Social Network Sites and the Emotional Spectrum

Pre-registered analyses indicated that this intervention didn’t elicit changes consistent with a general withdrawal syndrome or an overall well-being boost.

Surprisingly, the data revealed some abstinence-related decreases in negative affect and boredom but also a reduction in positive affect, irrespective of problematic use behaviors.

Importantly, the restriction had no impact on implicit measures of SNS use motivation or explicit cravings and SNS cue-reactivity.

The nuanced findings suggest that limiting SNS use can have offsetting effects on well-being, potentially due to the simultaneous removal of experiences triggering both negative emotions (e.g., social comparisons) and positive emotions (e.g., social approval). These results imply that voluntary SNS use reduction does not significantly alter SNS-related urges.

Source: Eurekalert