Authored by Tiffany Field*
Abstract
Facebook, as the world’s most popular social networking site, is serving approximately 2 billion people including 92% of adolescents who are online daily. This narrative review includes published research from the last decade on the use and misuse of Facebook by adolescents. The research on Facebook use has focused on motives for its use, which have been primarily for companionship and relationship maintenance. In turn, online relationships have facilitated or debilitated offline relationships. The Facebook misuse research, also called Facebook addiction research, includes prevalence data, Facebook addiction scales, the effects of and the risk factors for Facebook addiction. The effects have included negative behaviors online and negative relationship outcomes. The risk factors have included intense Facebook usage, fear of missing out, mood states (loneliness, stress, depression and anxiety) and personality factors (extraversion and narcissism). Since most of the research has been cross-sectional, direction of effects cannot be determined. This literature is also limited by the almost exclusive use of self-report measures. Nonetheless, the research highlights the problematic use of Facebook by adolescents.
Introduction
A review on Facebook addiction in adolescents revealed that as of the beginning of 2014, there were 1.28 billion active users on the site per month and at least 802 million of these users logged onto Facebook daily [1]. By 2017 there were at least 2 billion users, making Facebook the most popular social networking site in the world [2]. In a recent study on 1534 Italian students, 86% were using Facebook [3]. And in another recent study, 92% of adolescents were on Facebook daily. This widespread use of social networking sites like Facebook has contributed to some negative side effects for adolescents including internet addiction, cyberbullying, sexting, gaming addiction [4-7] and more recently Facebook addiction. The methods for this narrative review on Facebook use and misuse involved literature searches on PubMed, PsycINFO, Science Direct, ProQuest and FAST for publications from the last decade. The search terms included Facebook, Facebook use, Facebook misuse, Facebook addiction. Exclusion criteria included case studies, nonjuried and non-English publications (Table 1).
Facebook Use
The most popular motives for Facebook use have included relationship maintenance, passing time, entertainment and companionship. In the 2014 review by Ryan et al, 30% of the 24 studies they reviewed cited relationship maintenance as the primary motive for Facebook use. Both the positive and negative effects of online relationships on offline relationships have also been the focus of many of the recent studies.
Relationship maintenance behavior
In a sample of 1840 12-18-year-old Flemish adolescents, Facebook relationship maintenance behavior and closeness to friends were reciprocally related based on cross-lagged structural equations models using data across a 6-month period [8]. That Facebook relationship maintenance behavior positively predicted adolescents’ closeness to friends and closeness to friends positively predicted Facebook relationship maintenance behavior was not surprising. These data are supported by those from a U.S. study on 338 adolescents, suggesting that over a 12-month period, the online friendship retention rate was as high as 96% [9].
Facebook relationship maintenance behavior has also been studied in romantic relationships and has reportedly served as a maintenance function in at least 26 peer-reviewed articles that were published from 2000 to 2015 and were reviewed in 2017 [10]. These data have typically referred to the maintenance of geographically close romantic relationships, although at least one article was found on participants in long-distance romantic relationships [11]. In this study on 272 young facebook users, long-distance romantic relationships were compared to geographically close relationships for relationship maintenance behaviors. The results suggested that higher levels of relationship maintenance behaviors as well as more partner surveillance behaviors were reported by those in distant relationships. Not surprisingly, romantic references have been used as relationship maintenance behaviors by those in romantic relationships. For example, in a study on 104 Dutch adolescents, 26% of the profiles included romantic references that were predominantly posted by and referred to the profile owner [12].
Unfortunately, all of the relationship maintenance behavior studies in this literature were limited to online relationships. However, some studies were found that assessed the impact of online behavior on offline relationships.
Online behavior effects on offline relationships
The literature on online behavior effects on offline relationships is mixed. At least one study revealed that the initiation of online relationships positively influences the initiation of offline relationships over time [13]. The authors of this longitudinal study on 217 Berlin adolescents concluded that Facebook may be a training ground for enhancing adolescent social skills and relationships. In a study on 251 California high school students, the adolescents were noted to mainly use Facebook to connect with others especially friends they knew offline [14]. These authors suggested that online contacts were used to strengthen offline relationships.
In contrast, in another study on 342 American university students, Facebooking was positively correlated with the students’ psychological well-being via online social relationship satisfaction, but it was negatively linked to psychological well-being through offline social relationship satisfaction [15]. In a qualitative study, the results of a thematic analysis of interviews with high school students (N=204) suggested that they viewed interactive technology as leading to a decline in face-to-face communication in adolescent romantic relationships [16]. And, data from at least two studies are consistent with the students’ interview data. In a study on Taiwanese students, the frequency of Facebook interactions was negatively correlated with offline interactions [17]. Further, in a paper called “Face to (face) book: the two faces of social behavior, Facebook wall pages of 99 students were downloaded six times during three weeks and coded for quantity and quality of Facebook activity [18]. In addition, social interactions were evaluated by self and by friends’ reports. Although the offline interaction behaviors and Facebook behaviors were similar, those students who had more positive offline relationships were less likely to engage in conversations on Facebook.
Mixed media relationships (online combined with offline relationships) are notably complex, as has been noted in a paper entitled “Embracing the challenges and opportunities of mixedmedia relationships” [19]. In this paper, Parks elaborates several of the limitations of research on mixed-media relationships and speaks to the demands of those relationships including “social coordination, impression management, regulating closeness and distance, and managing arousal and anxiety”. Seemingly, it would be difficult to assess mixed-media relationships for these demands given that this recent online/offline literature suggests that adolescents are experiencing a preponderance of either online or offline relationships.
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