An Exploration of Social Media and Physiological Stress Recovery: A Preliminary Investigation Within a Biopsychosocial Framework

Billions use social media apps (SM), which function to connect people. Despite good intentions, researchers have expressed concern about potential psychosocial impacts. Indeed, previously detected links between stress recovery deficits and SM remain contested in the literature, with substantial gaps in mechanistic knowledge. Many studies observe direct manipulations of SM use but fail to consider longer-term trends of habitual use. Accordingly, we sought to employ a design informed by the biopsychosocial challenge and threat, as well as the multi-channel approach frameworks of SM research, to conduct a comprehensive exploration of habitual SM’s link to stress recovery. This study investigated whether reward sensitivity, perceived information overload, daily average screen time, and valence predicted cardiovascular recovery following an acute social stressor. Participants (N = 24) completed self-report scales and had screen time data recorded. Subsequently, participants underwent a Trier Social Stress Test, after which they recovered in isolation. We recorded cardiovascular data at baseline, stress, and recovery, from which we derived proportional recovery indices. The present paper suffered from low power. As such, no inferential, confirmatory effects were detected, except for an association between reward sensitivity and SM valence. However, when exploring descriptive patterns, several preliminary effects appear to have emerged. Firstly, reward sensitivity appeared to negatively associate with daily mean screen time. Similarly, preliminary patterns suggested a negative association between screen time and certain stress recovery indices, and that both PIO and Reward sensitivity may moderate associations between valence and stress recovery indices. These preliminary findings suggest that there may be complex processes underlying social media stress. However, we recognise that, due to the underpowered and methodologically constrained nature of this study, definitive conclusions about effects or their lack cannot be definitively drawn. The study highlights directions for further investigation into the psychosocial and physiological consequences of SM use.