the analytical tool for hypothesis testing. The main method was the explained variation (R 2 ) to measure the fitness of the research model, and the standardized path coefficient and p -value to determine whether the hypotheses were supported.

Table 5 shows the results of the hypothesis testing. Social media self-efficacy had a negative significant effect on social media fatigue ( β  = −0.115, p  < 0.05); compulsive social media use, FoMO, and information overload had a positive significant effect on social media fatigue ( β  = 0.108, p  < 0.01; β  = 0.121, p  < 0.01; β  = 0.612, p  < 0.001). Therefore, H2, H5, H7, and H8 were supported. However, social media helpfulness, online subjective well-being, social comparison, and privacy concerns had no significant effect on social media fatigue ( β  = 0.090, p  > 0.05; β  = −0.093, p  > 0.05; β  = −0.057, p  > 0.05; β  = 0.050, p  > 0.05). Therefore, H1, H3, H4, and H6 were not supported. Finally, social media fatigue had a positive and significant effect on social anxiety ( β  = 0.367, p  < 0.001) and lurking ( β  = 0.636, p  < 0.001), indicating that H9 and H10 were supported ( Table 6 ).

Table 6 . Direct effect analysis.

R 2 represents the ability of the dependent variable to be explained by the independent variable, or the percentage of the variance that can be explained by the exogenous variables compared to the endogenous variables. R 2 is between 0 and 1. The closer it is to 1, the better the explanatory power. Figure 2 shows that the explanatory power of social media fatigue is 59.0% ( R 2  = 0.590), social anxiety is 40.4% ( R 2  = 0.404), and lurking is 13.4% ( R 2  = 0.134).

Figure 2 . Research results.

In addition, this study also used the results from SMART PLS to indicate indirect relationships. According to the findings indicated in Table 7 . OSWB ( β  = −0.058, T -value = 1.764), PC ( β  = 0.031, T -value = 1.466), SC ( β  = −0.037, T -value = 1.468), and HF ( β  = 0.050, T -value = 1.845) did not have significant indirect relationships with SA, while having SMF as a mediator. Furthermore, SE ( β  = −0.066, T -value = 2.078), CSMU ( β  = 0.067, T -value = 2.843), FOMO ( β  = 0.078, T -value = 2.629), and IO ( β  = 0.390, T -value = 13.253) were found to significantly impact SA indirectly via SMF.

Table 7 . Indirect relationships.

Moreover, OSWB ( β  = −0.034, T -value = 1.721), PC ( β  = 0.018, T -value = 1.449), SC ( β  = −0.022, T -value = 1.418), and HF ( β  = 0.029, T -value = 1.822) did not indirectly impact LU, while having SMF as a mediator. Lastly, SE ( β  = −0.038, T -value = 2.064), CSMU ( β  = 0.039, T -value = 2.669), FOMO ( β  = 0.045, T -value = 2.436), and IO ( β  = 0.226, T -value = 8.155) were found to have significant indirect relationships with LU via SMF.

5 Discussion

5.1 conclusion.

The research purpose is to explore the determinants and consequences of social media fatigue when users use social media. Through data analysis, this research has obtained some conclusions, which are explained as follows.

First, social media self-efficacy was found to have a significant negative impact on social media fatigue. The result can be compared to an earlier study by Liu and He (2021) . According to Liu and He’s (2021) study, social media has become an integral part of people’s lives. While enjoying the benefits of online communication, many young individuals are experiencing various challenges such as negative comparisons, too much information, and difficulties in interacting with others. As a result, social media fatigue (SMF) is emerging among young people. Liu and He’s (2021) study investigated the factors contributing to SMF through a questionnaire survey. Liu and He’s (2021) study identified several factors such as negative comparisons, social media self-efficacy, and information overload that significantly contributed to SMF.

Moreover, the research results showed that compulsive social media use and FoMO had significant positive impacts on social media fatigue. The results of the present study can be compared to an earlier study by Dhir et al. (2018) . According to Dhir et al.’s (2018) study the rise of social media has led to increased users but also fatigue. Dhir et al.’s (2018) study investigated links between well-being and fatigue. It used a framework to examine triggers and outcomes. The data was collected from Indian adolescent users. Dhir et al.’s (2018) findings indicated that compulsive use led to fatigue, then anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the fear of missing out indirectly predicted fatigue.

