Life on the internet and happiness

Abstract

The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationships between using online social networks and self-esteem, happiness, and tendencies towards Internet addiction. The Internet has been transformed from a tool that people use occasionally to an environment in which they operate and live daily. The participants in our study were 435 people, aged between 12 and 76 (M=28). The applied measures included questionnaires about: Internet addiction, self-esteem, happiness, and characteristics of online social networks use (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). The results revealed a significant negative correlation between self-esteem and the frequency with which people updated their status on Facebook. Thus, lower self-esteem was associated with more frequent updates of the status. Furthermore, we found a significant relationship between Facebook use and happiness. The more people used the online social network, the happier they were. Moreover, using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram was positively correlated with the different aspects of Internet addition, namely, social problems arising from Internet use, the Internet serving as a tool for mood modification, and problems with time management when using the Internet. Additionally, these same aspects of Internet addiction were inversely associated with respondents’ happiness. The findings of the study are an essential indicator of the correlates of online social networks use, drawing attention to both positive and negative emotional tendencies. It is important to recognise the relationship between social network use and Internet addiction attesting to the potential problems of preference for online socialisation.