A commentary on methodological considerations for studying the psychological impact of social media

Long-running debates over the psychological effects of media violence have exposed significant methodological problems embedded within 40-plus years of research. Parallel concerns have now emerged within contemporary social media research. This commentary expands on the observations recently published by Grimes and Lasser (2025) to show how social media scholars are in similar danger of relying too much on inconsistent operationalizations of key constructs and insufficient attention to individual differences among people who consume media. These same shortcomings led to oversimplified or unreliable conclusions in media violence research and could be contributing to an erroneous understanding of the relationships between social media usage and rising mental health concerns. The present work outlines a way to re-conceptualize media violence and social media research with a critical yet constructive emphasis on methodological rigor.