HOW SOCIAL COMPARISON ON INSTAGRAM AFFECTS WELL-BEING. PERSPECTIVES FROM A STUDY CONDUCTED DURING THE LOCKDOWN

Delia Cristina BALABAN; Dorin Francisc SPOALLER

doi:10.24193/subbeph.2020.2.01

Authors

Delia Cristina BALABAN Prof. Ph.D., Department of Communication, PR, and Advertising, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Science, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. Corresponding author: balaban@fspac.ro https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3509-533X
Dorin Francisc SPOALLER Ph.D. candidate, Department of Communication, PR, and Advertising, Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Science, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca. Email: spoaller@fspac.ro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbeph.2020.2.01

Keywords:

social media, well-being, Instagram, social comparison, COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

During the Spring of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries ordered lockdowns. The limitations of movement contributed to the rise of social media activity. The present research focused on how the active use of Instagram had an impact on well-being during the first lockdown in Romania. Aiming to explore how active Instagram use contributes to users' self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and loneliness during an unprecedented situation of a lockdown, we conducted an online survey in April 2020 on young adults (N=411) in Romania. Findings showed that actively using Instagram during the lockdown did not have a significant direct impact on self-esteem and satisfaction with life, but significantly decreased loneliness. Upward comparison of Instagram active users contributed to the increase in self-esteem but decreased the values of satisfaction with life and increased loneliness. The downward comparison had no significant impact on self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and loneliness.

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