Social media and its relationship with mood, self-esteem and paranoia in psychosis

Abstract

Objective: An evidence-base is emerging indicating detrimental and beneficial effects of social media. Little is known about the impact of social media use on people who experience psychosis. Method: Forty-four participants with and without psychosis completed 1084 assessments of social media use, perceived social rank, mood, self-esteem and paranoia over a 6-day period using an experience sampling method (ESM). Results: Social media use predicted low mood, but did not predict self-esteem and paranoia. Posting about feelings and venting on social media predicted low mood and self-esteem and high paranoia, whilst posting about daily activities predicted increases in positive affect and self-esteem and viewing social media newsfeeds predicted reductions in negative affect and paranoia. Perceptions of low social rank when using social media predicted low mood and self-esteem and high paranoia. The impact of social media use did not differ between participants with and without psychosis; although, experiencing psychosis moderated the relationship between venting and negative affect. Social media use frequency was lower in people with psychosis. Conclusion: Findings show the potential detrimental impact of social media use for people with and without psychosis. Despite few between-group differences, overall negative psychological consequences highlight the need to consider use in clinical practice.