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Lurkers and Life Satisfaction: A Typological Approach to Understanding Emotional Health, Life Outcomes and Social Media Use

Sep 2026 · Southwestern Mass Communication Journal · Vol 42 · 0 citations

Abstract

Concerns about the impact of social media use and mental and emotional health have become an increasingly urgent topic of public discourse, with calls for government regulation. While research has demonstrated mixed results, research examining the relations between specific motivations, behaviors, and emotional health outcomes suggest a typological approach to examining social media users is warranted. Using an online survey (N = 320), the current investigation identified three categories of social media users: Lurkers, Active Males, and Active Females. Lurkers were less motivated to engage in social media as a social utility, opting for entertainment-focused use, specifically scrolling without social interaction. Lurkers were shown to have less emotional intelligence, less social capital, and less life satisfaction than the Actives clusters of social media users.

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