Navigating the Social Media Seas: Understanding the Complex Relationship between Social Media Use and Adolescent Well-being

Despite the sharp rise of studies on social media, there is still little consensus concerning the impact of social media use on adolescents’ well-being. We argue that this is due to the narrow focus on quantitative aspects of social media (e.g. frequency of use) and the use of very specific indicators of well-being. This research contributes to the literature by (1) looking at both quantitative indicators of social media use (frequency of use) and qualitative indicators (compulsive use and motives of use) and (2) covering diverse aspects of adolescents’ well-being (overall life satisfaction -SWLS, emotional well-being (SPANE-N and SPANE-P), satisfaction with mental health and with social contacts). Multiple regression analyses are carried out on cross-sectional data gathered in 2018 based on a representative sample among Flemish adolescents aged 14 to 25 (n = 1406; 52.6% girls; M_age = 18.96). Results show that more intensive use of social media coincides with more negative emotions, less overall life satisfaction, and less satisfaction with mental health. Especially for boys, the use of social media was associated with more negative emotions. In addition, we observed that compulsive social media use leads to more negative and less positive emotions and satisfaction with mental health. However, using social media for interpersonal contact was positively related to higher well-being (all indicators). The findings underscore the importance of a nuanced debate on the potential impact of social media use on adolescents’ well-being in which both its positive and negative consequences are considered.