City Research Online

Abstract

While social media serves as a beneficial means of interpersonal connection and communication, its widespread use for self-promotion has been associated with adverse psychological effects on users, including decreased emotional well-being and increased negative affect. This paper examines how individual differences in meaning in life presence (MIL presence) influence emotional responses to others’ self-promotional content, advancing our understanding of how and why consumers experience social media positively or negatively. Across four studies (total N = 1,599), we demonstrate that both trait-level MIL presence and a brief intervention involving reflection on the presence of meaning in one’s life significantly improve viewers’ emotional responses to others’ self-promotion. These findings contribute to our understanding of individual differences in psychological responses to social media content and offer practical implications for protecting user well-being in digital environments.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record will be available online at: www.nature.com/srep
Publisher Keywords:	social media consumption, self-promotion, bragging, meaning in life, consumer wellbeing
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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