Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2015) 507–511

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Understanding Facebook use and the psychological affects of use across

generations
Marie Hayes ⇑, Katherine van Stolk-Cooke, Fred Muench
North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Care System, Center for Addiction Services, Suite 311, 1010 Northern Boulevard, Great Neck, NY 11021, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Background: Although the popularity of social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, continues to
Available online 6 April 2015 increase, little research has centered on users outside of undergraduate institutions. There is evidence
to suggest age impacts overall SNS use, but little is known about how different age groups use
Keywords: Facebook, and whether use is associated with improved or diminished well-being.
Facebook Method: This study examined how individuals aged 18–70+ years used Facebook, and how their well-
Social networking sites being was impacted by said use. An anonymous survey was completed by 529 individuals assessing
Body image
the association between age, frequency of Facebook use in the past 30 days, trouble controlling use,
Technology
Well-being
body-image as it pertained to use, and site-related social fulfillment. A series of univariate ANOVAs
Older adults and regressions were conducted to better understand differences in use and effects of use on
trichotomized age groups.
Results: Results indicate that there are significant differences in both the ways in which older adults use
Facebook and the effects Facebook has on this population compared to younger cohorts. Findings suggest
that younger adults use Facebook more frequently and are significantly more emotionally impacted by
the site than older adults. For example, younger adults spend more time per day on the site and experi-
ence more negative body image because of Facebook than do older adults. These preliminary findings
highlight the need for more research into the effects of SNS on individuals of different age groups and
individualized intervention methods for SNS-related problems.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction individual differences between SNS users, and affects experienced

The popularity of social networking sites (SNS) has boomed in
recent years, and seems to be holding steady. Facebook is arguably
the most commonly known SNS in the world (Nielsen., 2010). It is
widely used across a broad range of demographic groups, so long
as they have a valid e-mail address any individual can create and
maintain a Facebook presence (Cain, 2008). As of June 2014, there
were 829 million active daily users of Facebook. Not only does the
number of users continue to swell, but users are spending an
increased amount of time on the site per day (Rainie, Smith, &
Duggan, 2013). Moreover, as the site’s capabilities have expanded
beyond networking, individuals have begun to use Facebook for a
variety of non-networking related reasons. An emerging line of
research is developing to improve our understanding of the
⇑ Corresponding author at: Center for Addiction Services and Psychotherapy
Intervention Research (CASPIR), North Shore LIJ Healthcare System, 1010 Northern
Blvd, Great Neck, NY, USA. Tel.: +1 (516) 837 1677.
E-mail addresses: mhayes3@nshs.edu (M. Hayes), kvanstolkc@nshs.edu
(K. van Stolk-Cooke), FMuench@nshs.edu (F. Muench).
by users.
As the popularity of SNS continues to soar, more research is
emerging on the effects these sites have on the wellbeing of users.
Thus far, relationships have been found between Facebook use and
personality traits, self-esteem, and depression (Andreassen,
Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2012; Lou, Yan, Nickerson, &
McMorris, 2012; Pelling & White, 2009). In 2014, Meier and Gray
dove deeper into the effects of Facebook use by investigating
Facebook photo usage and body image disturbance. They found
elevated photo activity, not overall Facebook use, to be correlated
with greater weight dissatisfaction (Meier & Gray, 2014). More
recent research suggests that Facebook use impacts body image,
as well as disordered eating (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2015).
Additionally, Facebook has been found to host to a number of
pro-eating disorder groups (Juarascio, Shoaib, & Timko, 2010).
Research on the relationship between social adjustment and
SNS use has thus far been mixed. Past studies have shown that ado-
lescents, particularly younger girls, use SNS to facilitate relation-
ships and expand upon real-life interactions (Subrahmanyam,
Reich, Waechter, & Espinoza, 2008; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.03.040
0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
508 M. Hayes et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2015) 507–511
Similar findings have arisen to describe the SNS-based behaviors of
emerging adults of both genders, specifically in the realm of using
online resources to maintain offline relationships (Mcmillan &
Morrison, 2006; Ellison, 2007), as well as university-aged young
adults (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Lampe, Ellison, &
Steinfield, 2006). However, a study from 2011 found an increased
number of Facebook friends of college freshmen was related to
low academic and emotional adjustment (Kalpidou, Costin, &
Morris, 2011). There is a plethora of existing and newly emerging
studies regarding the relationship between Facebook and personal
characteristics. However, little insight has been shed on how
Facebook use differs across generations, as the majority of the
literature utilizes collegiate populations.
