DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SELF-DISCLOSURE AND SELF-DISCREPANCY: AN EXPLORATION OF AUTHENTICITY ON INSTAGRAM

Abstract

Subjective well-being describes how people evaluate their lives in cognitive (i.e., life satisfaction) and affective (positive and negative emotion) terms. Social media and mobiles are now the norm for people to stay in touch with their families and friends. However, the results on the role of technology and social media in mental health are still somewhat mixed. A recent body of work has examined the link between internet use, social media use, and well-being, with mixed findings. While it is shown that feelings of authenticity can suggest more positive effects on well-being, authenticity itself is multifaceted, with self-discrepancy being only one part of it. Thus, there is a lack of understanding of how authenticity of an individual affects wellbeing in SNS. Additionally, SNS self-disclosure is affected by the privacy concerns of the individual. Yet there is no clear research into how privacy concerns inform individual’s willingness to be authentic online. Although online social support has a reported positive association with well-being, what is less understood is whether it also predicts greater authentic self-presentation on SNSs. To address all these research gaps, this study will investigate self-disclosure and self-discrepancy in relation to wellbeing, privacy concerns and social support.