On the other hand, information overload has a significant positive impact on social media fatigue. This result is similar to a previous study by Pang (2021) . According to Pang’s (2021) study social media supports during pandemics like COVID-19, but its negative impacts are understudied. Pang’s (2021) study explored the effects on well-being, focusing on WeChat and information overload. Pang’s (2021) study collected the data from 566 young individuals. Pang’s (2021) study indicated that overload triggers fatigue, leading to stress and anxiety. Social media fatigue is the feeling of overwhelm, burnout, and fatigue caused by users receiving too much information from social media ( Li et al., 2024 ). However, they also worry about not keeping up with current events and may not be able to communicate with their peers. Their chronic fear and stress of not having the same experience as others can lead to fatigue.

Consequently, the research results also showed that social media helpfulness had no impact on social media fatigue. The research results can be compared to a study conducted by Bright et al. (2015) . According to Bright et al.’s (2015) study social media usage rise can cause social media fatigue. Bright et al.’s (2015) study used Lang’s model to examine information overload’s role. Bright et al.’s (2015) research explored fatigue’s antecedents including efficacy, helpfulness, confidence, and privacy concerns. According to the findings of Bright et al.’s (2015) study social media helpfulness negatively impacted social media fatigue, while privacy concerns and confidence were the top predictors of fatigue.

Furthermore, according to the present study the perceived online subjective well-being of social media users did not impact social media fatigue. This study argues that some social media users may be dissatisfied with the online community and network environment, and thus unable to use them appropriately and reduce fatigue ( Zhao and Khan, 2021 ). The present study’s result can be compared to a study conducted by Kaur et al. (2021) . According to Kaur et al.’s (2021) study scholars focus on social media’s dark impact on well-being. Kaur et al.’s (2021) study employed the limited-capacity model. Kaur et al.’s (2021) study explored the US social media users’ fatigue and collected data from Prolific Academic. Kaur et al.’s (2021) study results showed that online subjective well-being related positively to self-disclosure and social comparison, while negatively correlated with social media fatigue.

Additionally, social comparison has no significant impact on social media fatigue. This study argues that upward social comparison on social media may trigger benign jealousy and thus impact positive behavioral intentions. For example, when a friend has a superior life status on social media, it is positively related to behavioral intentions of self-enhancement and self-improvement through virtuous envy ( Latif et al., 2021 ). Social media fatigue was not significant because comparisons with others did not cause a psychological burden. The result can be compared to a previous study by Jabeen et al. (2023) . According to Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study social media’s prevalence leads to FoMO and fatigue. However, there was a lack of knowledge about their influence on users’ psychology. Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study filled this gap by examining FoMO stimuli. Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study also investigated narcissism’s impact on self-disclosure and social comparison. Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study collected data from social media users in the US. Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study results indicated that FoMO was linked to time cost and anxiety and also influenced narcissistic admiration and rivalry processes. Furthermore, Jabeen et al.’s (2023) study also indicated that social comparison positively affected fatigue.

On the other hand, the impact of privacy concerns on social media fatigue was not significant. Jang and Sung (2021) believe that although privacy concerns are related to the use of online services, highly creative users will still accept and use innovations and actively use online services. This study infers that although the website requires users to provide personal information, users who have the awareness of protecting their basic personal information will not fill in unnecessary information, and thus will not cause fatigue. Another reason is that some social media are only used by users to connect and interact with others ( Malik et al., 2020 ). In other words, users can set their personal social media accounts to private and strictly control followers to prevent private information from being disclosed to unknown users.