Older generations did not grow up with chat rooms, virtual
video games, or other technology-based social tools the way the
millennial generation has. Because the millennial generation grew
up in an environment in which they were constantly exposed to
computers and other technologies, they tend to be technologically
literate (Bennett, 2012) ‘‘digital natives’’. By contrast, technology
literacy is much lower for older generations, or ‘‘digital immi-
grants’’ (Prensky, 2001). For example, older individuals report
more cognitive and physical barriers to learning and using new
technology and skeptical attitudes towards the value of technology
in their lives (Smith, 2014). In general, adults spend less time using
computers than younger cohorts (Selwyn, Gorard, Furlong, &
Madden, 2003), and less time on SNS per day than adolescents
(Christofides, Muise, & Desmarais, 2011). Although there is near
universal adaptation to some forms of technology by digital
immigrants, research suggests some areas of specialized technology
are not as widely used. The reasons for this are not entirely clear;
however, it is hypothesized that some forms of technology may be
too difficult, specific, or irrelevant to older generations to merit
adoption by this population (Dickinson, Arnott, & Prior, 2007).
The current study attempts to dissect how different age cohorts
use Facebook technology, and to explore the affects Facebook has
on users across generations. We hypothesize that older adults
use Facebook differently and less often than younger users, and
that they are more resilient to the negative effects of Facebook use.
2. Methods
2.1. Procedure
Respondents were recruited via convenience sampling e-mail
blasts and social networking news feeds (i.e. Facebook and
Twitter), and Amazon.com, Inc.’s online labor market, Mechanical
Turk (MTurk), to complete a fifteen-minute survey containing a
series of Facebook usage questions and other measures of psycho-
logical well-being and distress. MTurk is a communication plat-
form through which workers can be contracted to perform tasks
that require human intelligence (e.g. consumer surveys) in
exchange for compensation. Over the last few years, MTurk has
been used for social sciences research with results similar to other
sampling methods when certain validity checks were included in
the design (Mason & Suri, 2012). The survey itself was built using
SurveyMonkey, and was filled out anonymously. No IP addresses
were collected. The data was collected from May through August
of 2013, and all study procedures were approved by the New
York State Psychiatric Institute IRB.
2.2. Sample
A total of 664 individuals completed at least one question in the
survey. The primary reasons for removing participants from analy-
ses were unwillingness to provide consent (4), inconsistent
responding and/or completing the survey in too short a time-span
to yield reliable responses to questions (95). Lastly, thirty-six (36)
responders were removed from analyses because they did not have
an active Facebook account at the time the survey was completed.
Consequently, this sample includes 529 responders (159 male, 300
female, 70 preferring not to differentiate). The majority of respon-
dents (421) were not compensated; however the individuals in the
MTurk sample were given $3.00 upon survey completion. No sig-
nificant differences were found between participants from the
two recruitment sources.
2.3. Measures
The survey assessed participants across several broad domains,
including specific Facebook application (app) usage, trouble con-
trolling use, and inter- and intrapersonal distress and well-being.
Specifically, we examined Facebook usage by dissecting time spent
on Facebook per day, the number of times during the day users
accessed Facebook, and which Facebook apps (e.g. pictures, posts,
events, chat, etc.) were used and how often. Distress and well-be-
ing measures included body image questions pertaining to
Facebook, social life fulfillment resulting from use, and satisfaction
with the SNS itself. Lastly, we assessed loss of control over
Facebook use.
Time spent on Facebook per day. The amount of time on Facebook
per day was assessed using a face valid, self-report item specific to
the past 30 days. Item responses ranged from ‘‘0–15 minutes’’ to
‘‘4 hours or more’’. Times users accessed Facebook per day.
Checking behavior was assessed using another face valid, self-re-
port item containing options ranging from 1 through 14 times
per day, with an additional option of ‘‘15 times or more’’.
