Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 28;12(1):3271. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07219-y.
Spatial aggregates of survey and web search data make it possible to identify the heterogeneous well-being effects of social media platforms. This study reports evidence from different sources of longitudinal data that suggests that the well-being effects of social media differ across platforms and population groups. The well-being effects of frequent social media visits are consistently positive for Facebook but negative for Instagram. Group-level analyses suggest that the positive well-being effects are experienced mainly by white, high-income populations at both the individual and the county level, while the adverse effects of Instagram use are observed on younger and Black populations. The findings are corroborated when geocoded web search data from Google is used and when self-reports from surveys are used in place of region-level aggregates. Greater Instagram use in regions is also linked to higher depression diagnoses across most sociodemographic groups.
调查和网络搜索数据的空间聚合使得识别社交媒体平台对幸福感的异质影响成为可能。本研究报告了来自不同纵向数据来源的证据，表明社交媒体对幸福感的影响因平台和人群群体而异。频繁访问社交媒体对 Facebook 的幸福感影响是积极的，但对 Instagram 则是消极的。群体层面的分析表明，积极的幸福感主要由个人和县级的白人、高收入人群体验到，而 Instagram 的使用对年轻人和黑人人口则产生不利影响。当使用谷歌地理编码的网络搜索数据以及用调查中的自我报告代替地区级聚合时，这些发现得到了证实。在大多数社会人口群体中，地区内更多的 Instagram 使用也与更高的抑郁诊断率有关。
