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Trading “Likes” for Self-Love: Analyzing the Relationship Between Social Media Use and Self-Compassion
by Nicole P. Mitchell
Faculty Advisor: Kristin Neff, PhD, Graduate Student Mentor: Ashley Kuchar, PhD Candidate
More than half of the world population uses social media, with adolescents and young adults aged 18-30 using social media the most. Although direct relationships between social media use and symptoms of psychopathology (e.g., depression, anxiety) have been well-demonstrated, the relationship it shares with some aspects from positive psychology, such as self-compassion, is relatively understudied. Self-compassion entails a non-judgmental, present moment awareness and an openness to one’s own suffering. Whereas one’s levels of psychopathology can capture their proclivity to languish, levels of self-compassion can represent one’s aptness to flourish. The present study first explored the relationship between social media use and mental illness symptoms in an attempt to replicate prior research findings. The primary research goal, however, was to investigate whether social media use predicted levels of self-compassion in college students (N=182), controlling for the effects from various related secondary variables (e.g., the Fear of Missing Out, social media addiction). Multiple linear regression was used to explore these research objectives. The tendency for total social media use to negatively correlate with self-compassion did not reach significance. However, other correlations and linear models proved to be insightful. For example, of the five social media apps selected to be included in this study, TikTok use was found to be a significant negative predictor of self-compassion; as was anxiety/dependence to technology and the Fear of Missing Out. The findings from this study warrant further investigation on the effects of social media use on the human psyche. Future studies should continue to explore the effects of limiting social media use as well as using self-compassion as an intervention for compulsive social media use.