Junco 2013 — Facebook self-report overstates logged use by ~5.6x

Claim: Junco (2013, Computers in Human Behavior, "Comparing actual and self-reported measures of Facebook use") found students "spent an average of 26 min (SD = 30) per day on Facebook, significantly lower than the average of 145 (SD = 111) minutes per day obtained through self-report" — a ~5.6x overestimate. Self-report correlated with logged use at only r = 0.59.

Source: Junco 2013, primary validation study. Corroborated by Parry et al. 2021 Nature Human Behaviour meta-analysis (106 effect sizes; "self-reports were rarely an accurate reflection of logged media use").

Confidence: Verified.

Why this matters for Candid: Even SINCERE self-reports of one's own behavior are heavily inflated when drawn from memory. The widget must therefore favor counts the owner reads off a screen (Google Business Profile, their own analytics) over recalled aggregates. See R7 — When the owner can read a number off a screen, have them do so.