JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In contrast to all previous generations, life today is lived both in-person and online. This creates both opportunities and risks to mental health and well-being. Social interaction is no longer geographically constrained, yet the anonymity and impersonality of social media creates new problems. To quote Mike Tyson, “Social media have made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it” (July, 2020).

Objective:

For this study, we proposed and tested a hypothesized model in order to identify both direct and indirect predictors of life satisfaction. Independent or predictor variables included social media use, online and traditional social support.

Methods:

From March to October 2024, 112 U.S. adults were recruited online who proceeded to complete study questionnaires. Participants were 42.62 years of age on average (SD = 12.74), had completed 15.46 years of education (SD = 3.25) and reported average household income of $67,005 per year (SD = $41,560).

Results:

Using path analysis, we found that social media use and online social support emerged as significant, indirect predictors of life satisfaction via loneliness and traditional, in-person social support. Fully 39% of variance in life satisfaction is explained by this path model, R2 = .39, P < .01.

Conclusions:

Contrary to hypothesis, these findings support the rich get richer hypothesis regarding online social support, not social compensation theory. That is, online social support appears to function as an adjunct to in-person support, not a substitute. The results of this study need to be replicated with more diverse, larger samples with responses collected over multiple points of data collection.