Social Media and Subjective Well-Being

There is predominant interest in the direct effects of social media use on well-being, instead of processes and mechanisms that underlie these effects. This chapter explicates some of the processes and mechanisms through the lens of close relationship research. It explores what effect networked social connections have on subjective well-being. The chapter advocates a close relational perspective toward understanding the tangled question of social media and subjective well-being. It conducts a brief review of subjective well-being and social media research on well-being. The chapter also develops two pathways through which social media can influence well-being: one in which social media communication strengthens relational closeness and the other one grounded in the functions of existing close relationships. In these two pathways, it pulls from interpersonal communication and relationship science research to establish relational mechanisms for how social media influence the way that close relationships regulate subjective well-being.