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Using X (formerly Twitter) has a negative impact on well-being: Study

Despite creating a greater sense of belonging for some users, researchers found that frequenting the social media platform is associated with a drop in positive emotions and a surge in outrage, political polarization and boredom
group of university students on mobile devices

(photo by ViewApart/Getty Images)

Researchers at the University of Toronto have confirmed what many have long suspected: using X (formerly known as Twitter) takes a toll on our well-being 鈥 although the social media platform itself isn鈥檛 entirely to blame. 

, the study found that, while logging onto X led to a greater sense of belonging for some users, it was associated with an immediate drop in positive emotions such as joy and a surge in outrage, political polarization and boredom.

The study also suggested that a person鈥檚 reason for opening X in the first place 鈥 to check the news or out of boredom 鈥 plays a significant role in determining whether they鈥檒l tweet, retweet, like, scroll or otherwise use the platform鈥檚 features, which are also tied to emotional impacts.

鈥淲e couldn't find any positive effects on well-being,鈥 says Vict贸ria Oldemburgo de Mello, a PhD student at 缅北强奸 Scarborough who is one of the study鈥檚 co-authors. 鈥淓ven when some of the things people did made them feel like they belonged more, that didn鈥檛 translate into increased positive emotions.鈥

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鈥淲e couldn't find any positive effects on well-being,鈥 says study co-author Vict贸ria Oldemburgo de Mello (photo by Alexa Battler)

As part of the study, researchers tracked the emotions of 252 users in the United States to determine when X was having an impact on them. While the study鈥檚 participants were demographically diverse, the researchers鈥 findings were consistent regardless of age, political allegiance, ethnicity or other factors. 

Those who reported using the site as a way to escape their problems scored lower for well-being both after using X and overall, and were angrier and unhappier people. Frequent X users were, on average, more bored and lonelier. In addition, they felt more bored immediately after using X, although not any lonelier.

鈥淚 can relate to those findings in the sense that I tend to open social media if I鈥檓 momentarily frustrated,鈥 says Oldemburgo de Mello. 鈥淲hen I'm approaching it with this escapism mindset, it's going to be worse overall because I already have a problem.鈥

People who were more politically polarized, meanwhile, tended to retweet a lot. And the study called it 鈥減uzzling鈥 that users felt increasingly polarized when they used X for entertainment, which usually means scrolling through your feed. Users often closed X with a spike in their anger levels. They also became angrier when they used X to find information, though this wasn鈥檛 tied to any specific action.

When people went on X seeking social interaction, they tended to reply to tweets and visit profiles 鈥 and felt a boost in their sense of belonging. Researchers said the same was true when people checked trending topics.

Extensive research has quantified how much interacting with another person boosts well-being, including positive emotions such as joy. X, on the other hand, appears to be dragging users down. 

鈥淚magine the magnitude of how you feel when you meet someone and you talk to them for a while, you get a little bit of a mood boost,鈥 says Oldemburgo de Mello. 鈥淭wo-thirds of that magnitude is how bad you feel when you use X.鈥

The action on X most associated with a lowered state of well-being was scrolling the feed, which is the most frequent activity on X, consuming 74 per cent of the time participants spent on the platform. (Eighty per cent of the content on X is created by 10 per cent of users.)     

Researchers found some surprises, too. For example, there was no apparent impact on anxiety and interacting with people who had different political views didn鈥檛 increase a user鈥檚 polarization 鈥 perhaps, researchers said, because of the effect of 鈥渆cho chambers鈥 that cause users to lean further into a political opinion.

The study鈥檚 data was collected in 2021 before tech mogul Elon Musk purchased Twitter and set in motion several changes that resulted in advertisers pulling back from the platform amid concerns about a rise in extremism and hate speech. However, Oldemburgo de Mello says the findings on passive use and the fact that social media鈥檚 impact is connected to motive and behaviour are broadly applicable. 

鈥淚 would expect people to come to social media with maybe a different motivation and different patterns of behaviours,鈥 she says. 鈥淢aybe we all should be more intentional with our social media use, avoiding it when we鈥檙e bored or frustrated.鈥

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