Facebook App usage. Application usage was captured by asking
respondents how many times in the last 30 days they used each
application. Choices for responses ranged from ‘‘Less than once a
month’’ to ‘‘More than once daily’’.
Trouble Controlling Use. To assess trouble controlling Facebook
use, five questions were asked regarding (1) unsuccessful attempts
to reduce use, (2) interference of use with other activities, (3) the
degree to which users spent more time on the site than intended,
(4) the degree to which users neglected important things because
of Facebook use, and (5) the amount of effort it took for users not to
use the site. These questions were asked on a 4-point likert scale
and were adapted from Charlton & Danforth’s addiction scale
(Charlton & Danforth, 2007). The alpha for the current sub-scale
is .78. Body Image and Facebook. To assess body image in the con-
text of Facebook use, we included three questions from a public
survey administered by The Center for Eating Disorders at
Sheppard Pratt in 2012 (Clemmer, 2012). The three questions, pre-
sented on a 5-point likert scale, included (1) seeing photos of
myself on Facebook makes me feel self-conscious about my body,
(2) I feel that I need to change parts of my body or lose weight
when I compare my body to friends’ bodies in photos, and (3) when
I attend a social event, I am conscious that photos of me might get
posted on Facebook. We assessed the inter-item reliability of these
questions, which yielded an alpha of .77. Facebook Satisfaction.
Satisfaction with Facebook was assessed through the following
true or false questions: (1) Facebook makes me feel that I am
improving my life, (2) I feel that despite some of the problems with
Facebook, it is a good tool for meeting my needs, and (3) after I
close my Facebook account, I feel satisfied with how I spend my
time compared to doing something else. The alpha of this scale
was .73. Positive Social Fulfillment. Positive social outcomes of
Facebook use were evaluated though four yes-or-no questions as
follows: Facebook makes me feel. . . (1) Informed socially, (2) con-
nected to people I rarely see, (3) connected to people I often see,
and (4) I feel I am improving friendships because of Facebook.
 M. Hayes et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2015) 507–511 509

The alpha of this scale was .63. Negative Social Connection. One 3.2. Time on Facebook and checking
single true or false question was included to assess the extent to
which Facebook makes users experience negative social compar- Results are presented in Table 2. Ninety-one percent (91%) of all
ison: Facebook makes me feel that I am an outsider looking in. participants reported being on Facebook at least once each day. The
This item was included as a foil to the positive social fulfillment mean amount of time spent on Facebook per day was 45 minutes;
scale. however, most people spent 0–3 hours each day on the site. The
majority of respondents reported being on Facebook for more than
2.4. Analytic plan 15 minutes per day (83.2%), and a fifth of the sample reported
spending more than 2 hours per day on the SNS. About eleven per-
Trichotomized groups were created to assess differences in age cent of both 18–29 year olds (10.8%) and 30–49 year olds (11.7%)
cohorts based on age group response choices from a 10-item age reported spending more than three hours per day on Facebook,
range scale. Of all responders, the young adult cohort (aged 18– versus four percent (4%) of people 50 years and older. People across
29 years) represents forty-six percent (45.6%), the middle-age age groups were most likely to check their Facebook account fewer
cohort (aged 30–49 years) represents thirty-six percent (35.5%), than 10 times per day. Sixteen percent (16%) of older adults,
and the older adult cohort (aged 50–70 years) represents nineteen twenty eight percent (27.7%) of middle-aged adults, and thirty
percent (18.9%). Univariate ANOVAs were run to examine differ- three percent (32.8%) of young adults respectively reported check-
ences in Facebook use between groups across continuous variables, ing their Facebook accounts 10 times or more per day.
and Chi-Square was used to examine differences in categorical
variables. Significant findings from initial analyses were further 3.3. Facebook photo app usage
examined using multiple linear regression and logistical regression
to assess the unique variance associated with each domain. Overall, the youngest generation reported more actively posting
photos on Facebook, both of themselves and of friends. The major-
ity of responders however, reported posting photos less than once
3. Results
per month. For example, three quarters (75%) of users reported
posting photos of their friends less than once per month, compared
3.1. Demographics
to fifty one percent (51%) of young adults. The middle-aged cohort
fell in between, with about seventy percent (68.6%) posting photos
Overall, the sample was predominantly white and female, with
of others less than once per month. In all age groups, more than
eighty percent (80.1%) having at least some college education. The
half of the responders reported viewing photos of themselves more
modal age range of this sample is mid-to-late 20s (23–29), while
than twice per week. There was a negative relationship between
the age of respondents range from 18 to 70+ years. Demographic
age and the amount of time spent viewing one’s own photos on
information is presented in depth in Table 1.
