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Mindsets Matter: How Beliefs About Facebook Moderate the Association Between Time Spent and Well-Being

Authors:

Sindhu Kiranmai Ernala,

Nicole B. EllisonAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Article No.: 201, Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517569

Published: 29 April 2022 Publication History

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Abstract

“Time spent on platform” is a widely used measure in many studies examining social media use and well-being, yet the current literature presents unresolved findings about the relationship between time on platform and well-being. In this paper, we consider the moderating effect of people’s mindsets about social media — whether they think a platform is good or bad for themselves and for society more generally. Combining survey responses from 29,284 participants in 15 countries with server-logged data of Facebook use, we found that when people thought that Facebook was good for them and for society, time spent on the platform was not significantly associated with well-being. Conversely, when they thought Facebook was bad, greater time spent was associated with lower well-being. On average, there was a small, negative correlation between time spent and well-being and the causal direction is not known. Beliefs had a stronger moderating relationship when time-spent measures were self-reported rather than coming from server logs. We discuss potential mechanisms for these results and implications for future research on well-being and social media use.

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Index Terms

Mindsets Matter: How Beliefs About Facebook Moderate the Association Between Time Spent and Well-Being
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Collaborative and social computing
    1. Empirical studies in collaborative and social computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '22: Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2022

10459 pages

ISBN:9781450391573

DOI:10.1145/3491102

Editors:
Simone Barbosa
PUC-Rio, Brazil
,
Cliff Lampe
University of Michigan, USA
,
Caroline Appert
Université Paris-Saclay, France
,
David A. Shamma
Toyota Research Institute, USA
,
Steven Drucker
Microsoft Research, USA
,
Julie Williamson
University of Glasgow, UK
,
Koji Yatani
University of Tokyo, Japan

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Published: 29 April 2022

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Cited By

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Van Gaeveren KMurphy Sde Segovia Vicente DVanden Abeele M(2024)Connected Yet Cognitively Drained? A Mixed-Methods Study Examining Whether Online Vigilance and Availability Pressure Promote Mental FatigueCommunication Research10.1177/00936502241248494Online publication date: 23-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241248494
Seberger JChoung HSnyder JDavid P(2024)Better Living Through Creepy Technology? Exploring Tensions Between a Novel Class of Well-Being Apps and Affective Discomfort in App CultureProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36372998:CSCW1(1-39)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637299
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Vanden Abeele MNguyen M(2023)Digital media as ambiguous goods: Examining the digital well-being experiences and disconnection practices of Belgian adultsEuropean Journal of Communication10.1177/0267323123120148739:2(122-144)Online publication date: 11-Oct-2023
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Al-Mansoori RAl-Thani DAli R(2023)Designing for Digital Wellbeing: From Theory to Practice a Scoping ReviewHuman Behavior and Emerging Technologies10.1155/2023/99240292023(1-24)Online publication date: 2-Aug-2023
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Rosič JCarbone LVanden Abeele MLobe BVandenbosch L(2023)Measuring digital well-being in everyday life among Slovenian adolescents: The Perceived Digital Well-Being in Adolescence ScaleJournal of Children and Media10.1080/17482798.2023.227265118:1(99-119)Online publication date: Dec-2023
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