The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescents Across Nine Years. Issue 1 (12th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schemer, Christian; Masur, Philipp K; Geiß, Stefan; Müller, Philipp; Schäfer, Svenja
• Is Part Of: Journal of computer-mediated communication. Volume 26:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 21
• Publication Date: 2020-12-12
• Subjects: Social Networking Sites (SNS) -- Internet -- Television -- Media Use -- Subjective Well-being -- Life Satisfaction -- Depressive Symptomatology -- Longitudinal Analysis -- Adolescents; Telematics -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Communication -- Periodicals; 302.20285
• DOI: 10.1093/jcmc/zmaa014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1083-6101

Abstract

Abstract: The present research examines the longitudinal average impact of frequency of use of Internet and social networking sites (SNS) on subjective well-being of adolescents in Germany. Based on five-wave panel data that cover a period of nine years, we disentangle between-person and within-person effects of media use on depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. Additionally, we control for confounders such as TV use, self-esteem, and satisfaction with friends. We found that frequency of Internet use in general and use of SNS in particular is not substantially related subjective well-being. The explanatory power of general Internet use or SNS use to predict between-person differences or within-person change in subjective well-being is close to zero. TV use, a potentially confounding variable, is negatively related to satisfaction with life, but it does not affect depressive symptomatology. However, this effect is too small to be of practical relevance.