Paper Info
Title
Connecting activities on Social Network Sites and life satisfaction: A comparison of older and younger users
Abstract
Social Network Sites (SNSs) have been found to promote psychological well-being of individuals through bonding and bridging social capital by allowing users to engage in different networking activities with their close and weak ties. However, these findings primarily focus on younger population or adopt simplistic measures of SNS use without distinguishing different activities, leaving how specific SNS uses may affect older users' psychological well-being unclear. This study examined the effects of engaging in different Facebook activities on older users over 50 as compared to younger adults between 18 and 25, using Facebook behavioral data in conjunction with survey data. Drawing from Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and Uses and Gratification theory, it tested different effects of SNS activities on older and younger users’ psychological well-being. We found that compared to younger adults, older adults benefit less from having a large network and more from engaging in directed communication activities.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1016/j.chb.2019.106222
Computers in Human Behavior
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Social network sites,SNS,Older adults,Well-being,Life satisfaction,Social capital
Journal
105
ISSN
Citations 
PageRank 
0747-5632
0
0.34
References 
Authors
0
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Chelsea Kim100.68
Cuihua Shen200.34