The Effects of Daily Instagram Use on State Self-Objectification, Well-Being, and Mood for Young Women

Public Policy Relevance Statement This study found a positive relationship between daily Instagram (IG) use and women's self-objectification (mental preoccupation with one's physical appearance) on a given day. The effects on mood were mixed, with daily IG use found to be associated with a more negative mood, but there was no evidence that IG use was related to positive mood. Increasingly visual social media platforms such as Instagram (IG) constitute a large part of young women's daily lives, but their psychological effects have not yet been studied at the daily level. This study examines the effects of daily IG use on state self-objectification and well-being among Western college-aged women. Participants completed an initial assessment (N = 45) followed by daily-diary responses (N = 481) for up to 13 nights, reporting each day's IG use, self-objectifying thoughts and feelings on that day, daily well-being, and daily mood. Results from multilevel models indicated that, as hypothesized, using more IG on a particular day was related to increased self-reported state self-objectification on that same day. Daily IG use was also related to lower daily life satisfaction and higher daily negative mood. Further, results provide evidence that state self-objectifying feelings partially explain the relationship between IG use and negative mood (but not life satisfaction). The results of this study suggest that daily exposure to visual social media posts on IG may have adverse effects. Future studies exploring these effects in samples with greater variation in terms of gender and ethnicity are needed.