Stage One

STAGE ONE Jazmin Chima N0638839

I confirm that this work has gained ethical approval and that I have faithfully observed the terms of the approval in the conduct of this project.

Signed (student) ………………………………………………………………………

Word Count: 7,850

1

2

CONTENTS

Introduction ............................................... 4-5 LIiterature Review: ............................................... 6 Introduction .............................................. 7 The History and Evolution of Experience Sharing ....................................... 8 Experiences vs Materialism .............................................. 9 Self-Identity .............................................. 10 Sharing Experiences on Social Media Today .............................................. 11 Experience and Sharing on Social Media: Future Predictions and Trends .............................................. 12 Methodology: .............................................. 13 -15 Primary Research .............................................. 16 -18 Secondary Research .............................................. 19 CHAPTER 1: Digital Natives .............................................. 20 Self-identity and Social Media .............................................. 21 Instagram & Narcissism .............................................. 22 - 24 CHAPTER 2: Effects on Industry .............................................. 25 Implications on Brands .............................................. 26 - 27 Materialistic with Experiences .............................................. 28 Personalisation ..............................................29 Research Insights ..............................................30 What is next? .............................................. 31 32 Conclusion ..............................................33 - 34 List of references .............................................. 35 -37 List of illustrations .............................................. 38 - 39 Bibliography .............................................. 40 -41 Appendix .............................................. 42 3

INTRODUCTION

4

The future thinking report explored how the emergence of the macro trend ‘The Experience Economy’ shaped society today. This outlined the key implications of the trend and the effects it has had on the economy. Evidently, research implies that individuals are increasingly valuing experiential purchases over materialistic ones. Furthermore, there is a clear link between the prevalence of social media in society today and the expansion of the trend. To further this exploration, this report will provide a detailed analysis into how the trend has directly encouraged experience sharing on social media and how there is a link between this and the proliferation of narcissistic qualities among the millennial generation.

The rationale for this chosen topic area, derives from a personal interest in social media addictions among millennials. One of the key insights revealed from the future thinking report was the point that millennials are driving the experience economy. Therefore, this is a topic of interest because it is something that affects society, this generation today and future generations to come. Furthermore, the way the experience economy and social media interlink and how this is shaping millennials attitudes and beliefs is also highly interesting as this displays the impact technology has on shaping self-identity.

With the prevalence of an increasingly digitally obsessed society, are people becoming more self-obsessed or simply just sharing more frequently? This report will focus on the question: Is the practice of sharing experiences online creating narcissistic qualities among millennials? The aim is to determine whether the practice of sharing experiences online is fuelling an increasingly narcissistic millennial generation. This report will explore the millennial age segment as they are the true digital natives born into the digital revolution. They hold a much stronger social media presence compared to other age groups.

An in-depth body of research and plethora of literature will be provided and discussed to critically analyse and asses how the increasing popularity of sharing experiences on social media correlates with narcissism.

5

Literature Review

6

Introduction Numerous studies have identified the positive impacts the macro trend, ‘the Experience Economy’ has had on society. The Experience Economy was introduced by Pine and Gilmore in 1999.

This has particularly impacted the millennial generation, they are driving the trend of making experiential purchases over material ones. This review will cover five central points in relation to this trend and its impacts on the millennial generation, these include: the history and evolution of the trend, experiences vs materialism, self-identity, experiences and sharing on social media today and the future predictions and trends of sharing on social media in the future. Although literature displays some of these themes in a variety of contexts, this review will primarily focus on the concept of narcissism and how the popularity of sharing experiences on social media correlates with causing narcissistic qualities among the millennial generation.

7

Social networking began in 1978 when two computer hobbyists invented the ‘computerized bulletin board system’ (BBS), to arrange meet ups, connect and communicate with friends. Since then, social media has hugely evolved and users now have access to a multitude of different platforms. The core thesis surrounding this review is how social media is encouraging a narcissism epidemic among millennials. Narcissism is a psychological term meaning grandiosity and vanity. The term narcissism derives from the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus. The narrative of ‘Narcissus’ describes a young man known for his beauty. He sets out on a quest for the perfect person to love until he viewed his own reflection in the water and gazed it until he died. (Echoes of Narcissus, 2000). The tragic tale endeavours themes of tragedy and self-love and self-admiration, addressing the harmful impacts of narcissism. These themes will be explored in greater detail in this review in relation to modern day society.

