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

Within a relatively short time span, social media have transformed the way humans interact, leading many to wonder what, if any, implications this interactive revolution has had for people’s emotional lives. Over the past 15 years, an explosion of research has examined this issue, generating countless studies and heated debate. Although early research generated inconclusive findings, several experiments have revealed small negative effects of social media use on well-being. These results mask, however, a deeper set of complexities. Accumulating evidence indicates that social media can enhance or diminish well-being depending on how people use them.

Drawing from his own research and a broad survey of the field, Dr. Ethan Kross (University of Michigan) will provide an overview of these issues to stimulate discussion about how to advance knowledge in this domain in ways that benefit science and society.