JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Social media are as popular as ever, and concerns regarding the effects of social media use on adolescent wellbeing and mental health have sparked a large amount of scientific studies into use effects. However, social media research is currently at an important crossroads: conflicting results with regards to social media use’s effects on wellbeing are abundant, and recent work in the field suggests that a new approach is required. Particularly, the field is in need of an approach involving objective data regarding use where necessary, and attention to different kinds of detail such as the why and how of social media use. Here, we present a novel paradigm implementing a principle from educational sciences called stimulated recall, as well as how it can be applied to social media use research. Our stimulated recall paradigm implements a number of elements that can fill the gaps currently present in social media and wellbeing research. Objective data are collected regarding users’ social media behaviours through video footage and in-phone data, and then used for a structured “stimulated recall interview” to facilitate detailed and context-sensitive processing of these objective data. In this interview, objective data are reviewed together with the participant in an act of ‘co-research’, in which details such as the reasons for their use (e.g. boredom) and processes surrounding their use (e.g. with whom) are discussed and visualised in a so-called “stimulated recall chart”. Our pilot and currently ongoing study (total N = 61) implementing this paradigm suggest that this method is experienced as pleasant by participants in spite of its personal and intensive nature. The stimulated recall paradigm offers interesting and necessary avenues for approaching social media use research from new angles, addressing aspects of use that have thus far remained underexposed. Questions such as “Why do adolescents use social media?”, “In what ways exactly do they use social media?”, and “How does social media use make them feel in the moment?” are now within reach, which is an important step forward in the field of social media use and wellbeing research.