Arbeitspapier

Social Network Sites, Individual Social Capital and Happiness

Can online social contacts replace the importance of real-life social connections in our pursuit of happiness? With the growing use of social network sites (SNSs), attention has been increasingly drawn to this topic. Our study empirically examines the effect of SNS use on happiness for different subgroups of young adults. More specifically, we examine whether the effect of SNSs on happiness is moderated by individual social capital, as measured in terms of frequency of social contacts and feelings of loneliness. Using Dutch data from the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS panel), we provide robust empirical evidence that there is, on average, no relationship between the amount of time spent on SNSs and happiness. However, we find a negative association between the numbers of hours spent on SNS and happiness for SNS users who feel socially disconnected and lonely. The results hold when we control for socio-demographic characteristics, trust, hours spent on other Internet sites and household income. Hence, SNSs are not a substitute for real-life social connections and, at most, complement them.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper ; No. 16-085/VII

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
General Welfare; Well-Being
Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
Thema
Subjective well-being
happiness
social network sites
individual social capital
social isolation
loneliness

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Arampatzi, Efstratia
Burger, Martijn J.
Novik, Natallia A.
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Tinbergen Institute
(wo)
Amsterdam and Rotterdam
(wann)
2016

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Arampatzi, Efstratia
  • Burger, Martijn J.
  • Novik, Natallia A.
  • Tinbergen Institute

Entstanden

  • 2016

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