Gen Z to Boomers: Why Social Media Affects Us So Differently with Dr. Zeynep Özkök and Dr. Jonathan Rosborough

Live Happy Now

Live Happy LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Health & Fitness:mental Health

4.7 • 522 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The latest edition of the World Happiness Report focuses on the effects of social media on well-being. In this episode of Live Happy Now, host Paula Felps sits down with Dr. Zeynep Özkök and Dr. Jonathan Rosborough, co-authors of one of the report’s chapters, to unpack their research on internet use, trust, social connections, and emotional well‑being. They reveal why social media affects Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers in dramatically different ways, and how online environments are reshaping foundational elements of happiness such as trust, safety, and real‑world social ties. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the impact of social media on well‑being varies sharply across generations. How Internet use is linked to declining trust, social comparison, and reduced in‑person connection. What researchers believe this means for the future — especially for Gen Z and the emerging Generation Alpha.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for joining us for episode 563 of Live Happy Now.
0:09.0	Last week saw the release of the annual World Happiness Report, which focused heavily on the effects of social media.
0:15.5	This week, we're going to dig a little bit deeper.
0:18.9	I'm your host, Paula Phelps, and today I'm joined by Dr. Zanep
0:22.0	Oscock and Dr. Jonathan Rosborough, both Associate Professors of Economics at St. Francis
0:27.7	Xavier University in Canada. Along with their colleague, Dr. Brandon Malloy, they co-authored
0:34.0	the chapter in this year's report called Internet Use, Social Media, and Well-Being,
0:38.6	the role of trust, social connections, and emotional bonds.
0:42.3	Now, they're going to tell us what social media is doing to us and explain why it has
0:46.9	different effects on every generation.
0:49.4	Let's have a listen.
0:51.0	Zanap and John, thank you for joining me today on Live Happy Now. Thank you so much for
0:56.8	having us. Thanks. It's great to be here. This is an episode long in the making because you've
1:02.2	been working on your chapter for the World Happiness Report since you tell me last summer.
1:07.8	You wrote a great chapter. We're going to dig into that. But I wanted you to tell me first,
1:12.8	like, why did social media become such a central focus of this year's report?
1:18.3	I think it's been a topic that has been discussed so thoroughly. There's a lot of different
1:24.0	debates all around. Everybody has been talking about the negative associations
1:29.6	with social media and well-being, and these usually refer back to like the social comparison
1:35.4	perspective, the fear of missing out, social isolation and loneliness that might be coming
1:41.2	from social media. But then there are also other studies that
1:44.6	kind of find some positive associations between social media and well-being. And these kind of go
	...

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