Conceptualizing and Measuring Social Media Use in Health and Well-being Studies: Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Social media's impact on well-being is widely studied, yet definitions and measurement methods lack consensus.
• Existing research often focuses on negative outcomes (ill-being) rather than positive well-being.
• There's a need to understand how social media use is conceptualized and measured in scientific literature.

Approach:

• A comprehensive literature search was conducted across six major databases and Google Scholar.
• Included studies published between 2007 and 2020 from 51 countries.
• Analyzed 233 papers to examine conceptualizations, outcome measures, and theoretical frameworks of social media use.

Key Points:

• Most studies (72%) treated social media use as a 'normal' behavior, primarily measuring time spent.
• A significant portion (28%) focused on problematic use or addiction, employing addiction scales.
• Studies predominantly investigated associations with negative outcomes like depression and anxiety, with fewer examining positive well-being or physical health.

Conclusions:

• Current research often conceptualizes social media use as 'normal' or 'addictive,' with a bias towards negative health outcomes.
• There is a need for advanced measurement approaches beyond 'time spent' to capture diverse user activities.
• Future research should adopt more theory-based frameworks and explore both positive and negative well-being impacts of social media.