Furthermore, the present research results showed that social media fatigue had a positive and significant impact on social anxiety. Social media fatigue can lead to increased social anxiety among social media users, which can be compared to previous research by Świątek et al. (2021) . According to Świątek et al.’s (2021) study several interdisciplinary literatures explored social media fatigue’s correlates, including anxiety and FoMO. Świątek et al.’s (2021) study examined FoMO’s role in the anxiety-social media fatigue link. The data for Świątek et al.’s (2021) study was collected online from 264 participants, mostly women. Świątek et al.’s (2021) results indicated that higher trait anxiety is related to more intense social media fatigue. Furthermore, FoMO mediated the anxiety-social media fatigue association across dimensions.

Lastly, according to the present study, social media fatigue was found to significantly impact lurking. The result can be compared to an earlier research by Hong et al. (2023) . According to Hong et al.’s (2023) study lurking surpasses interaction in social network app usage. Hong et al.’s (2023) study scrutinized lurking behavior and its drivers. Hong et al.’s (2023) study examined information refusal, browsing, and fatigue. Hong et al.’s (2023) research collected insights from 786 questionnaires and highlighted fatigue and refusal as key factors. Social media fatigue emerged as the predominant contributor to lurking.

5.2 Theoretical implications

The research purpose is to explore the determinants and consequences of social media fatigue. Previous studies have explored many of the determinants (e.g., self-disclosure, FoMO, social comparison, privacy concerns, information overload, and system overload) and consequences (e.g., anxiety, depression, and emotional stress) of social media fatigue ( Bright et al., 2015 ; Lee et al., 2016 ; Dhir et al., 2018 ; Logan et al., 2018 ; Kaur et al., 2021 ; Pang, 2021 ; Tandon et al., 2021 ). However, most previous studies have focused on the factors that cause social media fatigue, but the consequences of fatigue are rarely discussed. Also, most of the previous studies discussing the consequences of social media fatigue have been about declines in social media activity, discontinuous use, and discontinuing behaviors ( Luqman et al., 2017 ; Fu et al., 2020 ; Liu Z. et al., 2021 ).

Furthermore, by merging CLT ( Sweller, 2023 ) with social comparison theory ( Festinger, 1954 ; Powdthavee, 2024 ) and social cognitive theory ( Chou et al., 2024 ), the research illustrates how factors like information overload ( Pang, 2021 ) and compulsive social media use ( Dhir et al., 2018 ) lead to cognitive exhaustion and fatigue, emphasizing the unique cognitive strain associated with digital environments. Additionally, it highlights the applicability of social comparison theory ( De Vries et al., 2023 ) by demonstrating how frequent social comparisons and FOMO on social media platforms lead to emotional fatigue ( Jabeen et al., 2023 ). It also signifies the importance of employing social cognitive theory ( Almulla and Al-Rahmi, 2023 ) to indicate the relationship between self-efficacy and social media fatigue ( Liu and He, 2021 ). Identifying social media fatigue as a mediator clarifies the indirect effects of these antecedents on outcomes such as social anxiety and lurking behaviors. Consequently, this further signifies the importance of interventions to manage these cognitive and emotional stressors. The findings promote a comprehensive framework that integrates multiple theoretical perspectives to understand the complex impact of social media on users.

This study is different from previous studies. This study uses lurking as a social media fatigue behavioral consequence, which is discussed in relatively few studies as a research direction. The research results showed a significant positive impact of social media fatigue on lurking and confirmed the relationship between these two factors. The findings contribute to research exploring social media fatigue.

5.3 Practical implications

The research findings have important implications for social media users, managers, and marketers. First, the implications for users. The research results show that compulsive social media use, FoMO, and information overload make users feel fatigued. Social media users should understand that compulsive use comes from their inability to restrain IAD. Also, perceptions of FoMO and information overload can directly impact an individual’s social media fatigue. Therefore, these psychological pressures can lead to fear of expressing oneself online and excessive concern about what others think of them. Second, the implications for operators and providers of social media services. This study proposes negative factors contributing to social media fatigue. Social media fatigue comes not only from human interactions but also from interactions with companies and brands ( Bright et al., 2015 ). The purpose of users using social media is not only to establish contact with others, express personal opinions, and check news and current events but also to entertain and kill time. However, excessive use of the internet and social media leads to social media fatigue, leading to lurking. Hence, this study suggests that social media operators should strengthen the functions of social media, and provide a more concise user interface and skills or knowledge in order to improve users’ successful experience and self-confidence in the process of use, increase motivation for use, and reduce social media fatigue. Finally, the implications for marketers. The research results show that information overload and FoMO are positively related to social media fatigue. Therefore, marketers should check whether releasing too much information to users leads to information overload. Additionally, if the social media service provider can provide users with the priority to view the most interesting and favorite content, it can avoid the user’s fear of missing information, and reduce unwanted content, which can reduce information overload.

