Instagram Use, Loneliness, and Social Comparison Orientation: Interact and Browse on Social Media, But Don't Compare Instagram 使用、孤獨和社交比較取向：在社交媒體上互動和流覽，但不要比較
Article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking • December 2016 Cyberpsychology， Behavior， and Social Networking 上的文章 • 2016 年 12 月
DOI: 10.1089/cyber. 2016.0201 DOI：10.1089/網路。2016.0201
CITATIONS 引文
329
1 author: 1 作者：
Chia-chen Yang 楊佳辰
Oklahoma State University - Stillwater 奧克拉荷馬州立大學 - 斯蒂爾沃特
47 PUBLICATIONS 2,088 CITATIONS 47 篇出版物 2,088 次引用
SEE PROFILE 查看資料
READS 讀
39,262
Instagram Use, Loneliness, and Social Comparison Orientation: Interact and Browse on Social Media, But Don't Compare Instagram 使用、孤獨和社交比較取向：在社交媒體上互動和流覽，但不要比較
Chia-chen Yang, PhD Chia-chen Yang 博士
Abstract 抽象
Ever since the emergence of social networking sites (SNSs), it has remained a question without a conclusive answer whether SNSs make people more or less lonely. To achieve a better understanding, researchers need to move beyond studying overall SNS usage. In addition, it is necessary to attend to personal attributes as potential moderators. Given that SNSs provide rich opportunities for social comparison, one highly relevant personality trait would be social comparison orientation (SCO), and yet this personal attribute has been understudied in social media research. Drawing on literature of psychosocial implications of social media use and SCO, this study explored associations between loneliness and various Instagram activities and the role of SCO in this context. A total of 208 undergraduate students attending a U.S. mid-southern university completed a self-report survey ( M_(age)=19.43,SD=1.35;78M_{\mathrm{age}}=19.43, S D=1.35 ; 78 percent female; 57 percent White). Findings showed that Instagram interaction and Instagram browsing were both related to lower loneliness, whereas Instagram broadcasting was associated with higher loneliness. SCO moderated the relationship between Instagram use and loneliness such that Instagram interaction was related to lower loneliness only for low SCO users. The results revealed implications for healthy SNS use and the importance of including personality traits and specific SNS use patterns to disentangle the role of SNS use in psychological well-being. 自從社交網站 （SNS） 出現以來，SNS 是否使人們更孤獨或更不孤獨一直是一個沒有決定性答案的問題。為了更好地理解，研究人員需要超越研究 SNS 的整體使用方式。此外，作為潛在的主持人，有必要注意個人特質。鑒於 SNS 為社會比較提供了豐富的機會，一個高度相關的人格特徵將是社會比較取向 （SCO），但這種個人屬性在社交媒體研究中尚未得到充分研究。本研究借鑒了社交媒體使用和 SCO 的社會心理影響的文獻，探討了孤獨感與各種 Instagram 活動之間的關聯以及 SCO 在這種情況下的作用。共有 208 名就讀於U.S. mid南方大學的本科生完成了一項自我報告調查（ M_(age)=19.43,SD=1.35;78M_{\mathrm{age}}=19.43, S D=1.35 ; 78 女性佔 57%，白人佔 57%）。研究結果表明，Instagram 互動和 Instagram 流覽都與較低的孤獨感有關，而 Instagram 廣播與較高的孤獨感有關。SCO 調節了 Instagram 使用與孤獨感之間的關係，因此 Instagram 互動僅與低 SCO 使用者的較低孤獨感相關。結果揭示了對健康 SNS 使用的影響，以及包括人格特徵和特定 SNS 使用模式以理清 SNS 使用在心理健康中的作用的重要性。
Keywords: loneliness, social networking site, social comparison, well-being, social media 關鍵詞：孤獨、社交網站、社交比較、幸福感、社交媒體
Introduction 介紹
Social networking sites and loneliness 社交網站和孤獨
LonEliness IS an emotionally unpleasant state resulting from one’s assessment of his or her social relationships; specifically, loneliness emerges when there is a discrepancy between one’s desired and perceived levels of social connectedness. ^(1){ }^{1} Loneliness has important implications for mental health ^(1){ }^{1} and even mortality. ^(2){ }^{2} With the prevalence of social networking sites (SNSs), it is worth considering whether SNS use makes people more connected and less lonely. 孤獨是由於一個人對他或她的社會關係的評估而產生的一種情緒上的不愉快狀態;具體來說，當一個人的期望和感知的社會聯繫水平之間存在差異時，就會出現孤獨感。 ^(1){ }^{1} 孤獨對心理健康 ^(1){ }^{1} 甚至死亡率都有重要影響。 ^(2){ }^{2} 隨著社交網站 （SNS） 的普及，值得考慮使用 SNS 是否會讓人們更加緊密地聯繫在一起，減少孤獨感。
Scholars’ interests in the relationship between technology use and loneliness can be traced back to the pre-SNS era. For instance, Kraut et al. ^(3){ }^{3} studied Internet use in U.S. households and found that more time spent using the Internet was related to an increase in loneliness. This attention to the impact of overall technology use (e.g., amount, frequency, or intensity of use) has been carried over to research on SNSs. However, findings on the relationship between overall SNS use and loneliness have been mixed. While some studies show that 學者們對技術使用與孤獨之間關係的興趣可以追溯到前 SNS 時代。例如，Kraut 等人 ^(3){ }^{3} 研究了美國家庭的互聯網使用方式，發現使用互聯網的時間越多，孤獨感就越高。這種對整體技術使用影響（例如，使用的數量、頻率或強度）的關注已經延續到SNS的研究中。然而，關於整體S使用與孤獨感之間關係的研究結果喜憂參半。雖然一些研究表明
SNS use is related to lower loneliness ^(4){ }^{4} and more social capital, ^(5){ }^{5} others find that SNS users are more lonely than nonusers. ^(6){ }^{6} Still others suggest that social media use is irrelevant to users’ offline network size and does not make users feel emotionally closer to their offline contacts. ^(7){ }^{7} SNS 的使用與較低的孤獨感 ^(4){ }^{4} 和更多的社會資本有關， ^(5){ }^{5} 其他人發現S使用者比非使用者更孤獨。 ^(6){ }^{6} 還有一些人認為，社交媒體的使用與使用者的離線網路規模無關，並且不會使用戶在情感上感覺與他們的離線聯繫人更親近。 ^(7){ }^{7}
The inconclusive results suggest that it would be necessary to study more than just overall SNS usage. Indeed, Kraut and Burke ^(8){ }^{8} proposed what could be viewed as an activity-audience framework, which suggests that to advance our understanding of the implications of communication technologies, scholars need to move beyond overall usage and attend to what users do online and with whom they interact in cyberspace. The dimension of activities, in particular, has gained increasing attention in recent years (see below), and yet findings of many activities remain ambiguous. 不確定的結果表明，有必要研究的不僅僅是 SNS 的整體使用方式。事實上，Kraut 和 Burke ^(8){ }^{8} 提出了可以被視為活動受眾框架的東西，這表明為了促進我們對通信技術影響的理解，學者們需要超越整體使用，關注使用者在網上做什麼以及他們在網路空間中與誰互動。特別是活動維度，近年來受到了越來越多的關注（見下文），但許多活動的結果仍然模棱兩可。
SNS usage/activities can be roughly divided into three categories: passive, active, and interactive. In general, interactive usage, defined as using SNSs to interact and socialize with others (e.g., commenting, sending an SNS message), is related to lower loneliness. ^(6,9-11){ }^{6,9-11} On the contrary, passive activities in SNS 使用/活動大致可分為三類：被動、主動和互動式。一般來說，互動式使用，定義為使用SNS與他人互動和社交（例如，評論、發送SNS消息），與較低的孤獨感有關。 ^(6,9-11){ }^{6,9-11} 相反，被動活動
which users simply consume or browse the SNS content are typically related to higher loneliness and lower well-being, ^(9,12){ }^{9,12} although a null relationship has also been reported. ^(11){ }^{11} The third type, active usage, involves actively producing content on SNSs, but the content is not directed to specific individuals (e.g., updating status or broadcasting information on SNSs without tagging specific viewers), and thus, the activity is not necessarily interactive in nature. This last category has been largely understudied, but an example of this type of activity, Facebook status update, has been found to be associated with both higher and lower loneliness. ^(11,13){ }^{11,13} It appears that except for interactive usage, the associations between other types of SNS activities and loneliness remain unclear, which hinders scholars from concluding specifically how SNS use would influence users’ psychological well-being. 哪些使用者只是消費或流覽 SNS 內容通常與較高的孤獨感和較低的幸福感有關， ^(9,12){ }^{9,12} 儘管也有報導稱存在零關係。 ^(11){ }^{11} 第三種類型是主動使用，涉及在 SNS 上主動製作內容，但內容不針對特定個人（例如，在 SNS 上更新狀態或廣播資訊而不標記特定觀眾），因此，該活動不一定是互動式的。最後一類在很大程度上沒有得到充分的研究，但此類活動的一個例子，Facebook 狀態更新，已被發現與較高和較低的孤獨感有關。 ^(11,13){ }^{11,13} 除了互動使用外，其他類型的SNS活動與孤獨感之間的關聯似乎仍不清楚，這阻礙了學者們具體得出SNS使用將如何影響使用者心理健康的結論。
Social comparison orientation 社交比較取向
