Social Media Use and Misuse, Stress, and the Development of Coping

The current chapter sets out to create a holistic overview of the relationships between social media use, stress, and coping. It discusses the ways in which social media can be employed as an adaptive way of coping by supporting information seeking and by providing online social support. However, the nature and design of social media platforms can enable maladaptive ways of coping by facilitating cyberbullying and negative online social comparison. Furthermore, the chapter examines how social media can be a coping liability when the user is psychologically dependent or addicted to media, or when their use prevents them from learning other ways to cope. Additionally, social media use is introduced as a stressor for young users through fear of missing out. Lastly, social media can be a resource for coping by providing assistance in coping with social media-related stressors and by providing ways to establish social resources or social support.