Beyond TikTok Doomscrolling: Content Takes Precedence over Usage Metrics in Associations with Wellbeing

Despite multiple reviews demonstrating minimal effects between time spent on social media and well-being, concern remains high, prompting calls for nuanced approaches using digital footprint data and content. This study utilises second-by-second TikTok interactions to examine the relationship between social media behaviours and well-being, focusing on the active-passive use dichotomy and content consumption. Through analysing donated data from 161 TikTok users, we identify two behavioural clusters: content creation (posting and commenting) and content consumption (watching, searching and liking). These clusters challenge consumption as a passive process. Moreover, we find content types are more strongly associated with well-being than usage metrics, where users with higher depression levels consumed more animals/wildlife videos, and users with higher anxiety levels consumed fewer travel and automotive videos. This cross-sectional research demonstrates the value in using granular behavioural data to challenge simplistic active-passive dichotomisations and the importance of content in understanding social media’s impact on well-being.