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Social comparison on social networking sites
Open accessAbstract
Because of the rise of social networking sites (SNSs), social comparisons take place at an unprecedented rate and scale. There is a growing concern that these online social comparisons negatively impact people's subjective well-being (SWB). In this paper, we review research on (a) the antecedents of social comparisons on SNSs, (b) the consequences of social comparisons on SNSs for SWB and, (c) social comparison as a mechanism explaining (mediator) or affecting (moderator) the relationship between SNSs and SWB. The occurrence of social comparisons on SNSs depends on who uses the SNS and on how the SNS is being used with passive use in particular resulting in increased levels of social comparison. Moreover, social comparison on SNSs may occasionally result in an increase in SWB but typically negative effects are found as people tend to engage in contrasting upward social comparisons. Finally, several studies show that social comparison is a key mechanism explaining the relationship between use of SNSs and SWB and that users with a tendency to engage in social comparison are especially likely to be negatively impacted by SNSs. The dynamic, cyclical processes that result from this pattern of findings are discussed.
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“Recent work suggests that the relationship between SNSs use and wellbeing is highly context-dependent and may vary based on user motivations, content type, and platform engagement styles”
From The associations between social comparison on social media and young adults’ mental health (2025) · cites this paper as Verduyn et al., 2020
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“the information that is shared on social networking sites gives rise to upward social comparisons, which can have negative effects on well-being and mental health (Verduyn et al., 2020; for meta-analyses, see Yang et al., 2019;Yoon et al., 2019).”
From Understanding Autobiographical Memory in the Digital Age: The AMEDIA-Model (2024) · cites this paper as Verduyn et al., 2020
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“Additionally, individuals often engage in social comparisons with others, especially on social media (Fox & Vendemia, 2016; Nesi & Prinstein, 2015; Verduyn et al., 2020).”
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“Social media, with its curated showcases of idealized lives, amplifies upward comparisons, potentially escalating feelings of envy and adversely affecting well-being [47, 48].”
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“Some studies have shown that social comparison orientation is positively associated with social media use [14–16], whereas others have shown that greater social media use [17] and greater passive consumption of social media [18] increase the tendency to engage in social comparison.”
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“In contrast, individuals who tend to value comparisons less often have no significant decrease in subjective well-being and sometimes experience increases in positive mental health outcomes (ie, increased self-esteem) [19].”
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“This factor refers to the upward social comparison that could take place in the use of SNs and that may be detrimental to psychological well-being (Verduyn et al., 2020).”
BackgroundThe dark side of social media in the workplace: A social comparison perspective
Huang, X., & Fan, P. (2022) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2022.107377 · Cited by 28
Purboningsih, E. R., Massar, K., Hinduan, Z. R., Agustiani, H., Ruiter, R. A. C., & Verduyn, P. (2024) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2024.2413454 · Cited by 34
“…Chaput, and Hamilton 2019), low physical activities (Buda et al. 2021; Wang et al. 2023) and damaging social comparisons (Frison and Eggermont 2016; Verduyn et al. 2020), which all negatively impact adolescents ’ well-being (Boer et al. 2021; McNamee, Mendolia, and Yer-okhin 2021).”
Self-citationMao, J., & Zhang, B. (2023) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s404063 · Cited by 31
Fortunato, L., Lo Coco, G., Teti, A., Bonfanti, R. C., & Salerno, L. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20156439 · Cited by 20
“Although there is evidence that online social comparison can result in a decrease in an individual’s well-being [56], most prior studies focused on Facebook and comprised young adults.”
BackgroundKrause, H.-V., Deters, F. G., Baumann, A., & Krasnova, H. (2022) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1093/jcmc/zmac037 · Cited by 20
Kim, D.-G., & Kim, S. (2023) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci12020087 · Cited by 31
“Although some studies show social comparison increasing subjective well-being (Choi & Kim, 2020; Verduyn et al., 2020) and inspiration (Meier & Schäfer, 2018), more studies show the negative aspects of social comparison (Krause et al., 2021; Verduyn et al., 2020).”
BackgroundLi, Y., Chen, L., & Fu, L. (2024) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2024.2441422 · Cited by 20
“Theoretically, vicarious interaction refers to observing the online activities of other users without engaging in direct exchanges with them (Verduyn et al., 2020).”
Noguti, V. (2022) · European Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1108/ejm-09-2020-0695 · Cited by 19
Kurniawan, Y., Santoso, S. I., Wibowo, R. R., Anwar, N., Bhutkar, G., & Halim, E. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15043814 · Cited by 19
Nereim, C., Bickham, D. S., & Rich, M. (2022) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/30900 · Cited by 18
Social Media and Mental Health
Braghieri, L., Levy, R., & Makarin, A. (2021) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3919760 · Cited by 18
Comparing Who We Are to Who We Could Be: How Future Self‐Images Influence Consumer Choices
Taylor, A., & Carlson, J. (2025) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.22196 · Cited by 21
Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations of screen time with adolescent depression and anxiety
Li, S., Batterham, P. J., Whitton, A. E., Maston, K., Khan, A., Christensen, H. M., & Werner‐Seidler, A. (2025) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.12547 · Cited by 30
“It is associated with reduced mental health, for example, in relation to body image and eating disorder symptoms (Vandenbosch et al., 2022; Verduyn et al., 2020) and, consequently, is considered a potentially harmful way to engage with social media.”
Yang, C. (2021) · Applied Developmental Science · doi:10.1080/10888691.2021.1894149 · Cited by 24
“Social comparison can be especially detrimental when people perform upward comparison (Rosenthal-von der P€utten et al., 2019; Verduyn et al., 2020; Vogel et al., 2014) and feel as if they are not doing as well as the comparison targets (Weinstein, 2017), which are common experiences among social…”
BackgroundThe harms of unattainable pedagogical exemplars on social media
Kotsonis, A., & Dunne, G. (2023) · Journal of Moral Education · doi:10.1080/03057240.2023.2225763 · Cited by 20
“Most importantly, recent studies have shown that upward social comparisons on social media sites generate feelings of envy and often lead to depression, anxiety and loneliness (see Li, 2019; Pera, 2018; Reer et al., 2019; Verduyn et al., 2020).”
BackgroundThe associations between social comparison on social media and young adults’ mental health
Le Blanc-Brillon, J., Fortin, J.-S., Lafrance, L., & Hétu, S. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1597241 · Cited by 16
“While there has been a growing effort to elucidate mechanisms linking SNSs use to mental health (Meier and Johnson, 2022; Verduyn et al., 2020), this endeavor remains in its early stages.”
Schreurs, L., Lee, A. Y., Liu, X. “., & Hancock, J. T. (2024) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/00936502241233787 · Cited by 16
“However, social media affords individuals greater control over their self-image (e.g., filtering, posting strategically) and may therefore provoke more intense strategic impression management processes to come across as desirable as possible, relative to offline contexts (Verduyn et al., 2020).”
Ahmed, O., Dawel, A., Walsh, E., & Cherbuin, N. (2025) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2025.108446 · Cited by 25
Exploring the Relations of Subjective and Objective Instagram Use on Young Adults' Mental Health
Zhao, Y., Cingel, D. P., Xie, L., & Yu, M. (2022) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2022.101921 · Cited by 16
What maintains low-carbon consumption behaviors: Evidence from China
Cheng, X., Wu, F., Li, W., Yang, J., & Long, R. (2023) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2023.114050 · Cited by 18
Vanhoffelen, G., Schreurs, L., Meeus, A., Janssens, N., Beullens, K., & Vandenbosch, L. (2023) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448231207783 · Cited by 22
“Taken together, existing literature on social comparisons on social media may not hold for the relatively new BeReal platform, as its design explicitly aims to challenge the arguably dominant social media trend of presenting the best possible self to others (Verduyn et al., 2020).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Verduyn, P., Gugushvili, N., Massar, K., Täht, K., & Kross, E.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- University of Tartu (EE)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Verduyn, Philippe
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-12
- Volume
- 36
- Pages
- 32-37
- ISSN
- 2352-250X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3022958855
- Cited by
- 500
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 96 · 2025: 107 · 2024: 115 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 5
- FWCI
- 7.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Keywords
- social comparison, social networking sites, subjective well-being, upward social comparison, passive social media use
- MeSH terms
- Social Comparison, Humans, Social Networking
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