Observed Instagram use and satisfaction with life: Associations with received communications and exploration of others’ content after posting a selfie

Abstract

Over 70% of Americans use social media platforms, like Instagram. With this high prevalence, researchers have investigated the relationship between social media use and psychological well-being. Extant research has yielded mixed results, however, as most measures of social media use are self-reported and focus on amount of use. Even when studies account for type of social media use, such as active or passive use, there remains much to be captured. To address this, we asked participants to report their satisfaction with life and then recorded their actual Instagram activity for 10 minutes after posting a “selfie” portrait to their account. We coded the observed Instagram activity into the following four clusters of experiences: communications received, communications sent, monitoring self-related content, and exploring other-related content. We found that greater life satisfaction was associated with higher frequency of receiving communications and viewing other-related content. Life satisfaction was not associated with frequency of sending communications and self-monitoring. Surprisingly, none of the clusters of Instagram experiences were negatively associated with life satisfaction. Our findings highlight the importance of objective data and moving beyond the active/passive dichotomy of social media use to consider additional experiences.