Benjamin Johnson, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Advertising assistant professor, is the co-author of “Social Comparison and Envy on Social Media: A Critical Review” published in Current Opinion in Psychology, Volume 45, June 2022.

Johnson and Adrian Meier reviewed evidence on public and scholarly concern that passive social media use decreases wellbeing by providing a fertile ground for harmful upward social comparison and envy.

According to the authors, “Given contradictory findings and limitations, we cannot conclude that social media are indeed “worse”—we simply do not know yet. In any case, recommending users to just “stop comparing” on social media seems futile, given how deeply this experience is part of the human condition. Instead, efforts of researchers, companies, and users alike can be directed towards identifying ways in which social media design and usage practices can foster positive, inspiring comparisons and reduce negative ones.”

Posted: February 21, 2022
Category: College News
Tagged as: Benjamin Johnson