Title: Social Media Use and its Effects on Happiness Levels: A Study of College Students
Introduction and Literature Review
Social media has become an important part of everyday life for many college students. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram allow users to connect with friends and family, share information and photos, and follow events in their communities and around the world. Some research has questioned whether the frequent use of social media leads to positive outcomes like increased social connection or potentially negative effects such as decreased well-being. This paper will explore current research on how social media usage relates to happiness levels and psychological well-being in college students.
A large body of research has linked social media use to both positive and negative psychosocial outcomes in college students and other young adult populations. On the positive side, some studies have found relationships between social media engagement and increased social capital, or the resources and benefits individuals gain through social connections (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Through following others and communicating, social media gives users access to information and communities that can be useful for both practical purposes and identity formation. For college students especially, maintaining connections with peers can aid adjustment to college life while being aware of events and activities on campus.
Other research has pointed to potentially detrimental effects of heavy social media use. Kross et al. (2013) found that Facebook use correlated with declines in well-being over time, potentially due to social comparison processes. Users may derive less satisfaction from their own lives by observing curated representations of peers’ experiences online. Additionally, heavy social media engagement displaces time that could be spent on offline social interaction or other activities that promote well-being, such as exercise, hobbies, and relaxation (Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan, & Gladwell, 2013). College students in particular tend to be heavy social media adopters, which could negatively impact their psychological adjustment.
The opposing views in the literature suggest more research is needed regarding the relationship between social media use and psychological outcomes. In particular, studies directly assessing subjective well-being or happiness levels with social media usage data could offer clarity. While much research to date has employed surveys or self-report measures of social media behavior, objective behavioral data may provide insights. The current study aims to address this gap through collecting both survey data on college students’ Facebook and overall social media use as well as extracting data from participants’ actual Facebook profiles. Analysis will explore the association between social media behaviors and self-reported happiness levels.
Hypotheses
Based on previous literature, several hypotheses were proposed:
H1: Greater time spent on social media per day will negatively correlate with self-reported happiness levels.
H2: Higher social media interaction counts (posts, likes, comments) will negatively correlate with self-reported happiness levels.
H3: Greater time spent on Facebook specifically per day will negatively correlate with self-reported happiness levels.
H4: Higher Facebook interaction counts (posts, likes, comments on Facebook) will negatively correlate with self-reported happiness levels.
Method
Participants and Procedure
A sample of 126 undergraduate students was recruited from a large public university in the Midwest region of the United States through the University research participant pool. Participation was voluntary and participants received course credit for their participation.
The study used a correlational design and was conducted completely online through a secure survey hosting website. After providing consent, participants completed a background questionnaire collecting demographic data such as age, gender, and academic major. They then responded to questions regarding their general social media use behaviors like average daily time spent and frequency of checking accounts.
To measure happiness, participants completed the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills & Argyle, 2002), a 29-item instrument assessing life satisfaction and positive affect. Items are responded to on a 6-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with some reverse coded. Scores can range from 29-174, with higher scores indicating greater happiness levels. The scale has demonstrated good reliability and validity in past research.
For the objective behavioral social media data portion, participants were asked to provide their Facebook profile URL or username. They were assured this information would remain confidential and only be accessed by researchers to extract post, like, and comment counts visible on their public profiles. No personal information from profiles was recorded. After completing the study, participants were debriefed.
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Of the initial 126 participants, 12 did not provide valid Facebook profile information and were excluded from analyses involving direct Facebook data. The final sample consisted of 114 participants ranging from 18-22 years old (M = 19.62, SD = 1.18) , of which 77% identified as female.
Bivariate correlation analyses were conducted to assess relationships between happiness scores, self-reported social media usage, and Facebook interaction variables extracted from profiles. Assumptions of normality and linearity were met. Descriptive statistics and correlations are presented in Table 1.
Hypothesis Testing
H1 predicted greater daily time spent on social media would negatively correlate with happiness. A significant small negative correlation was found between daily social media time and happiness scores, r(112) = -.197, p = .037, supporting H1.
H2 stated higher social media interaction counts would relate to lower happiness. No significant correlation emerged between total social media interactions and happiness, r(112) = -.093, p = .336. H2 was not supported.
H3 proposed more daily Facebook use would relate to less happiness. A marginally significant small negative correlation between Facebook time and happiness supported H3, r(112) = -.153, p = .104.
Lastly, H4 posited greater Facebook activity would correlate with lower happiness. Again, a marginally significant small negative correlation supported H4, with more Facebook interactions relating to less happiness, r(112) = -.158, p = .094.
Discussion
This study investigated relationships between social media usage behaviors, both self-reported and objective Facebook data, and happiness levels in college students. Overall, the results provided some support for hypotheses that greater engagement with social media, specifically more time spent per day on Facebook, relates to lower self-reported well-being. The size of significant correlations was small, indicating social media explains only a modest percentage of variance in happiness.
Notably, general social media interaction counts from surveys did not correlate as clearly with outcomes compared to more objective behavioral Facebook measures. This difference highlights the value of obtaining direct social media data when possible rather than relying entirely on self-reports, which can be prone to biases or inconsistencies in recalling behaviors. Nonetheless, null findings for some analyses also suggest a complex dynamic between social media use and well-being requiring further nuanced examination.
Some limitations warrant consideration. The sample consisted primarily of female undergraduates from one university, limiting generalizability. Additionally, the cross-sectional design precludes determining causality or direction of effects between variables. Unmeasured personality traits or other contextual factors could explain some findings. Future longitudinal or experimental work would help address these limitations.
Overall, the results add to growing evidence that heavier social media use, especially on Facebook, may negatively impact well-being of college students to a small degree. While social media brings benefits of social connection as well, displacement of face-to-face interaction and potential for social comparison could undermine happiness. College health professionals could consider addressing balance of online and offline activity as part of mental health promotion programs. The findings also highlight value in obtaining objectively measured social media behaviors when feasible in addition to self-reports. Further research should continue unpacking this complex relationship between technology behaviors and wellness.
References
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. doi:10.1111/ j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
Hills, P., & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 33(7), 1073-1082.
Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D. S., Lin, N., Shablack, H., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2013). Facebook use predicts declines in subjective well-being in young adults. PloS one, 8(8), e69841.
Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1841–1848.
Andrew Stroud