Communication dynamics in the care of preterm infants: a multi-level qualitative study from a high-burden district in Indonesia.

Social media has become deeply integrated into the daily lives of contemporary young adults, with the usage rate among Chinese individuals aged 18 to 29 exceeding 95% (China Internet Network Information Center, 2024). While these platforms serve multiple functions, one of their most psychologically significant features is the provision of social feedback through interactive mechanisms such as likes and comments. These feedback signals provide users with immediate and quantifiable indicators of how their shared content is received by others. These digitized indicators of social approval have gradually become important references for young users to evaluate their social worth and interpersonal attractiveness. Empirical evidence supports this observation: Burrow and Rainone (2017) [] demonstrated experimentally that the number of likes received significantly influenced participants’ momentary self-worth, and Chua and Chang (2016) [] found through qualitative interviews that adolescents commonly used like counts as a metric for gauging their social popularity and likability among peers. Concurrently, the mental health status of young populations has received increasing attention. Epidemiological survey data indicate that the detection rates of depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese college students have shown an upward trend in recent years [, ]. The etiology of this phenomenon is complex and multifactorial, and the association between social media use and mental health has become a focal issue of concern for both academia and the public. Before reviewing the relevant literature, it is necessary to clarify the conceptual definition and classification of social media feedback. In this study, social media feedback is defined as the observable and quantifiable interactive responses that users receive from others in their social network after publishing content on social media platforms. These feedback signals serve as direct indicators of how one’s content is received, recognized, and valued within one’s digital social environment. Social media feedback can be broadly classified into two categories based on the nature of the response: paralinguistic digital affordances and verbal feedback []. Likes represent the most prototypical form of paralinguistic digital affordances—they are standardized, one-click expressions of approval that require minimal cognitive effort from the sender. Comments, in contrast, constitute verbal feedback that involves higher cognitive investment in composing specific linguistic content, thereby conveying richer semantic information including particular attitudes, emotions, and evaluations.