How and why does the widespread use of social media affect happiness? The present study examined whether the three components of subjective well-being—positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction—were impacted by use of three of the most popular social network sites in the U.S. (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), using the experience sampling method. Over 10 days, greater everyday use of social media resulted in lower subjective well-being—specifically, by increasing negative affective states rather than by decreasing positive states or life satisfaction—a pattern evident across all three social network sites. In evaluating why use of social media adversely impacted subjective well-being, social comparison was a strong predictor. Specifically, the more that participants reported comparing themselves to others while using social media, the less subjective well-being they subsequently experienced. In contrast, traditional, offline social interactions exerted the opposite (beneficial) effect on happiness: increasing positive affect and decreasing negative affect. The present study therefore demonstrates that ordinary, day-to-day use of social network sites adversely impacts subjective well-being over time, and further highlights the advantages of employing independent well-being measures and assessing the use of multiple sites.

社交媒体的广泛使用如何以及为什么会影响幸福？本研究调查了美国三个最受欢迎的社交网站（Facebook，Twitter和Instagram）的使用是否影响了主观幸福感的三个组成部分（正向情感，消极情感和生活满意度），经验抽样方法。在10天内，更多地使用社交媒体会导致较低的主观幸福感，特别是通过增加负面的情感状态而不是减少正面的状态或生活满意度，这是在所有三个社交网站上都可以看到的一种模式。在评估为什么使用社交媒体会对主观幸福感产生不利影响时，社交比较是一个强有力的预测指标。具体而言，参与者报告的使用社交媒体时与其他人进行比较的信息越多，他们随后经历的主观幸福感越差。相比之下，传统的离线社交互动对幸福产生相反（有益）的影响：增加积极影响而减少消极影响。因此，本研究表明，社交网站的日常使用会随着时间的推移对主观幸福感产生不利影响，并进一步凸显了采用独立的幸福感测度和评估多个网站的使用的优势。