What is it about?
People who perceive themselves as free report better mental health. Our findings suggest, however, that perceptions of freedom may not relate as positively to mental health among those addicted to social media. These findings suggest an interactive effect between freedom perceptions and social media addiction on mental health, but such effects depend on who and what those perceptions are about.
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Why is it important?
It is important to consider how perceptions of freedom and their psychosocial correlates are embedded in a digital world with social media platforms.
Perspectives
Media (modes of communication beyond face-to-face) complicate our self-narratives. Media can help, enhance, and expand the self, but also constrain, deter, and limit the self. Th present article contributes to ongoing discussion on this duality.
Cameron Bunker
Emerson College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Social media addiction moderates links between perceptions of freedom and mental health in the United States and Germany., Psychology of Popular Media, July 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/ppm0000618.
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