Role of social media in shaping residential energy consumption: evidence from east asia and the pacific

This study investigates the role of social media engagement in shaping residential energy consumption across ten East Asia and Pacific economies over the period 2005 to 2022. Positioned within the broader context of energy transition and digitalization, the analysis distinguishes between digital access and platform-based engagement to uncover their differential effects on household energy demand. Employing a Cross-Sectionally Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CSARDL) framework, the study accounts for cross-sectional dependence, mixed integration orders, and dynamic adjustment processes in a small-N panel setting. The results indicate that social media usage exerts a positive but moderate influence on residential energy consumption, suggesting that energy-intensive engagement activities such as streaming, online commerce, and continuous connectivity outweigh the potential energy-saving informational effects of digital platforms. In contrast, internet access is associated with a reduction in energy consumption, reflecting substitution effects driven by digitalization, including remote work and the replacement of physical activities with digital alternatives. Income and urbanization emerge as the dominant drivers of energy demand, reinforcing the structural link between economic development and energy consumption, while inflation moderates demand through its impact on purchasing power. The findings highlight the dual nature of digitalization, where engagement-driven consumption and substitution-driven efficiency operate simultaneously. This distinction provides a more nuanced understanding of the digital economy–energy nexus and informs policy design. The study suggests that effective energy transition strategies should integrate behavioral interventions within digital platforms, promote energy-efficient growth pathways, and support sustainable urban development while leveraging digital connectivity to enhance energy efficiency.