Psychological well-being of social networks users with different level of involvement

Abstract

The article introduces the concept of "involvement" aimed to describe behavioral and emotional features of social network users. First stage of the study consisted of semi-structured interviews with social network users (N = 27). Based on the phenomenological analysis of the interview we identified high and low levels of involvement. A complex criterion for the distinction of the two involvement levels is proposed. Specifically, the criterion includes objective, subjective and intersubjective components. During the second stage of the study we conducted quantitative and qualitative comparison of the social network users with low and high levels of involvement (N = 50). Analysis of the interviews identified differences in activity-related, emotional, and content-semantic aspects of social network usage. High level of involvement was associated with lower levels of subjective happiness and life satisfaction, as well as with higher alienation among all spheres of life compared to those with low level of involvement. The involvement criterion is suggested as a screening tool for the risk of social network addiction.