5.4 Research limitations and future research suggestions

Although this study took a lot of time and effort, and the process was rigorous, it was still limited by time and resources. This study is described below. First, this study explored social media fatigue without discussing specific social media. The phenomenon of social media fatigue may vary according to the characteristics of different social media or the usage habits of users. Second, this study takes social anxiety as the negative psychological impact of social media fatigue but does not explore whether social anxiety is the specific impact of social media fatigue. Therefore, future research can explore the subsequent behavior of social anxiety on social media. Third, this study adopts a cross-sectional study, which refers to data collection and investigation at a specific time point, and it cannot be confirmed that the long-term results of the study may change over time. Fourth, this study did not consider the influence of personality traits. Thus, future research can explore the characteristics of social media users and the influence of each construct on social media fatigue in more detail. Finally, most of the respondents in this study were between 26 and 45 years old. Respondents of different age groups have different habits of using social media. User experience with social media can vary based on demographics, personality traits, experience, and frequency of use. Therefore, future research can be conducted on various age groups and extend the model to various variables and different cultures or countries.

6 Conclusion

The study’s findings indicate that social media self-efficacy has a negative impact on social media fatigue, whereas compulsive social media use, fear of missing out (FoMO), and information overload have positive impacts. Additionally, social media fatigue is found to significantly contribute to social anxiety and lurking behaviors. These results highlight the crucial mediating role of social media fatigue, offering important insights into how various antecedents affect psychological and behavioral outcomes. This highlights the importance of targeted interventions to reduce cognitive and emotional stress among social media users. Future research should further investigate other mediating and moderating variables to deepen the understanding of these complex relationships and develop strategies that promote healthier social media usage and enhance user well-being.

Data availability statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics statement

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent from the patients/participants or patients/participants legal guardian/next of kin was not required to participate in this study in accordance with the national legislation and the institutional requirements.

Author contributions

CQ: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. YiL: Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. TW: Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. JZ: Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. LT: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. JY: Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. YuL: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Soft Science Research Project of Henan Province in 2024 (Project name: Research on the Protection, Inheritance and Development of Cultural Space of Traditional Villages in Henan Yanhuang; Project number: 242400411147); Research Project on Integration of Production and Education in Undergraduate Universities in Henan Province (Project name: Comprehensive Reform and Application of Multiple Collaborative Practice Teaching Mode of Design Major under AI Enabling; Project number: 2023348073); Research and Practice Project on Undergraduate Education and Teaching Reform of Henan Agricultural University (Project name: Research and Practice on Teaching Reform of General Courses of Public Art in Colleges and Universities in the New Era of “Educating People with Aesthetics and Infiltrating Integration”; Project number: 2024XJGLX002); Research and Practice Project of Research-based Teaching Reform in Undergraduate Universities (Project name: Writing papers in Geodetic Design, Doing in Hometown: Application Research of Research-based Teaching Mode in Practical Teaching of Design Major; Project number: 2022SYJXLX097).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1277846/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords: social media fatigue, fear of missing out, information overload, social anxiety, lurking

Citation: Qin C, Li Y, Wang T, Zhao J, Tong L, Yang J and Liu Y (2024) Too much social media? Unveiling the effects of determinants in social media fatigue. Front. Psychol . 15:1277846. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1277846

Received: 15 August 2023; Accepted: 01 July 2024; Published: 23 July 2024.

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Copyright © 2024 Qin, Li, Wang, Zhao, Tong, Yang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Ying Li, [email protected] ; Jing Zhao, [email protected]

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