Social comparison and envy on social media: A critical review
Meier A, Johnson BK (2022)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Journal article, Review article
Publication year: 2022
Journal
Book Volume: 45
Article Number: 101302
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101302
Abstract
There is both public and scholarly concern that (passive) social media use decreases well-being by providing a fertile ground for harmful (upward) social comparison and envy. The present review critically summarizes evidence on this assumption. We first comprehensively synthesize existing evidence, including both prior reviews and the most recent publications (2019–2021). Results show that earlier research finds social comparison and envy to be common on social media and linked to lower well-being. Yet, increasingly, newer studies contradict this conclusion, finding positive links to well-being as well as heterogeneous, person-specific, conditional, and reverse or reciprocal effects. The review identifies four critical conceptual and methodological limitations of existing evidence, which offer new impulses for future research.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
United States (USA) (US)How to cite
APA:
Meier, A., & Johnson, B.K. (2022). Social comparison and envy on social media: A critical review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101302
MLA:
Meier, Adrian, and Benjamin K. Johnson. "Social comparison and envy on social media: A critical review." Current Opinion in Psychology 45 (2022).
BibTeX: Download