Do Social Network Sites Enhance or Undermine Subjective Well‐Being? A Critical Review

Social network sites are ubiquitous and now constitute a common tool people use to interact with one another in daily life. Here we review the consequences of interacting with social network sites for subjective well‐being—that is, how people feel moment‐to‐moment and how satisfied they are with their lives. We begin by clarifying the constructs that we focus on in this review: social network sites and subjective well‐being. Next, we review the literature that explains how these constructs are related. This research reveals: (a) negative relationships between passively using social network sites and subjective well‐being, and (b) positive relationships between actively using social network sites and subjective…

• UO
  University of Michigan
• FW
  Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek