#Connected: Facebook May for
Introverts
Alexander Spradlin and Carrie Cuttler
Washington State University
John P. Bunce
University of California, Merced
L. Mark Carrier
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Many fear that social networking sites (SNSs) are disconnecting people from meaningful face-to-face
relationships. Nevertheless, previous research suggests that SNS use is related to increased face-to-face
communication. The present study was conducted to determine whether personality traits and attachment
styles moderate this relationship. Students (n 855) completed an online survey that included measures
of Facebook use, time spent engaging in face-to-face communication, personality traits, and attachment
styles. The results revealed that Facebook use was associated with
and that this relationship was moderated by extraversion. Specifically, the relationship between Facebook
use and face-to-face communication was significant for individuals with low to moderate levels of
extraversion (i.e., introverts) only. As extraversion increased, the magnitude of the relationship between
Facebook use and face-to-face time decreased. No other personality traits or attachment styles significantly moderated the relationship between Facebook use and face-to-face communication. Facebook (and
potentially SNSs more generally) may be especially beneficial for introverts by allowing them to build
trust and rapport in a less threatening social environment that, in turn, makes them more comfortable
engaging in face-to-face communication. However, research is needed to understand the direction and
mechanisms underlying this relationship. Nevertheless, the present study provides novel insights into the
beneficial role that Facebook may play in connecting people in the real world.
Public Policy Relevance Statement
In young adults, more Facebook use was associated with increased time spent engaging in face-toface communication, and moderation analyses revealed that this association was only present in
people with low to moderate levels of extraversion. No other personality traits or attachment styles
moderated the association. These results suggest that Facebook use may be especially beneficial for
for introverts.
Keywords: Facebook, personality, attachment, face-to-face communication, interpersonal relationships
Many people fear that technology and social networking sites
(SNSs), such as Facebook, are disconnecting people from and relationships (Konrath,
OBrien, & Hsing, 2011; Small & Vorgan, 2008). Previous research, however, indicates that the use of various forms of technology is related to increased face-to-face communication (Carrier,
Spradlin, Bunce, & Rosen, 2015; Jin & Park, 2010), and that there
is a trivial relationship between technology use and decreased
interpersonal connectedness (Carrier et al., 2015; Hampton, Goulet, Her, & Rainie, 2009; Jin & Park, 2010). For example, time
spent being behind the screen (e.g., emailing, visiting web pages)
was not associated with affective and cognitive empathy in males
and affective empathy in females, and it had only a very small
negative association with affective empathy in females (Carrier et
al., 2015). Rather, the use of these types of technology is associated with increased time spent in face-to-face communication
(Carrier et al., 2015; Jin & Park, 2010). This is particularly true for
SNSs; evidence suggests that individuals use such sites to complement, rather than replace, face-to-face interactions (see Anderson, Fagan, Woodnutt, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2012 for review).
There are several potential individual differences that could
influence the relationship between the use of SNSs and face-toface communication. Amichai-Hamburger (2002) hypothesized
that personality is a major motivating factor behind Internet use,
and several correlational studies have provided evidence that there
are relationships between various personality traits and Facebook
This article was published Online First August 17, 2017.
Alexander Spradlin and Carrie Cuttler, Department of Psychology,
Washington State University; John P. Bunce, Department of Psychological
Sciences, University of California, Merced; L. Mark Carrier, Department
of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alexander Spradlin, Department of Psychology, Washington State University,
P.O. Box 644820, Johnson Tower 233, Pullman, WA 99164-4820. E-mail:
[email protected]
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2017 American Psychological Association
2019, Vol. 8, No. 1, 34 40 2160-4134/19/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000162
34
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
GET A PERFECT SCORE!!! 
Delivering a high-quality product at a reasonable price is not enough anymore.
That’s why we have developed 5 beneficial guarantees that will make your experience with our service enjoyable, easy, and safe.
You have to be 100% sure of the quality of your product to give a money-back guarantee. This describes us perfectly. Make sure that this guarantee is totally transparent.
Read moreEach paper is composed from scratch, according to your instructions. It is then checked by our plagiarism-detection software. There is no gap where plagiarism could squeeze in.
Read moreThanks to our free revisions, there is no way for you to be unsatisfied. We will work on your paper until you are completely happy with the result.
Read moreYour email is safe, as we store it according to international data protection rules. Your bank details are secure, as we use only reliable payment systems.
Read moreBy sending us your money, you buy the service we provide. Check out our terms and conditions if you prefer business talks to be laid out in official language.
Read more