Social Media Use and Well-Being

Abstract

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to look at both the experimental and theoretical research done on social media and well-being. Well-being is being referred to as both mental and physical health. This review examined the association between social media and well-being by separately considering three goals behind social media use: self-presentation (being motivated to present oneself positively), interpersonal connection (being motivated to form connections with others), and information-seeking (gaining knowledge or information). Social media use included research on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for this theoretical paper because the amount of prior research on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is much more substantial than other social media platforms. The prior research was very mixed between both good and bad outcomes of using social media on well-being. Future research should consider looking into more social media sites.