Do Social Networking Sites Influence Well-Being? The Extended Active-Passive Model

According to the active-passive model, social networking sites (SNSs) can increase well-being when used actively to interact with others but can decrease well-being when their content is passively consumed. However, this distinction might not fully capture the sites’ nuanced effects on well-being. Verduyn and colleagues propose the extended active-passive model of SNS use, which organizes active use into reciprocity and communion facets, organizes passive use into achievement and self-relevance facets, and crosses all usage types with user characteristics. Thus, active use may not always be positive, and passive use may not always be negative. 

Robert Goldstone of the Percepts and Concepts Laboratory at Indiana University and editor of the APS journal Current Directions in Psychological Science interviews Philippe Verduyn, Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Maastricht.