Wellbeing in online social networking

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The rapidly escalating impact of online social networking (OSN) on young people’s daily lives raises the questions of

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(a) how youths' OSN practices reciprocally affect their wellbeing and cognitive outcomes? and

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(b) how positive psychology and mindfulness interventions might reduce harmful OSN effects on these outcomes?

 

This study will create a coherent, holistic framework of the links among youths’ OSN, positive psychology, wellbeing, academic achievement, and mindfulness. Specifically, we theoretically propose and empirically test the extent to which learners’ psychological traits mediate OSN uses' (e.g., media multitasking) reciprocal effects with wellbeing and academic outcomes. Integrating sociocultural, psychological and cognitive perspectives, this study uses a mixed method design and advanced analyses (thematic analysis, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, statistics) of interviews, surveys, and OSN messages. It will enrich understanding of youth digital practices in OSN, and demonstrate how mutually informative experiences across sites can enhance their wellbeing and whole-person development. These results will inform parents, teachers, teacher educators, and policy makers on OSN policies and interventions to enhance youths' wellbeing and academic outcomes. Ultimately, this project will help youths engage in OSN activities in a more healthy, ethical, and responsible way. 

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