Does personal social media usage affect efficiency and well-being?

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 46; pp. 26 - 37
• Main Author: Brooks, Stoney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2015
• Subjects: Classrooms; Digital media; Distraction–Conflict Theory; Empirical analysis; Empowerment; Happiness; Human behavior; Mass Media; Mass Media Effects; Multitasking; Multitasking computer self-efficacy; Natural Environment; News; News Coverage; Social media; Social networks; Task Performance; Tasks; Technostress; Well Being; Task performance; Technostress; Distraction–Conflict Theory; Social media; Multitasking computer self-efficacy
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.053

•Social media usage is proposed to be associated with negative effects.•A two-part exploratory model of social media usage is proposed.•Social media usage negatively affects task performance.•Social media usage negatively affects happiness.•Future research on negative effects should be explored. Personal social media usage is pervasive in both personal and professional lives. Practitioner articles and news stories have commented on the addicting and distracting nature of social media. Previous empirical research has established the negative effects of distractions on primary tasks. To date, little research has looked at the potentially distracting nature of social media and the negative effects that can arise from usage. This research addresses this gap by investigating the effects of personal social media usage on task performance. To extend this research, I also examined the effects that the personal social media usage has on individuals’ technostress and happiness levels. I tested these effects by creating a classroom task environment and measuring subjects’ usage of social media and their task performance. From this, it was found that higher amounts of personal social media usage led to lower performance on the task, as well as higher levels of technostress and lower happiness. These results are consistent across different levels of attentional control and multitasking computer self-efficacy. These results suggest that the personal usage of social media during professional (vs. personal or play) times can lead to negative consequences and is worthy of further study.