Facebook. Specifically, 18–29 year olds reported looking at their
own photos more often than people age 30 and older. Thirty per-
Table 1 cent (29.5%) of young adults reported looking at their own photos
Demographic information. more than twice per week compared with about twelve percent of
middle-aged adults (12.8%), and older adults (12%).
N Percent
Gender
3.4. Other Facebook app usage
Male 159 30.1
Female 300 56.7
Other app usage assessed include commenting on friends’
Age
Youngest cohort 241 45.6 photos, commenting on friends’ status or wall post, updating per-
18–22 84 15.9 sonal statuses, updating personal information, using the Facebook
23–29 157 29.7 Chat (instant message) feature, creating a new event or posting in
Middle-age cohort 188 35.5 an existing event, and using any interactive app (i.e. Farmville or
30–39 96 18.1
40–49 92 17.4
Spotify). As shown in Table 2, the only significant differences found
Older adult cohort 100 18.9 between age cohorts in frequency of app use was in how often
50–69 89 16.8 users updated their personal Facebook status and how often they
70+ 11 2.1 used Facebook Chat—with the youngest cohort reporting the most
Education frequent activity in both domains.
Less than high school 5 0.9
GED/high school 35 6.6
3.5. Well-being and distress outcomes
Some college/bachelors degree 315 59.5
Masters degree 81 15.3
PhD or equivalent 40 5.3 As shown in Table 2, there are significant differences in the
Marital status ways in which Facebook impacts users in the three age cohorts.
Single 250 47.3 Young adults scored significantly higher on a negative Facebook
Married 174 32.9 body image scale than members of the two older cohorts. The
Divorced/separated/widowed 38 8.7 middle-age cohort scored the lowest on this scale, indicating the
Race/ethnicity highest level of body satisfaction, and the older adult cohort fell
White 387 73.2 in between. The youngest age group also indicated having signifi-
Hispanic or latino 24 4.5
Asian 24 4.5
cantly more trouble controlling their Facebook use, with difficulty
Black or African American 21 4 decreasing as age cohort increased. The final significant difference
Other 4 0.8 between the effects of Facebook use on well-being by generation is
How did you hear about survey? in the social fulfillment category. Older participants reported being
Facebook 307 58 less socially fulfilled by using Facebook compared to both younger
Other 195 36.9 cohorts, with the 18–29 year old group reporting the most positive
Email 24 4.5
social fulfillment from Facebook use. Lastly, young adults were
510 M. Hayes et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2015) 507–511

Table 2
ANOVA outcomes of generation and Facebook variables.

Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) F-value p-Value

18–29 30–49 50+
Facebook use
Facebook time per day 4.10 (1.99) 3.84 (2.19) 3.15 (1.93) 7.12 .001
Facebook checking per day 7.08 (4.70) 6.38 (5.07) 5.07 (4.46) 5.36 0.005
Post photos—friends 1.67 (.86) 1.47 (.91) 1.23 (.54) 9.65 0.0001
Post photos—self 1.58 (.72) 1.51 (.87) 1.29 (.71) 4.54 0.011
Looked at friends’ photos 4.18 (1.46) 4.01 (1.39) 3.91 (1.51) 1.40 0.247
Looked at own photos 2.74 (1.46) 2.05 (1.26) 1.82 (1.23) 20.84 0.0001
Comment-friends photos 3.03 (1.39) 3.07 (1.53) 3.30 (1.58) 1.10 0.333
Comment-friends status/post 3.37 (1.44) 3.43 (1.55) 1.91 (1.44) 2.03 0.132
Update status 2.22 (1.29) 2.51 (1.36) 1.91 (1.44) 6.21 0.002
Update personal info 1.34 (.75) 1.15 (.63) 1.13 (4.0) 5.62 0.004
Facebook chat 3.35 (1.85) 2.61 (1.55) 2.21 (1.43) 18.67 0.0001
Created/posted in an event 1.59 (.94) 1.41 (.91) 1.31 (.67) 3.93 0.020
Used interactive application 1.76 (1.43) 1.83 (1.58) 1.93 (1.73) 0.40 0.674
Well-being and distress
Negative body image 2.57 (.97) 2.08 (.97) 2.14 (.95) 14.07 0.0001
Trouble controlling use 1.55 (.57) 1.37 (.46) 1.22 (.37) 15.18 0.0001
Satisfaction with Facebook 1.90 (.60) 1.87 (.69) 1.90 (.76) 0.10 0.904
Positive social fulfillment 1.10 (.62) .94 (.62) .90 (.64) 5.91 0.003

significantly more likely than middle-aged or older adults to
endorse feeling as though they were outsiders looking in on other
peoples’ lives while on Facebook, N2 (529) = 18.06, p = .0001 (18–
29 = 27.8%; 30–49 = 14.4%; 50+ = 11.0%).
Because our previous research highlights that time spent on
Facebook is related to numerous indices of well-being, we con-
trolled for time spent on the site when assessing relationships
between age cohort and the Facebook-related well-being and
distress variables using univariate analysis of variance. When con-
trolling for time spent per day on Facebook, age is independently
significantly inversely associated with higher body image dis-
satisfaction scores, F = 12.79, p = .0001. Similarly, age remains
independently predictive of trouble controlling Facebook use when
controlling for time spent on the site, F = 11.03, p = .0001.
Independent relationships were also found between age, positive
social fulfillment, F = 4.01, p = .05, and negative social comparison,
F = 8.57, p = .0001.
Finally, we ran a linear regression to assess the unique relation-
ship between the Facebook usage variables and age and their
impact on outcome when accounting for all significant univariate
associations. We used the original continuous age variable in this
equation rather than the trichotomized cohort model to examine
the linear relationship between age and the Facebook usage vari-
ables. Results indicate that only the following usage variables
remained significant when controlling for others: posting photos
of friends (b = .30, t = 3.20, p < .001), looking at own photos
(b = .22, t = 4.39, p < .0001), commenting on friends’ photos
(b = .20, t = 2.85, p < .005), and using the Facebook Chat feature
(b = .25, t = 6.34, p < .0001).
4. Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine how people
of different generations use Facebook, and to what degree it
differentially affects them. Results of this study indicate that there
are clear differences across generations in both the ways individu-
als use Facebook and the effects their use has them. While there
has been little to no research on this topic so far, our findings are
aligned with popular perceptions of generational differences in
Facebook use, cultural differences between generations, and the
processes of aging.
As expected, there are significant differences in the ways in
which people in different age cohorts use Facebook. The
Facebook use variables that yielded the most significant differ-
ences between age groups were frequency of instant messaging
via Facebook Chat, posting photos of friends, and looking at one’s
own photos, with young adults being the most active users in all
three domains. Additionally, as expected, there is an inverse
relationship between time spent on Facebook per day, frequency
of Facebook checking per day, and age. Our finding that older
adults use the ‘‘active’’ features of Facebook much less than
younger users (i.e. Facebook Chatting and posting photos) may
be due to the fact that, as previously mentioned, older adults are
generally more skeptical about the relevance and usefulness of
new technology, and have more difficulty mastering its usage.
Interestingly, older Facebook users were more likely to use the
game-based applications of Facebook (i.e. Farmville) than were
younger users. Finally, there were significant differences in the fre-
quency with which users across age groups update their personal
information, and their status, with older adults using these fea-
tures significantly less than younger adults.
