How Motivations Influence Social Network Usage and Anxiety

Abstract

This study examines socialization, social support and fear of missing out as motivations for habitual social network site users and how these motivations affect their anxiety levels. A survey was administered to college students at a southwestern university to determine to what extend these motivations play a role in those that use social networking sites more often. These findings were then compared to levels of anxiety present in these individuals to determine what extent these motivations played in their anxiety levels. The results of this study found that Facebook usage levels have an inverse relationship with anxiety levels, while these motivations did not play a role in individuals Facebook usage. This research will assist companies and others in understanding what motivates millennials to log on to their social networking sites, which will help them in creating marketing plans, new features for their sites and maintaining their users.