Are Social Media ruining our lives?

Document Details
AUTHOR Anupam Manur
DATEAugust 3, 2026
CATEGORIES Tech Policy

A paper by Markus Appel, Caroline Marker, and Timo Gnambs reviews meta-analytic evidence on three hotly debated topics regarding the effects of Social Networking Sites (SNS): well-being, academic achievement, and narcissism.

First, interestingly and quite obviously, the number of papers that has the keywords “online social networks” is increasing year on year – from 369 in 2010 to 6550 in 2018, as indexed in PsychINFO. I would have loved to see what this looks like in 2025, but the authors don’t provide this information.

The authors keep a modest benchmark. If SNSs destroyed our lives as suggested by some, we would expect moderate to large correlations. Statements on the abysmal influence of social media would suggest large correlations between social media use and psychological indicators of maladjustment. However, large effects are very rare in psychological research, so it would be unfair to expect large effects (r = .50) in terms of frequently cited benchmarks. Thus, the authors interpret the available evidence against an association of r = .20, reflecting that 4% or more of variations in well-being (and academic achievement and narcissism) covary with social media use.

Result

In sum, meta-analytic evidence is not in support of dramatic claims relating social media use to mischief.

Available meta-analytic evidence does not support the assumption that social media use has—on average—severe detrimental consequences. They show small associations in the r = .10 range between the intensity of SNS use and loneliness, self-esteem, life satisfaction, or self-reported depression, and somewhat stronger links to a thin body ideal and higher social capital. There is no indication for potential devastating effects of social media on school achievement; social media use and school grades are unrelated for adolescents. The meta-analyses revealed small to moderate associations between narcissism and SNS use.

Despite claims made by journalists or authors of popular science books (or notable colleagues of the author of the blog), meta-analytic summaries show no strong linear link between the overall intensity of SNS [social networking sites] use and loneliness, self-esteem, life satisfaction, or self-reported depression.