The role of envy in linking active and passive social media use to memory functioning.

Abstract

Social media use has previously been shown to have negative implications for cognition. Scarce research has examined underlying pathways through which social media use may influence cognition. One potential pathway involves the consequences of social comparison, such that those who use social media more frequently may feel worse about themselves and more envious toward others. In turn, these negative socioemotional states could compromise memory. Further, whether an individual uses social media actively or passively may moderate these associations. Using an online adult life span sample (n = 592), the current cross-sectional study examined whether socioemotional consequences of social comparison (self-esteem and envy) mediated relationships between social media use and memory (everyday memory failures and episodic memory) and whether active/passive use moderated these associations. Mediation models revealed that higher envy, but not lower self-esteem, partially explained the relationship between higher social media use and more self-reported everyday memory failures. Neither envy nor self-esteem mediated the relationship between higher social media use and lower objective episodic memory performance. Additionally, higher social media use was associated with higher envy to a greater extent for active users compared with passive users. These findings may suggest that high social media use has negative ramifications for both subjective and objective memory and that increased feelings of envy may partially explain these effects for subjective, but not objective, memory. Public Policy Relevance StatementHigh social media use may have negative ramifications for both subjective and objective memory, and feelings of envy partially explained this association for subjective memory, but not objective memory. Future intervention research should investigate whether targeting social media use may benefit socioemotional as well as cognitive outcomes in adulthood.

Searching for the Metaverse: Neuroscience of Physical and Digital Communities

“…In this view, the meaning of the social media experience is different depending on how it is used 55 . When individuals use social media passively (consuming information) the effect of negative social comparison compromises memory, generating a lower social connection and higher stress 56 . On the other side, the active use of social media (recording and sharing personal experiences) facilitates rehearsal and meaning-making, also improving memory retention 57 .…”

A moderated mediation model of the relationship between passive social network usages and life satisfaction.

“…Envy refers to an individual’s feelings of inferiority, hostility, and resentment when a person lacks what others possess, which is categorized as an unpleasant emotion (Smith & Kim, 2007). When SNS users are passive, they are more likely to be exposed to others’ apparently flawless social information, which may elicit social comparisons and envious feelings when the users believe that other people’s lives are happier than theirs (Tandoc et al, 2015; Verduyn et al, 2020), and thus higher envy was also found to be linked to lower well-being (Ding et al, 2017), and lower cognitive functions (Sharifian et al, 2022). Therefore, we hypothesize that the relationship between PSNU and life satisfaction may be mediated by envy.…”

Freedom and Constraint in Digital Environments: Implications for the Self

“…As a result, we cannot help but be distracted from our everyday experiences (Dwyer et al, 2018; Smith, 2015). For example, people randomly assigned to enable notifications on their phone exhibit higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity than people who disable notifications (Kushlev et al, 2016; Stothart et al, 2015), and people who use social media or take photos during in-person experiences have worse memories of those experiences than people who do not (Sharifian et al, 2022; Soares & Storm, 2018; Tamir et al, 2018). Even when our phones are not buzzing and pinging in our ears, they can still decrease working memory and fluid intelligence because we have to suppress the temptation to check them (Ward et al, 2017).…”