Dispositional Envy, Satisfaction with Life and Images Shared on Instagram by University Students

Abstract

Due to its pervasiveness, social networking sites (SNS) have a substantial impact on their users' lives. Studies have found an association between the use of SNS with both positive and negative effects. The level of satisfaction with life and dispositional envy were measured and compared to the content shared on Instagram by 86 Mexican university students. For this purpose, a total of 15,897 images were collected and analyzed with an image recognition software. Lastly, images were categorized. Results show 1) a negative correlation between envy and participants' levels of satisfaction with life; 2) satisfaction with life levels decreased, although minimally, for each image of the categories of Nature and Properties; and 3) levels of envy increased for each image from the categories of Education and Properties, and decreased for each image categorized under the Business and People categories. We conclude that Instagram provides a fertile ground to develop research on human behavioral fields, including education.