(PS3-B40) Daytime Social Media Checking—but Not Social Media ‘screen Time’—predicts Evening Negative Mood Among Adolescents

Background: Preliminary evidence links adolescent social media use to negative mental health outcomes, but less is known about how social media and negative mood are associated in real time. This study examined the daily relationship between daytime social media use assessed via objective methods and evening negative mood.

Method: This study followed 19 adolescents [M_age=15.8 (1.0); 37% girls/58% boys/5% non-binary; 79% white/10.5% black/10.5% Asian] for one month (M=30.6 days (SD =5.6)). A phone application passively monitored the amount of time spent on social media and number of times social media was checked daily during the study. We used ecological momentary assessment to assess morning and evening negative mood.

We used multilevel models to examine whether 1) daily time spent on social media and 2) daily number of times social media was checked predicted within-person changes in negative mood in the evening. We controlled for morning negative mood to disentangle the predictive role of social media. To isolate the effect of within-person relationships, we also controlled for between-person effects of social media time/checking, respectively.

Results: Checking social media more times per day predicted within-person increases in evening negative mood (b=.88, p=0.03), whereas time spent on social media did not predict changes in negative mood (b=.21, p=.48).

Discussion: When adolescents check social media more frequently, their negative mood increases, even while accounting for prior negative mood. These findings may inform parents or others in adolescents’ lives who regulate ‘screen time.’ Specifically, social media checking behavior may be more important than time spent on social media in affecting teens’ emotional wellbeing.