The DOI matches its Crossref record; 111 of the 111 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of discrepancies between logged and self-reported digital media use
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
There is widespread public and academic interest in understanding the uses and effects of digital media. Scholars primarily use self-report measures of the quantity or duration of media use as proxies for more objective measures, but the validity of these self-reports remains unclear. Advancements in data collection techniques have produced a collection of studies indexing both self-reported and log-based measures. To assess the alignment between these measures, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis of this research. Based on 106 effect sizes, we found that self-reported media use correlates only moderately with logged measurements, that self-reports were rarely an accurate reflection of logged media use and that measures of problematic media use show an even weaker association with usage logs. These findings raise concerns about the validity of findings relying solely on self-reported measures of media use.
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“However, although log-based measures are often seen as the gold standard, they have their own validity threats, such as technical errors and the erroneous tracing of SM apps running in the background when the screen is turned off [42,43].”
From Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. (2022) · cites this paper as [42]
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In the citing paper
“Despite these encouraging findings, the uMARS is a self-report measure, which according to a recent meta-analysis (Parry et al., 2021) may not be a reliable indicator of actual usage.”
From Pilot study of a well-being app to support New Zealand young people during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021) · cites this paper as Parry et al., 2021
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In the citing paper
“It was recently suggested that that device-based measures can provide a more accurate assessment of social media use than self-reported tools (Parry et al., 2021;Sewall et al., 2022).”
From Relation Between Social Media Use and Body Image Concerns and Disordered Eating in Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2026) · cites this paper as Parry et al., 2021
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“Indeed, self-report measures of time spent with SM correlate only moderately with similar log-based measures [42,43].”
From Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. (2022) · cites this paper as [42]
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“a recent systematic review has evidenced that the correspondence between self-reported and logged social media use is far from perfect (Parry et al., 2021).”
From Do New Forms of Reading Pay Off? A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Leisure Digital Reading Habits and Text Comprehension (2025) · cites this paper as Parry et al., 2021
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“a recent meta-analysis found only moderate correlations between self-reported and objective measures of use (Parry et al., 2021).”
From Time Spent on Social Media and Associations with Mental Health in Young Adults: Examining TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Snapchat, and Reddit (2025) · cites this paper as Parry et al., 2021
In the citing paper
“A recent meta-analysis has found that self-reported media use correlates only moderately with logged measurements and that self-reports are a somewhat inaccurate reflection of logged (true) media use76.”
From The impact of digital media on children’s intelligence while controlling for genetic differences in cognition and socioeconomic background (2022) · cites this paper as [76]
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Citations
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“…these debates and developing a deeper understanding of the role of media use in human behaviour requires “transparent and robust analytical practices” 4 , but also confidence that the measures that are adopted to assess use of digital media are valid indicators of actual usage patterns 5,6 .”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence.
Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A., & Beyens, I. (2022) · Current opinion in psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017 · Cited by 767
Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccines on Social Media: Rapid Review
Skafle, I., Nordahl‐Hansen, A., Quintana, D. S., Wynn, R., & Gabarrón, E. (2022) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/37367 · Cited by 410
Self-citationVideo game play is positively correlated with well-being
Johannes, N., Vuorre, M., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.202049 · Cited by 330
Digital well-being theory and research
Büchi, M. (2024) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448211056851 · Cited by 277
Mechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health vulnerability
Orben, A., Meier, A., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2024) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-024-00307-y · Cited by 220
Metadata
- Authors
- Parry, D. A., Davidson, B. I., Sewall, C. J. R., Fisher, J. T., Mieczkowski, H., & Quintana, D. S.
- Affiliations
- Stellenbosch University (ZA)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Oslo University Hospital (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Parry, Douglas A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Published
- 2021-05-17
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1535-1547
- ISSN
- 2397-3374 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3162414724
- Semantic Scholar
- da0492d6a38ad15f97a61ede4cdb7cfa4d655571
- Cited by
- 793
- References
- 108
- Citations by year
- 2026: 152 · 2025: 150 · 2024: 145 · 2023: 165 · 2022: 117 · 2021: 56
- FWCI
- 23.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Human Behaviour (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Pure (University of Bath) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- digital media use, usage logs, measurement validity, self-report accuracy, problematic media use, self-assessment bias
- MeSH terms
- Screen Time, Humans, Reproducibility of Results, Self Report, Social Media
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