Increasing social media use most likely displaces other media activities, doesn't reduce time on face-to-face interaction

Social media use, social displacement, and well-being. Jeffrey A. Hall, Dong Liu. Current Opinion in Psychology, Mar 11 2022, 101339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101339

Abstract: Social displacement is the proposition that time spent on social media replaces time spent in face-to-face interaction, particularly with close friends and family, thus reducing well-being. There is clear evidence of growing mobile and social media use, and some evidence of a decline in face-to-face communication. This essay concludes, however, there is very little direct or causal evidence of social media time displacing face-to-face time. This essay concludes that increasing social media use most likely displaces other media activities. To explain findings that seem to support social displacement, this essay examines the difference between population-level trends and within-individual behavior, and the difference between within-person and between-person displacement.

Keywords: face-to-face communicationinternetsocial media usesocial displacementTVwell-being