Variation in social media sensitivity across people and contexts.

Social media impacts people's wellbeing in different ways, but relatively little is known about why this is the case. Here we introduce the construct of "social media sensitivity" to understand how social media and wellbeing associations differ across people and the contexts in which these platforms are used. In a month-long large-scale intensive longitudinal study (total n = 1632; total number of observations = 120,599), we examined for whom and under which circumstances social media was associated with positive and negative changes in social and affective wellbeing. Applying a combination of frequentist and Bayesian multilevel models, we found a small negative average association between social media use AND subsequent wellbeing, but the associations were heterogenous across people. People with psychologically vulnerable dispositions (e.g., those who were depressed, lonely, not satisfied with life) tended to experience heightened negative social media sensitivity in comparison to people who were not psychologically vulnerable. People also experienced heightened negative social media sensitivity when in certain types of places (e.g., in social places, in nature) and while around certain types of people (e.g., around family members, close ties), as compared to using social media in other contexts. Our results suggest that an understanding of the effects of social media on wellbeing should account for the psychological dispositions of social media users, and the physical and social contexts surrounding their use. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of social media sensitivity for scholars, policymakers, and those in the technology industry.

Situating smartphones in daily life: Big Five traits and contexts associated with young adults' smartphone use.

We examine individual differences in smartphone behavior to understand the independent effects of Big Five traits and four different contextual factors (places, people, co-occurring activities, and psychological situations) on the frequency and duration of smartphone use in daily life. Using survey, experience sampling, and mobile sensing data collected over the span of 2 weeks from two samples of college students (Sample 1, N = 634; Sample 2, N = 211), we conducted a series of multilevel Bayesian gamma hurdle and negative binomial hurdle models to explain smartphone use (vs. nonuse) and the degree of use. Our pooled findings suggest that extraversion was associated with more frequent use, while conscientiousness was associated with smartphone nonuse and shorter durations of use. In terms of context, our findings show that smartphones were used more frequently when people were out and about in public places (e.g., cafes, stores) and less frequently in particularly social places (e.g., bars, friends' houses). Smartphones were also used more frequently with weak ties (e.g., classmates, coworkers) and less frequently with close ties (e.g., roommates, family, significant others). Smartphones were also used less and for shorter durations when people were engaged in certain activities (e.g., studying, commuting, chores, exercising), and when in situations perceived to be romantic or involving work. We discuss the findings with regard to past work on smartphone use and describe the next steps for research on smartphone behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).