Social Media and Self-Talk: Exploring Self-Talk Related Motives for Social Media Use and Links Between Social Media Usage and Self-Talk Frequency

Abstract

Research into social media usage and its correlations to adverse individual and social qualities have shined a light on possible effects it may have on its consumers. The motivations for why we use these platforms is a question many researchers have asked. Previous studies have documented through qualitative and quantitative means that some motives for using social media include: self-expression, entertainment, peer comparison, and ego validation. The present study investigated motivations for social media usage by modifying a measure intended to quantify self-talk frequency. In addition, correlations between self-talk frequency, using the Self-Talk Scale (STS), and social media usage were studied. Findings suggest a relationship between self-reinforcing related motives and social media usage as well as between frequency of self-managing and social-assessing self-talk and social media use. Further research into why these correlations exist and into using scales in unintended ways is needed.