Social networks | The virtues of envy

Holidays in the sun, renovations, success …: social networks have the reputation of making us feel inadequate by exposing us to the best moments of our friends’ lives. However, social comparisons can also have positive effects, explains Adrian Meier, assistant professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and co-author of a new study on the subject. Press spoke to him.

Nicolas Berube
Press

Q. We often hear that social media harms us by letting us see the best moments in our friends’ lives, while obscuring what is wrong with them… You write that these social comparisons can also be positive.

R. Research shows us that seeing people recount their successes, vacations, and leisure activities on social media can trigger a brief feeling of envy in users. But envy is a complex emotion: when I go to a social network and see a person succeeding, I can be happy for them and even be motivated and want to emulate them. This is called benign envy. I may also hold a grudge for this person, wanting to “put them down” or avoid them. This is called malicious envy.

Several cultures have different words to designate these two emotions (for example, in German, we have “beneiden” and “missgönnen”). Research shows that both types of craving manifest on social media, and some studies suggest that mild urge might even be the most common reaction. Research has also shown that social comparison and benign envy lead to positive outcomes, such as feeling inspired by others on social media.

Q. We recently read several articles about teenage girls who visit Instagram say they have a bad self-image, which comes straight from internal research by Facebook, which owns Instagram. But you add that these same teenage girls also feel that Instagram as a whole brings them a net profit. Are we exaggerating the threat Instagram and other platforms pose to adolescent mental health?

R. Facebook’s internal research (or Meta, its parent company) consisted of opinion polls and user interviews. Essentially, teens were asked what concerns and benefits they associate with using Instagram. This gives a good overview of how teens feel about it, but it shouldn’t be our benchmark for establishing negative or positive effects of using Instagram on mental health.

You wouldn’t rely on people’s assumptions to determine the effectiveness of a drug or medical therapy. We have high scientific standards for claims regarding such causal effects. The same should be true of studies claiming that social media affects our mental or physical health. Facebook’s studies should therefore not be overinterpreted. Still, there is plenty of independent academic research that confirms that Instagram use, especially related to appearance – seeing idealized body images – can become problematic for some teens.

However, for the average user, teenager or adult, hundreds of independent studies suggest that general “screen time” spent on social media does not substantially harm or benefit well-being.

Q. Social networks are accused of having a detrimental effect on their users. Do you think we should take a more nuanced view?

R. I do think we should take a more nuanced view on the issue of social media. We won’t learn much more by researching or discussing “screen time,” or equating social media use with social comparison that produces nasty urges. User experiences are more diverse, more nuanced, and so should our research and public discourse. Personally, I think social media can have both positive and negative effects on mental health. When it comes to understanding how, and under what conditions, users are affected, we’ve only scratched the surface.