Online Networks and Subjective Well‐Being

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. 1 Abstract Does Facebook make people lonely and unhappy? Empirical studies have produced conflicting results about the effect of social networking sites (SNS) use on individual welfare. We use a representative sample of the Italian population to investigate how actual and virtual networks of social relationships influence subjective well-being (SWB). We find a significantly negative correlation between online networking and self-reported happiness. We address endogeneity in online networking by exploiting technological characteristics of the pre-existing voice telecommunication infrastructures that exogenously determined the availability of broadband for high-speed Internet. We try to further disentangle the direct effect of SNS use on well-being from the indirect effect possibly caused by the impact of SNS's on trust and sociability in a SEM analysis. We find that online networking plays a positive role in SWB through its impact on physical interactions. On the other hand, SNS use is associated with lower social trust, which is in turn positively correlated with SWB. The overall effect of networking on individual welfare is significantly negative. Terms of use: Documents in

Internet Use and Subjective Well-Being in China

“…• First, studies use different measures of SWB, including positive measures such as life satisfaction and happiness (Katsamanis 2006;Kavetsos and Koutroumpis 2011;Kross et al 2013;Lelkes 2013;Pénard et al 2013;Sabatini and Sarracino 2014;Shotwell 2002) and negative measures such as depression or loneliness (Amichai-Hamburger and Ben- Bakken et al 2008;Bessiere et al 2010;Campbell et al 2006;Cotten et al 2012;Ford and Ford 2009;Fortson et al 2007;Franzen 2000;Kraut et al 1998;Morrison and Gore 2010;Nimrod 2013;Shaw and Gant 2002;Tandoc et al 2015). We are unaware of any studies that use both positive and negative measures except for Stepanikova et al (2010), who employ life satisfaction and loneliness as SWB proxies in the hope of shedding light on their simultaneous effects on individual well-being.…”

“…The studies that employ a macro approach are numerous and include, for example, the work of Amichai-Hamburger and Ben-Artzi (2003), Bakken et al (2008), Campbell et al (2006), Ceyhan and Ceyhan (2008), Cotten et al (2012), Franzen (2000), Ford and Ford (2009), Katsamanis (2006), Kraut et al (1998), Kross et al (2013), Lelkes (2013), Pénard et al (2013), Sabatini and Sarracino (2014), Tandoc et al (2015), and Wickramasinghe and Ahmad (2013). Those using a micro approach, however, are somewhat fewer (see, for example, Bessiere et al 2010;Cotten et al 2011;Fortson et al 2007; Morrison and Gore 2010;Nimrod 2013;Stepanikova et al 2010).…”

“…Of the few papers that address the endogeneity of Internet use, the most relevant for our study are those of Pénard et al (2013), who analyze data from the Luxemburg section of the European Value Survey, and Sabatini and Sarracino (2014), who draw on 2010 and 2011 data from the Multipurpose Survey of Households in Italy. Pénard et al (2013), using a two stage least squares (2SLS) approach with Internet diffusion among family as the instrument, find that Internet use has a significantly positive impact on SWB.…”

Facebook Addiction among Malaysian Students

“…Different researches have shown negative effect of heavy SNS use and depression [1], anxiety [2], histrionic personality, [3] and addiction and dependency [4]. Having this in mind, the widespread use of SNSs and particularly Facebook [4] among youths should raise some crucial attention.…”

Homo informaticus: Thinking and moral values of humans are shaped by human-computer-interaction

“…Investigating the relationship of Facebook use and the social capital it was found that intensity of Facebook was related to life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, political participation [38], higher motivation [39], and also to psychological well-being [18], whereas others found contradictory results on the association of social networking with individual welfare [40]. However, from a critical point of view, there are also reports on the subjective overestimation of competences discussed as the Dunning-Kruger effect [41,42] and there are also reports of decreased academic achievement associated with social networking [29].…”