A Model of Social Media Participation and Depression

Christopher Limnios () and William Marquis ()
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Christopher Limnios: Providence College
William Marquis: Providence College

Economics Bulletin, 2020, vol. 40, issue 4, 2994-2999

Abstract: We provide a theory which explains the link between depression and participation in social media. Opportunities to be captured and posted to one's social media randomly arrive and the participant chooses which of them are posted. Utility is a ``keeping-up-with-the-Joneses'' type. The network's socioeconomic reference point continues to rise as a result of participation in the network. Participants find it increasingly difficult to isolate opportunities which are above the reference point, decreasing aggregate utility.

Keywords: Social media; Depression; Social networks; Facebook; Instagram; Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses; photographic filter; #nofilter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-11-14
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