It is noteworthy that the relationship between SNS use and loneliness should be more sophisticated than what can be summarized with simple direct associations. After all, SNS use and its implications vary by users’ personality traits. ^(14,15){ }^{14,15} While most studies on SNS use and personality focus the Big Five model, ^(16){ }^{16} social comparison orientation (SCO), ^(17){ }^{17} an important personality construct, has not been thoroughly studied. 值得注意的是，SNS 使用和孤獨之間的關係應該比用簡單的直接聯想來概括的要複雜得多。畢竟，SNS 的使用及其影響因使用者的性格特徵而異。 ^(14,15){ }^{14,15} 雖然大多數關於 SNS 使用和性格的研究都集中在大五模型上，但 ^(16){ }^{16} 社會比較取向 （SCO） 是一種 ^(17){ }^{17} 重要的人格結構，尚未得到徹底的研究。
SCO refers to “the inclination to compare one’s accomplishments, one’s situation, and one’s experiences with those of others.” ^(18(p16)){ }^{18(\mathrm{p} 16)} The SCO theory is established based on Festinger’s theory of social comparison. ^(19){ }^{19} Festinger proposes social comparison as a natural process for selfevaluation when individuals lack objective criteria to assess their abilities and opinions. To make their self-evaluation accurate, individuals tend to choose those who are perceived to be similar to themselves as the targets for comparisons. Later, scholars expand Festinger’s theory, arguing that individuals can perform different types of social comparison to achieve goals other than self-evaluation. For instance, they can engage in upward social comparison, or comparing themselves with superior others, to improve themselves; they can also conduct downward social comparison, or comparing themselves with inferior others, to enhance their subjective well-being. ^(20,21){ }^{20,21} SCO 指的是「傾向於將自己的成就、處境和經歷與他人進行比較」。 ^(18(p16)){ }^{18(\mathrm{p} 16)} SCO 理論是根據 Festinger 的社會比較理論建立的。 ^(19){ }^{19} Festinger 提出，當個人缺乏客觀標準來評估自己的能力和觀點時，社會比較是自我評估的自然過程。為了使他們的自我評估準確，個人傾向於選擇那些被認為與自己相似的人作為比較目標。後來，學者們擴展了費斯廷格的理論，認為個人可以進行不同類型的社會比較來實現自我評價以外的目標。例如，他們可以進行向上的社會比較，或將自己與優秀的人進行比較，以提高自己;他們還可以進行向下的社會比較，或將自己與低人進行比較，以提高他們的主觀幸福感。 ^(20,21){ }^{20,21}
According to the SCO theory, people vary in their tendencies of making comparisons with others. Those who have a strong orientation for social comparison have three characteristics. First, they have a high chronic activation of the self, meaning they have a high level of both public and private self-consciousness. Second, they are socially oriented, reflected by their interest in, empathy for, and sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings. Third, they tend to have negative affectivity and uncertainty of the self and thus often have low self-esteem and high neuroticism. ^(18){ }^{18} 根據 SCO 理論，人們與他人進行比較的傾向各不相同。那些對社會比較有強烈取向的人有三個特徵。首先，他們具有高度的自我長期啟動，這意味著他們具有高水準的公共和私人自我意識。其次，他們是以社會為導向的，這反映在他們對他人的需求和感受的興趣、同理心和敏感性上。第三，他們往往對自我有負面的情感和不確定性，因此經常自尊心低下，神經質高。 ^(18){ }^{18}
SCO is particularly important in the social media context because SNSs provide rich opportunities for social comparison, which can influence one’s psychological well-being. Specifically, on SNSs, individuals engage in more upward social comparison than downward social comparison. ^(22){ }^{22} It is likely because most users present highly positive self-images on SNSs, ^(23){ }^{23} and thus, SNS platforms are filled with targets for upward social comparison, which often leads to envy ^(24){ }^{24} and low self-esteem. ^(22){ }^{22} SCO 在社交媒體環境中尤為重要，因為 SNS 為社會比較提供了豐富的機會，這會影響一個人的心理健康。具體來說，在SNS上，個體參與的向上社會比較多於向下的社會比較。 ^(22){ }^{22} 這可能是因為大多數使用者在SNS上呈現高度積極的自我形象， ^(23){ }^{23} 因此，SNS 平台充滿了向上社會比較的目標，這往往會導致嫉妒 ^(24){ }^{24} 和自卑。 ^(22){ }^{22}
