Momentary Links Between Adolescents' Social Media Use and Social Experiences and Motivations: Individual Differences by Peer Susceptibility

This longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study examined whether adolescents' use of social media to interact with peers relates to their experiences of social connectedness, social craving, and sensation seeking on an hourly level. Further, we investigated whether these associations differ for adolescents who were nominated by their peers as more or less susceptible to social influences, because highly susceptible youth may be more strongly impacted by social media due to heightened focus on peer behaviors and social feedback. The sample was 212 adolescents in the southeastern United States (Mage = 15 years; range 14 to 17; 56.2% female; 40% White, 28% Latinx, 26% African American, 15% mixed/other race). Controlling for both daily and between-subjects effects, we found a consistent pattern of hourly level results that were robust to sensitivity analyses. When highly susceptible adolescents used social media to interact with peers in the last hour, they felt less socially connected to others and more strongly craved social connections and novel sensations. Youth who are particularly sensitive to social input from peers may feel less connected to others and crave more connections and exciting stimuli within 1 hr after using social media to interact with peers.

Automated summary

This longitudinal study investigated the relationship between adolescents' use of social media for peer interaction and their experiences of social connectedness, social craving, and sensation seeking. The study also examined whether these associations differ for adolescents who are more susceptible to social influences. The findings revealed that highly susceptible adolescents, when using social media to interact with peers, felt less socially connected and had stronger cravings for social connections and novel sensations. This suggests that youth who are highly sensitive to social input from peers may experience decreased social connectedness and increased longing for social connections and exciting experiences within an hour of using social media to interact with peers.