Social Networking Site Use: Implications for Health and Wellness

Abstract

Technological advances such as smartphones and tablets have made social media and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Snapchat) increasingly accessible and popular. The literature, however, contains mixed results as to the effects associated with the increased use of SNS, with some studies suggesting benefits and others pointing to detriments to users’ overall wellness (e.g., social, mental, physical). As such, the current investigation examined the wellness of different SNS users among internet users solicited through Amazon’s MTurk (N = 2,083). Participants completed an online questionnaire that assessed their daily use of several SNS and constructs related to social, mental, and physical health. Results suggest that users of image-based SNS (e.g., Snapchat) show the most significant (p < .05) and substantial (d > .20) deficits and users of video-based (e.g., Marco Polo, WhatsApp) and professional (e.g., LinkedIn) SNS manifested the best wellness profiles. However, regardless of SNS type, increased total daily use of SNS was significantly (p < .05) related to worse health and wellness. Thus, differential health and wellness associated with SNS use may be at least partially explained by the type of SNS used such that using certain platforms may be more detrimental or beneficial than others.