It appears that users of high SCO may have different experiences using SNSs, compared with users of low SCO. To date, however, there has been little research exploring this possibility. Only one study (by Vogel et al.) shows that SCO is correlated with greater overall Facebook use, and people of high SCO experience poorer self-perceptions, lower selfesteem, and a more negative affect after viewing a Facebook Friend’s profile. ^(25){ }^{25} While this study focused on self-related outcomes, it is curious how SCO may moderate associations between SNS use and psychological variables involving social components, such as the feeling of loneliness. After all, SNSs are social platforms and high SCO individuals are socially oriented. In addition, Vogel et al. ^(25){ }^{25} only studied a passive activity (viewing a Friend’s profile), and the moderating role of SCO for other SNS activities has not been examined. These gaps need to be filled to better understand what kind of users may benefit from or be harmed by their SNS use. 與低 SCO 使用者相比，高 SCO 使用者使用 SNS 的體驗似乎不同。然而，迄今為止，幾乎沒有研究探索這種可能性。只有一項研究（由 Vogel 等人）表明，SCO 與更高的整體 Facebook 使用相關，而 SCO 高的人在查看 Facebook 朋友的個人資料後會經歷更差的自我認知、更低的自尊心和更負面的影響。 ^(25){ }^{25} 雖然這項研究側重於與自我相關的結果，但令人好奇的是 SCO 如何調節 SNS 使用與涉及社會成分的心理變數（例如孤獨感）之間的關聯。畢竟，SNS 是社交平臺，而 SCO 高個體是面向社交的。此外，Vogel 等人 ^(25){ }^{25} 只研究了一種被動活動（查看朋友的個人資料），尚未研究 SCO 對其他 SNS 活動的調節作用。需要填補這些空白，以更好地瞭解哪些類型的使用者可能會從他們的SNS使用中受益或受到傷害。
Current study 當前研究
This study had two goals. First, it aimed to clarify the associations between loneliness and specific SNS activities. Second, it explored how SCO would moderate the relationships between SNS activities and loneliness. Although existing literature offers some clues to these relationships (e.g., interactive SNS use is likely to relate to lower loneliness), most associations of interest are unclear (e.g., those between loneliness and active or passive activities and how they would vary by one’s SCO level). Thus, the study is exploratory in nature. Two research questions were proposed: 這項研究有兩個目標。首先，它旨在闡明孤獨與特定S活動之間的關聯。其次，它探討了 SCO 如何調節 SNS 活動與孤獨感之間的關係。儘管現有文獻為這些關係提供了一些線索（例如，互動式S的使用可能與較低的孤獨感有關），但大多數感興趣的關聯尚不清楚（例如，孤獨感與主動或被動活動之間的關聯以及它們如何因一個人的 SCO 水準而異）。因此，該研究本質上是探索性的。提出了兩個研究問題：
RQ1: How would different SNS activities relate to loneliness?
RQ2: How would SCO moderate the relationship between SNS activities and loneliness? RQ1：不同的 SNS 活動與孤獨感有什麼關係？
RQ2：SCO 將如何調節 SNS 活動與孤獨感之間的關係？
To address these research questions, a survey study sampling college students was conducted. Findings of the study were expected to expand our understanding of the implications of SNS use by presenting a sophisticated picture of how specific SNS activities would relate to users’ psychological well-being and how these associations would vary by individual differences in the orientation for social comparison. The purpose of the study is in line with Kraut and Burke’s ^(8){ }^{8} advocacy of moving beyond the oversimplified depiction of SNS impact. The more sophisticated picture may provide a ground for future researchers to continue investigating the nuances of SNS use in relation to users’ well-being. 為了解決這些研究問題，進行了一項對大學生進行抽樣的調查研究。該研究的結果有望通過展示特定 SNS 活動與使用者心理健康的關係以及這些關聯如何因社會比較取向的個體差異而變化的複雜圖景，從而擴大我們對 SNS 使用影響的理解。這項研究的目的與 Kraut 和 Burke ^(8){ }^{8} 的宣導一致，即超越對 SNS 影響的過度簡化描述。更複雜的情況可能為未來的研究人員繼續研究 SNS 使用與使用者福祉相關的細微差別提供基礎。
Method 方法
Participants 參與者
Participants were 208 undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25(M_("age ")=19.43,SD=1.35)25\left(M_{\text {age }}=19.43, S D=1.35\right) attending a U.S. university in the mid-south ( 78 percent female; 57 percent White, 27 percent Black). Research information was announced through e-mail to all freshmen and face-to-face in various courses involving students of different years across departments. Compared with the university undergraduate population ( 59 percent female, 51 percent White, 34 percent 參與者是 208 名 18 歲之間就 25(M_("age ")=19.43,SD=1.35)25\left(M_{\text {age }}=19.43, S D=1.35\right) 讀於美國中南部大學的本科生（78% 為女性;57% 為白人，27% 為黑人）。研究資訊通過電子郵件向所有新生公佈，並在涉及不同年級學生跨系的各種課程中面對面宣佈。與大學本科生人數（59% 的女性、51% 的白人、34% 的白人）相比
Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research, University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee. 孟菲斯大學諮詢、教育心理學和研究系，田納西州孟菲斯。