Is Social Media Use Related to Social Anxiety? A Meta-Analysis

ABSTRACT

During face-to-face interactions, social anxiety involves an intense fear which precipitates impaired communication and avoidance. Social media provides an alternate, potentially less anxiety-provoking communication venue. The relationship between social anxiety and social media is unclear. Prior reviews focused on the relationship between one of these terms (i.e. social anxiety or social media use) and a broader category (i.e. psychological well-being, computer-mediated communication). These earlier reviews found inconclusive results perhaps due to the paucity of studies available that examined the specific relationship between social anxiety and social media use. Given an uptick in research on this specific relationship in the past five years, the current study synthesized and analyzed 27 independent study samples that met inclusion criteria (Total N = 38,163). Using a random-effects model, we found a significant positive relationship between social media use and social anxiety (r = .14). Moderation analyses indicated smaller positive effect sizes for studies with adolescent-only samples, White-majority samples, North American samples, and less reliable measures of social media use. Since social media may provide affordances and risks that depend on each mental health challenge, we need more social media usage studies and reviews with results specified by challenge.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Languages include Spanish (38), French (38), German (27), Portuguese (12), Chinese (12), Turkish (12), Japanese (9), Italian (9), Russian (5), Slavic languages (4), Hungarian (3), Finnish (1), Slovak (1), Persian (1), Arabic (1), Dutch (1), Norwegian (1), Czech (1), and Greek (1).

² The first author reached out to the corresponding authors and requested the necessary information. One team of authors responded with the requested information so that their study was included in the review.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yuanfeixue Nan

Yuanfeixue Nan is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Her academic interests lie in health communication and dynamic social networks, with a special focus on mental health and social support.

Jiaqi Qin

Jiaqi Qin is a doctoral student in the School of Communication at the Ohio State University. She is interested in the influence of social network structures on the exchange of social support in online and offline settings, and how new technologies such as conversational AI can facilitate social support exchange.

Zichao Li

Zichao Li is a PhD student at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, specializing in social and behavioral sciences. Her research focuses on health communication, health misinformation and social determinants of well-being.

Natalie Garyeung Kim

Natalie Garyeung Kim is a doctoral student at USC Annenberg, specializing in health communication and mental health research. Her research interests include emerging technologies and media, health, and neurobiological and motivational bases of psychological disorders.

Steffie Sofia Yeonjoo Kim

Steffie Sofia Yeonjoo Kim (PhD University of Southern California) is a user researcher and data analyst who specializes in understanding how and why people engage with technology, media, and entertainment, and in creating positive interactions in virtual spaces.

Lynn Carol Miller

Lynn Carol Miller is Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. A focus of current work is understanding mental health dynamics and communication processes and outcomes.