Are Social Media Ruining Our Lives? A Review of Meta-Analytic Evidence

Abstract

A growing number of studies have examined the psychological corollaries of using social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter (often called social media). The interdisciplinary research area and conflicting evidence from primary studies complicate the assessment of current scholarly knowledge in this field of high public attention. We review meta-analytic evidence on three hotly debated topics regarding the effects of SNSs: well-being, academic achievement, and narcissism. Meta-analyses from different laboratories draw a rather equivocal picture. They show small associations in the r = .10 range between the intensity of SNS use and loneliness, self-esteem, life satisfaction, or self-reported depression, and somewhat stronger links to a thin body ideal and higher social capital. There is no indication for potential devastating effects of social media on school achievement; social media use and school grades are unrelated for adolescents. The meta-analyses revealed small to moderate associations between narcissism and SNS use. In sum, meta-analytic evidence is not in support of dramatic claims relating social media use to mischief.

Social Media and Well-Being: Pitfalls, Progress, and Next Steps

“…Across meta-analyses published to date, researchers have documented a statistically significant negative association between social media usage and well-being [77,[110][111][112], a finding that is consistent with the experimental work reviewed in the text as well as several recent systematic reviews of the literature [4,6,35]. The size of this meta-analytic effect is small.…”

“…The size of this meta-analytic effect is small. One review estimated that overall social media use explains 1% of the variance in well-being [6]. However, the results of two recently published meta-analyses add important nuance to this finding.…”

“…While some studies indicate that social media undermine well-being, other studies suggest the opposite, or that social media have no implications for this facet of people's lives. These seemingly contradictory sets of findings have elicited heated debates among scientists, leaving many confused (e.g., [4][5][6]). With this broader context in mind, our goals in this review are to synthesize what we have learned about the relationship between social media and well-being to highlight future research directions that are essential to propel this work forward.…”

Computer-mediated communication, social media, and mental health: A conceptual and empirical meta-review

“…Extending prior work (Appel, Marker, & Gnambs, 2019;Orben, 2020), this study synthesized the fast-growing-yet conceptually and empirically fragmented-literature on CMC, social media, and MH with a meta-review. We contribute to the literature twofold:…”

Multi-platform social media use: little evidence of impacts on adult well-being

“…If, in this way, social media changes the surface form of activities more than the functions they fulfill, we would not expect consistent negative or positive effects on well-being. This account is supported by a number of studies and reviews that find null effects or only small effect sizes (M. Appel et al, 2019;Coyne et al, 2020;e.g., meta-analytic r = -.07, Huang, 2017;Jensen et al, 2019; of social media use on well-being, as well as by multiple studies that examine the direction of this association. Although it has often been argued that social media make people lonelier, more depressed, and less satisfied with their life (e.g., Kross et al, 2013;Twenge et al, 2018;Twenge & Campbell, 2019), it could also be that lonely, depressed, and unhappy people (or people who are simply more introverted) are more likely to self-select into using social media as a means of forming new relationships, finding communities that provide social support, and coping with negative affect (e.g., Fergie et al, 2016;Gowen et al, 2012;K.…”