Here, we explore the tension between self-idealization and authentic self-expression on social media, and test how prioritizing one over the other impacts users’ well-being. On the other hand, self-idealizing behavior can be psychologically costly, as acting out of character is associated with feelings of internal conflict, psychological discomfort, and strong emotional reactions 17, 18 individuals may also possess characteristics that are more or less socially desirable, bringing their desire to present themselves in an authentic way into conflict with their desire to present the best version of themselves. In addition, authentic self-expression allows individuals to verify and affirm their sense of self 13, 14 which can increase self-esteem 15, and a sense of belonging 16. On the one hand, self-idealization has been called a “fundamental part of human nature” 11 because it allows individuals to cultivate a positive self-view and to create positive impressions of themselves in others 12. This occurs in part because self-idealization and authentic self-expression fulfill different psychological needs and are associated with different psychological costs. The desire to present the self in a way that is ideal and authentic is not mutually exclusive on the contrary, an individual is likely to desire both simultaneously 10. In line with this authentic self-expression perspective, research has shown that individuals on Facebook are more likely to express their actual rather than their idealized personalities 8, 9. In fact, modern social media sites like Facebook and Instagram are far more realistic than early social media websites such as Second Life, where users presented themselves as avatars that were often fully divorced from reality 7.
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This is particularly true for platforms such as Facebook, where the majority of friends in a user’s network also have an offline connection 6. While users might engage in some degree of self-idealization, the social nature of the platforms is thought to provide a degree of accountability that prevents individuals from starkly misrepresenting their identities 5. That is, social media users often act as virtual curators of their online selves 2 by staging or editing content they present to others 3.Ī contrasting body of research suggests that social media platforms constitute extensions of offline identities, with users presenting relatively authentic versions of themselves 4. In line with this “self-idealization perspective”, research has shown that self-expressions on social media platforms are often idealized, exaggerated, and unrealistic 1.
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Popular applications like FaceTune, for example, allow users to modify everything about themselves, from skin tone to the size of their physical features. In fact, there is an entire industry built around people’s desire to present idealistic self-representations on social media. Social media can seem like an artificial world in which people’s lives consist entirely of exotic vacations, thriving friendships, and photogenic, healthy meals. Our findings suggest that the extent to which social media use is related to well-being depends on how individuals use it. We extend this finding in a pre-registered, longitudinal experiment, demonstrating the causal relationship between authentic posting and positive affect and mood on a within-person level. This effect appears consistent across different personality profiles, countering the proposition that individuals with socially desirable personalities benefit from authentic self-expression more than others. Analyzing data of 10,560 Facebook users, we find that individuals who are more authentic in their self-expression also report greater Life Satisfaction. authentic self-expression as the proximity between a user’s self-reported personality and the automated personality judgements made on the basis Facebook Likes and status updates. We estimate the degree of self-idealized vs. Here, we explore how prioritizing one over the other impacts users’ well-being. Social media users face a tension between presenting themselves in an idealized or authentic way.
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