“My LinkedIn feed is barraged with professionals promoting their latest certification, media citation, job promotion, etc.” (Brownlee, 2019).
Professional social networking platforms like LinkedIn, have become indispensable tools for maintaining and expanding one’s career identity in the digital era. With more than 1.1 billion members worldwide (Malik, 2025) and approximately six hires occurring every minute (Financial Express, 2024), LinkedIn has reshaped the ways in which individuals construct their professional narratives, seek employment opportunities, and signal competence within their occupational fields.
Founded in 2002 and acquired by Microsoft in 2016, LinkedIn integrates job seekers, employers, organizations, and brands into a single global ecosystem devoted to career advancement and professional visibility. The platform enables users to create digital professional profiles, establish and maintain connections, join industry-specific communities, share expertise and insights, and actively pursue new job opportunities (Cho & Lam, 2021). Today, LinkedIn stands as the dominant platform for professional networking, attracting users across all stages of career development, from students and early-career professionals to senior executives and organizational leaders.
This ubiquity, however, positions LinkedIn not merely as a career management tool, but as a social environment that shapes how individuals perceive themselves and others within the professional sphere. As with other social networking sites, its use can exert complex psychological effects. While moderate and goal-oriented use can enhance motivation, self-efficacy, and connectedness, excessive or comparison-driven use may intensify social comparison, performance pressure, and professional anxiety.
Despite LinkedIn’s centrality in contemporary professional life, empirical research examining its psychological and emotional consequences remains limited, particularly when compared with the extensive literature on general social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook. This gap underscores the need for a more systematic understanding of LinkedIn’s potential effects on mental health and digital wellbeing. The present post provides a review of existing scientific literature on LinkedIn and mental health, with the goal of elucidating both the potential benefits and risks associated with professional social networking. By synthesizing current findings, this post aims to advance a more nuanced understanding of how LinkedIn use influences users’ psychological wellbeing and to guide the development of future digital wellbeing interventions that foster healthier and more balanced engagement with the platform.
Frequent engagement with professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn may generate both beneficial and detrimental psychological outcomes. On the positive side, regular LinkedIn use has been associated with perceived career benefits (Pena et al., 2025) and the accumulation of social capital (Ma & Leung, 2019). These outcomes can foster gratification, self-efficacy, and a heightened sense of professional connectedness (Cheikh-Ammar & Jabagi, 2025; Cho & Lam, 2021; Ren et al., 2020), while also mitigating anxiety related to career uncertainty. Such benefits likely emerge from the platform’s capacity to facilitate career advancement opportunities (Davis et al., 2020), strengthen professional identity, and cultivate a sense of belonging and validation within a global community of peers.
Empirical findings also indicate that LinkedIn users obtain greater informational benefits than non-users, including more timely access to professional resources, mentorship, and referrals to career opportunities (Utz, 2016; Utz & Breuer, 2016). These results suggest that LinkedIn operates as a mechanism for generating bridging social capital, a form of network-based resource that enhances individuals’ perceptions of competence and their integration into professional ecosystems.
From the theoretical standpoint of Positive Technology (Riva, 2012), LinkedIn can be conceptualized as a digital environment supporting personal growth, empowerment, and self-realization when used with intentionality. Purposeful activities such as knowledge exchange, mentorship seeking, or participation in professional communities of practice may reinforce career optimism, autonomy, and engagement, contributing to a broader sense of psychological wellbeing and fulfillment. In this respect, LinkedIn transcends its function as a mere employability tool to become a technological enabler of positive psychological experiences within the professional domain.
While LinkedIn’s professional and career-related advantages are well documented, the increasing integration of social media into professional life raises concerns about its potential negative psychological impacts (Cheng et al., 2021). As with other social networking platforms, an inappropriate engagement with LinkedIn has been associated with elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (Bilderback, 2025; Cheikh-Ammar & Jabagi, 2025; Jones et al., 2016; Kaul et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2023).
