The effect of positive and negative daily social media emotional experiences on older adults’ subjective age: Unveiling the negativity bias in WhatsApp groups

Social media has become instrumental for older adults in maintaining social connections, which are an integral component of older adults’ well-being. However, little is known about how daily positive/negative social media emotional experiences are associated with older adults’ subjective views of aging. The current study examined daily emotional experiences related to WhatsApp groups and their association with subjective age (feeling younger/older than one’s chronological age). Data were collected from 42 Israeli older adults who confirmed daily WhatsApp usage (M_age = 74.30, SD = 8.39). Participants reported their daily WhatsApp emotional experiences in family/other groups and daily subjective age over 14 consecutive days, resulting in 557 completed reports. Results demonstrated that on days older adults reported negative WhatsApp group emotional experiences they felt older. Positive emotional experiences were associated with feeling younger solely when these experiences were reported in relation to family WhatsApp groups. Time-lagged models further indicated that only negative (but not positive) WhatsApp emotional experiences on a given day predicted an older subjective age the following day. The results underscore the significance of daily social media emotional experiences in shaping older adults’ daily subjective age. They also indicate the presence of a negativity bias effect in social media interactions among older adults.