Toxic positivity on social media: The drawbacks and benefits of sharing positive (but potentially platitudinous) messages online

Abstract

Sharing positive messages on social media can produce positive outcomes for message senders due to self-effects—the effect of sending messages on message senders themselves. In this domain, one question is whether the performative display of positivity can engender positivity. By examining the sharing of personal experiences in a positive manner on social media, several boundary conditions to self-effects were found: displaying positivity is beneficial to message senders only if message senders have higher (vs. lower) self-esteem or if they experience less (vs. more) toxicity—defined as the suppression of the negative aspects of one’s perceived reality due to engagement with or sending a positive message. Otherwise, displaying positivity can dampen enjoyment or make message senders reluctant to commit to their public self-presentations. However, after people receive feedback from friends, perceived social approval is a better predictor of enjoyment and commitment than displaying positivity.