The DOI matches its Crossref record; 56 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Impact of Internet and Social Media Use on Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescents Across Nine Years
Open accessAbstract
Abstract The present research examines the longitudinal average impact of frequency of use of Internet and social networking sites (SNS) on subjective well-being of adolescents in Germany. Based on five-wave panel data that cover a period of nine years, we disentangle between-person and within-person effects of media use on depressive symptomatology and life satisfaction as indicators of subjective well-being. Additionally, we control for confounders such as TV use, self-esteem, and satisfaction with friends. We found that frequency of Internet use in general and use of SNS in particular is not substantially related subjective well-being. The explanatory power of general Internet use or SNS use to predict between-person differences or within-person change in subjective well-being is close to zero. TV use, a potentially confounding variable, is negatively related to satisfaction with life, but it does not affect depressive symptomatology. However, this effect is too small to be of practical relevance.
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“More prolonged studies spanning 8 or 9 years have further corroborated the view that frequency of social media use does not longitudinally predict depressive symptoms in adolescents even when studied across developmental periods from adolescence to young adulthood (31, 32).”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [32]
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“Several recent longitudinal studies show null or even disconfirming evidence for social media as a precedent of depression.”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [32]
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“Pueden verse ejemplos de esto en Schemer et al. (2020) y Orben & Przybylski (2019).”
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“…on ICTs (Ihm & Hsieh, 2015; Yang et al., 2021), a sizable of studies suggested that ICTs adoption contributes to enhanced life satisfaction (Schemer et al., 2021; Schmuck, 2020), with scholars attributing this relationship to mechanisms such as engagement in new activities, altered time…”
Liang, Z., Cao, X., & Ren, W. (2026) · Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal · doi:10.1007/s10560-025-01075-1
“Nevertheless, emerging evidence presents conflicting perspectives on adolescent internet use, with recent studies reporting non-significant or minimal associations between screen-time duration and mental health outcomess (Orben & Przybylski, 2019; Schemer et al., 2021).”
Thapa, P. P., Sharma, P., Bhatta, R., Chaudhary, A., Shah, S. K., Karki, R., Mpourazanis, G., Tsirkas, P., Valamontes, A., & Adamopoulos, I. (2026) · Journal of Contemporary Studies in Epidemiology and Public Health · doi:10.29333/jconseph/17855
“This pattern aligns with global studies, including those in [13, 16, 17], which identified Facebook and YouTube as the dominant platforms among older adults.”
Medien, Glück und Wohlbefinden
Appel, M., Winkler, J. R., & Hutmacher, F. (2023) · mediendiskurs · doi:10.65409/mlma2631106
Digital Skills and Subjective Wellbeing: Wired for Happiness?Preprint
Sharipova, D., & Kudebayeva, A. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6295270
Alghamdi, A. M., Alzahrani, M. A., Alomari, R. A., Alghamdi, S. A., Alzahrani, R. A., Alzahrani Faisal Lafi, B., Alghamdi, H. M., Osman, N. M., & Almawazini, A. M. (2026) · doi:10.2196/preprints.93736
Yang, X., He, Q., & Zhou, S. (2026) · Applied Research in Quality of Life · doi:10.1007/s11482-026-10585-8
“Additionally, we included a set of covariates identified in existing literature (e.g., Schemer et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2022).”
Politte‐Corn, M., Myruski, S., & Buss, K. A. (2026) · Brain and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.braen.2026.100018
Ballou, N., Foldes, A., Hakman, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2026) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791417
“Games HCI studies mention demographic variables as potential confounds [32] Longitudinal studies demonstrate how associations between media use and well-being attenuate when life circumstances and social context are properly modeled [22, 55].”
Steckermeier, L. C., & Hess, S. (2023) · mediendiskurs · doi:10.65409/glsh225106
Web, War and Well-being: Adolescent Digital Profiles & their Ecological Systems in Times of WarPreprint
Cayzer-Haller, S., Goldratt, M., Sela, Y., Segal, H., Katsoty, D., & Knafo‐Noam, A. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9388758/v1
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Yu, S., Park, H. J., & Park, M. J. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6883520
Life satisfaction in the digital age: The role of smartphone use and experience
Verhofstadt, E., OOTEGEM, L. V., Jacobs, A., & Abeele, M. V. (2026) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2026.101172
Tang, Y., Guo, J., & Hu, X. (2026) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1007/s10902-026-01070-y
“Still others, including longitudinal research by Schemer et al. (2021 ), suggest no significant impact of social network site use on well-being.”
SOCOL, A., Andrei, L. E., Dijmarescu, C. M., Dragomir, D., Iotu, A., Mihăilescu, I., & Rad, F. (2026) · Children · doi:10.3390/children13070872 · Cited by 2
“…mostly from cross-sectional design studies that make it impossible to establish causality, reliance on self-reports that are susceptible to bias, not taking into account confounding variables (individual or environmental factors) [58], and the impossibility of conducting randomized control trials.”
Internet use frequency and life satisfaction: a control function approach to endogeneity
Chapela, J. G. (2026) · Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2026.102628
González, F. A. I. (2026) · Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies · doi:10.1080/17450128.2026.2702908
Yang, Y., Wang, Y., Zhang, N., Xu, M., Ling, X., Wang, J., & Gao, X. (2026) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs16091567
“…studies have primarily focused on social media use duration, frequency, and patterns, while variable-centered approaches have yielded inconsistent findings regarding the association between social media use and subjective well-being (Hancock et al., 2022; Jarman et al., 2021; Schemer et al., 2021).”
Social and Digital Transformations: The Effects of the Internet on the Younger Generation
Dinu, M., Catut, S. E., Curea, Ș. C., Bălu, E. P., & Ciobanu, G. (2026) · Proceeding Papers · doi:10.24818/basiq/2026/12/022
Peachey, W., Piantella, S., Cotton, S., & Gleeson, J. (2026) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjc.70100 · Cited by 1
Jiang, S., & Zhao, H. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1961945
Zhang, Y., & Chang, J. (2026) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2026.101403
Metadata
- Authors
- Schemer, C., Masur, P. K., Geiß, S., Müller, P., & Schäfer, S.
- Affiliations
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- University of Mannheim (DE)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Schemer, Christian
- Venue
- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-12-12
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-21
- ISSN
- 1083-6101 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3112674396
- Cited by
- 166
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 25.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- MADOC (University of Mannheim) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- 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
- internet use, social networking sites, subjective well-being, adolescents, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, television viewing, self-esteem, between-person effects, within-person change
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