Online networks and subjective well-being

Understand

We argue that the use of online networks may threaten subjective well-being in several ways, due to the inherent attributes of Internet-mediated interaction and through its effects on social trust and sociability.

• We test our hypotheses on a representative sample of the Italian population.
• We find a significantly negative correlation between online networking and well-being.
• This result is partially confirmed after accounting for endogeneity.