Researchers often attribute social media's appeal to its ability to elicit flow experiences of deep absorption and effortless engagement. Yet prolonged use has also been linked to distraction, fatigue, and lower mood. This paradox remains poorly understood, in part because prior studies rely on habitual or one-shot reports that ask participants to directly attribute flow to social media. To address this gap, we conducted a five-day field study with 40 participants, combining objective smartphone app tracking with daily reconstructions of flow-inducing activities. Across 673 reported flow occurrences, participants rarely associated flow with social media (2 percent). Instead, heavier social media use predicted fewer daily flow occurrences. We further examine this relationship through the effects of social media use on fatigue, mood, and motivation. Altogether, our findings suggest that flow and social media may not align as closely as assumed - and might even compete - underscoring the need for further research.

翻译：研究人员常将社交媒体的吸引力归因于其引发深度沉浸与轻松投入的心流体验的能力。然而，长期使用社交媒体也与注意力分散、疲劳和情绪低落相关。这一矛盾至今尚未得到充分理解，部分原因在于先前研究依赖于习惯性或一次性报告，要求参与者直接将心流体验归因于社交媒体。为填补这一空白，我们开展了一项为期五天的实地研究，招募40名参与者，结合客观的智能手机应用追踪技术与每日心流诱发活动的回溯报告。在总计673次报告的心流发生事件中，参与者极少将心流体验与社交媒体相关联（仅占2%）。相反，更频繁的社交媒体使用预示着每日心流发生次数的减少。我们进一步通过社交媒体使用对疲劳、情绪和动机的影响来检验这一关系。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，心流体验与社交媒体之间可能并不像假设的那样紧密契合——甚至可能存在竞争关系，这凸显了进一步研究的必要性。