UC Berkeley

Social networking sites have grown extensively over the past decade, coinciding with the growing use of internet-enabled smartphones that allow access to these sites virtually in any place and at any moment. One social networking app, Instagram, allows for passive observation of other’s photos, and extant research has connected this type of usage with myriad negative outcomes including lower self-esteem and depressed moods. Other findings, however, have produced equivocal results, indicating that use may not be harmful. The present studies investigated Instagram use on an idiographic basis to see if the true answer lies within the individual; that use is bad for specific people, but not necessarily everyone.

In Study 1 I employed contemporaneous analyses to examine how Instagram use and a variety of mood states were associated at any given point in time. Subjects (n=51) were surveyed on Instagram use and mood eight times per day for twenty-one days. Nomothetic and idiographic network models were utilized, with strength centrality as a key measure to indicate the strength of using Instagram with other nodes in each individual network. Results indicated a significant variability in the relation between Instagram use and mood amongst the networks. The method’s potential for analysis of individual symptom patterns is further demonstrated by three exemplar participants.

In Study 2 I examined how Instagram use and affect, jealousy, and social comparison were associated at any given point in time, as well as how they may have “driven” one another from moment to moment. Subjects (n=224) were surveyed on their Instagram use and associated variables sixteen times per day for one week. Nomothetic and idiographic contemporaneous correlations and vector-autoregressive lagged models were used. Results demonstrate significant variability in the associations and the time-lagged predictive effects of using Instagram on affect, jealousy, and social comparison. At the group level, use was not predictive of changes in affect, jealousy, and social comparison. At the individual level, however, results varied greatly. In fact, participants who used Instagram more were lower in self-esteem; those meeting diagnostic criterion for substance use disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, anorexia, social anxiety disorder, and binge eating disorder were more vulnerable to the effects of Instagram.

Together these findings highlight individual differences amongst social media use, identify key moderators for such relations, and most importantly underscore the importance of investigating the potential detrimental effects of social media use on an individual basis.