The relationship between age cohort, posting photos of friends
and viewing photos of oneself is of particular interest to investiga-
tors given the relationship that was found between age cohort and
Facebook-related negative body image. Younger users were more
likely to report feeling self-conscious about their body when look-
ing at photos of themselves on Facebook, feeling that they should
change the way parts of their body look or lose weight when look-
ing at friends’ photos, and awareness that photos people take of
them at social events might get posted on Facebook. Previous
research suggests that body dissatisfaction remains stable across
the life-span of an adult, but that the importance of body shape
and appearance decreases with age (Tiggemann, 2004). The results
of the current study appear to support these findings, in that
younger users are more negatively affected by—and self-conscious
because of—Facebook photos. This might also indicate a protective
factor for adult Facebook users: while they might be feeling nega-
tive things during their time spent on Facebook, the website is not
as influential to their body image as it is to younger digital natives.
The younger adult cohort in this study grew up with the inter-
net and social media, and the impact of these technologies on their
lives has been profound. By contrast, older adults, who are more
fluent in the use of older technologies and communication modali-
ties such as television, radio, and letter-writing, may naturally
ascribe less personal meaning to how their online profiles look.
This is supported by the finding that the older adult cohort updated
 M. Hayes et al. / Computers in Human Behavior 49 (2015) 507–511
their personal information and posted photos of themselves the
least often. Interestingly, the middle-aged cohort yielded the low-
est mean score for Facebook-related negative body image. Given
that research suggests that older adults experience more body dis-
satisfaction as a result of aging, but younger adults ascribe the
most value to their physical appearance, it may be that middle-
aged individuals (by virtue of being in the middle) do not experi-
ence the body-image pressures of the youngest and oldest cohorts,
translating to less Facebook-related self-consciousness or unhappi-
ness with their physical appearance.
As young adults report spending the most time on Facebook per
day and checking their accounts more frequently than the other
age cohorts, it would follow that they would have the most diffi-
culty controlling their Facebook use. Interestingly, when control-
ling for time spent on the site, age cohort was independently
significantly associated with trouble controlling use. This may be
due to the immediate reinforcing components of the Facebook
apps that younger people use, such as Facebook Chat. These apps
are associated with more urgency and require more vigilance than
other Facebook-based apps, such as commenting on another user’s
post. Furthermore, emerging research suggests that Facebook use
is more accurately defined as a habit than an addiction
(Giannakos, Chorianopoulos, Giotopoulos, & Vlamos, 2013). It is
plausible that younger users are more habituated to Facebook
checking and use, and therefore spend more time using the site.
Consequently, it is possible that difficulty controlling Facebook
use is the result of a combination of reinforcement of particular
SNS goals, habituated SNS use, and an age effect. It is worth
reiterating that across all behaviors examined, older age is associ-
ated with greater self-regulation and less impulsivity. More
research is needed on this topic.
Our finding that young adults experience the most positive
social outcomes from their Facebook use is fairly intuitive. As pre-
viously discussed, younger people use SNS and the internet in gen-
eral as a means to enhance their offline relationships. The youngest
cohort use more immediate, socially interactive features, such as
Facebook Chat, significantly more than the older groups. Given
the greater degree to which young adults use Facebook for social
purposes, it is interesting that the youngest cohort was also signifi-
cantly more likely to endorse feeling like they are an outsider look-
ing in while using Facebook. The above findings support our
original hypothesis that older adults are more resilient to the nega-
tive effects of Facebook use.
Because the current study utilized a snowball/convenience
sample, certain limitations are present. The sample analyzed is
predominantly white and highly educated. Historically, socioeco-
nomic status and body dissatisfaction are positively related
(McLaren & Kuh, 2004; Wardle & Griffith, 2001). Additionally, com-
puter literacy is more prevalent in a highly educated, affluent pop-
ulation (Gatto & Tak, 2008; Rideout, Neuman, Kitchman, & Brodie,
2005). These demographic limitations may have affected our out-
comes. Further research is needed to explore how different sub-
groups of older adults—particularly less-educated and non-white
older adults—use Facebook, and the effects it has on them.
Overall, results underscore the importance of understanding how
different groups of individuals use SNS, and the relationship
between site use and well-being between these groups.
Furthermore, these preliminary findings highlight the need for
more research into the effects of SNS on individuals of different
age groups and individualized methods for intervening with
individuals in different age cohorts.
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