A key mechanism underlying these effects involves social comparison. Users are frequently exposed to idealized portrayals of others’ professional achievements, such as job promotions, awards, or educational milestones, which can evoke feelings of inadequacy, envy, or self-doubt. Notifications encouraging users to congratulate peers on their accomplishments may inadvertently intensify these comparison processes, contributing to declines in mood and self-esteem. In this context, Bilderback (2025) found that LinkedIn’s emphasis on public metrics and performance-based identity construction intensifies anxiety by reinforcing perfectionistic and comparison-based behaviors. These pressures can contribute to reduced self-esteem and eventual disengagement from the platform. Similarly, Pisarik et al. (2017) found that college students who frequently compared their career progress with that of their peers on LinkedIn reported increased future-oriented anxiety.
Beyond comparison-based distress, LinkedIn use can also generate emotional strain linked to job-seeking activities. The process of searching for employment, initiating connections with potential employers, and maintaining a polished professional image often involves continuous self-monitoring and anticipation. This prolonged state of vigilance can produce anxiety and ruminative thinking, especially when outcomes are uncertain or progress is slow. Over time, such experiences may contribute to feelings of inadequacy, fatigue, and depressive affect, reflecting the emotional costs of maintaining a digitally mediated professional identity.
Another relevant mechanism is imposter syndrome, characterized by persistent feelings of inauthenticity or self-perceived fraudulence despite objective evidence of competence (Clance & Imes, 1978). Marder et al. (2024) suggest that the heightened professional self-focused attention fostered by LinkedIn may activate imposter thoughts, leading to negative emotional outcomes and consumption-related coping behaviors. Users may respond to these internalized doubts by overcompensating, through excessive self-promotion, overwork, or perfectionistic behavior, further reinforcing the cycle of stress and self-criticism.
Taken together, these findings underscore that LinkedIn, while a valuable tool for professional advancement, also can entail psychological costs linked to social comparison, job-search pressure, and identity-related self-discrepancy. Recognizing and addressing these mechanisms is essential for developing digital wellbeing strategies that promote healthier, more sustainable engagement with professional networking platforms.
Although LinkedIn offers remarkable opportunities for professional growth and connection, it is important to use the platform consciously to protect mental health and prevent digital fatigue. Based on current research, several strategies can help users maintain a healthy balance between online engagement and psychological wellbeing:
By adopting these small but intentional changes, students and professionals can enjoy LinkedIn’s benefits (connection, visibility, and learning) without compromising their emotional balance. The goal is not to disconnect, but to engage mindfully, ensuring that technology enhances rather than undermines wellbeing in professional life.
Bilderback, S. (2025). Managing Gen Z anxiety and digital perfectionism on LinkedIn. Strategic HR Review, 24(4), 163–168. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-01-2025-0006
Brownlee, D. (2019, February 27). Is self-promotion on social media savvy or arrogant? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2019/02/27/is-self-promotion-on-social-media-savvy-or-arrogant/?sh=67395ba23f24
Cheng, C., Lau, Y., Chan, L., & Luk, J. (2021). Prevalence of social media addiction across 32 nations: Meta-analysis with subgroup analysis of classification schemes and cultural values. Addictive Behaviors, 117, Article 106845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106845
Cheikh-Ammar, M., & Jabagi, N. (2025). LinkedIn’s dilemma: Navigating stress and well-being on professional networking platforms. Internet Research, 35(7), 71–90. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-08-2024-1292
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15, 241–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086006
Cho, V., & Lam, W. (2021). The power of LinkedIn: How LinkedIn enables professionals to leave their organizations for professional advancement. Internet Research, 31(1), 262–286. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-08-2019-0326
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Financial Express. (2024, April 15). The LinkedIn revolution: From a job search portal to a social media platform. https://www.financialexpress.com/jobs-career/the-linkedin-revolution-from-a-job-search-portal-to-a-social-media-platform-3617212/
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