The History and Evolution of Experience Sharing

Individuals have been sharing their experiences for centuries but the way that they are doing this has evolved. Word of mouth and sharing experiences with friends and family has transformed to exposing this information with a larger scale audience on social media. People have always engaged in social status boosting activities, things that portray them positively.

Erving Goffman (1956) describes social behaviour as an ‘act’ and his theory explains that individuals are actors and that the world is simply their stage. (Goffman, 1956). There is a direct correlation between this theory and social media because individuals contrive what they put on social media platforms, this being their stage used to portray the best possible image of themselves. Goffman implies that individuals use this act to separate from the true self which is shown only in private. This implies that the experiences people engage in are frequently presented to look appealing so they can be shared with an individual’s social media following. The increasing popularity of online bloggers highlights how this has become a norm in society today.

However, Goffman’s thesis was originally published in 1956 and Arundale (2010) describes Goffman’s work as ‘being several decades old, it is now outmoded and should be remodelled to incorporate progress in research and technology.’ (Arundale, 2010). This implies that his theory cannot be applied to modern day technology and social media platforms. On the other hand, Miller explains that ‘electronic interaction is a natural extension to what Goffman posited.’

(Miller, 1995). Therefore, this illustrates that face to face interaction is still the ‘real thing’ but the online world is an extension provided for individuals to express another dimension of themselves.

Overall, sharing experiences has completely evolved to sharing with everybody, even complete strangers. This poses the question, are people becoming increasingly narcissistic or is it just that there is now a multitude of platforms available for individuals to freely express themselves on?

8

Experiences vs Materialism The emerging trend of experiences over materialism has primarily impacted the millennial generation. The central thesis to this point is that individuals are happier when spending money to acquire life experiences than by spending money to acquire material possessions. (Van Boven, 2003). From a psychological perspective experiences predominantly satisfy individuals over material possessions in three ways: ‘experiences are more prone to positive reinterpretations, secondly experiences suffer less from disadvantageous comparisons; and, third, experiences are more likely to foster successful social relationships.’ (Van Boven, 2003). These three points illustrate the key facets that enable experiential purchases to elicit positive emotions in individuals. Evidently the more people immerse themselves in experiences the happier they are with life.

In relation to this, several studies have displayed that materialism positively correlates with a variety of psychological issues such as depression and narcissism. (Kasser and Ryan, 1993). This suggests that materialism causes people to be less happy whereas making experiential purchases results in happiness and better wellbeing. Kasser also suggests that materialism is habitually an attempt to cope with insecurity (Kasser et al, 2004). However, it can be argued that to counter-act the negative associations of materialism, eliciting feelings gratitude may be able to relieve the negative effects on well-being that are caused through materialistic desires. McCullough et al. (2004) found that people with higher levels of optimism and more satisfaction with life tended to experience higher levels of gratitude with their lives. Therefore, people are less inclined to materialistic strivings when they view they are more satisfied with their lives. Evidently this backs up the concept that materialistic individuals feel more insecure with their lives.

Furthermore, the central thesis throughout this research is that immersing in experiences for the sole purpose of sharing on social media platforms is the reason behind the current narcissism epidemic. Overall, this highlights the debate over whether individuals value experiential purchases over material ones and what is making them increasingly narcissistic. Numerous experiments have been conducted to gain insight into consumer’s thoughts and behaviours. For example, Howell and Hill got university students to recall either a material or experiential purchase. The results illustrated that those who recalled an experiential purchase conveyed higher levels of well-being. (Howell and Hill, 2009). Therefore, this highlights the point that experiences do elicit feelings of happiness on a larger scale than material items are able to. On the other hand, the Easterlin paradox suggests that there isn’t a link between the level of economic development of a society and the over-all happiness of its citizens. Meaning that living with a comfortable amount of money to purchase adequate material possessions enables people to be happy but up to a certain point. Eaterlin (1973) implies that individuals are happy when they have the same financial status as those around them. ‘Individuals assed their material well-being not in terms of the absolute amount of goods they have, but relative to a social norm of what goods they ought to have…. those above the norm typically feel happier than those below.’ (R.A Easterlin, 1973). Therefore, this signifies that the ability to purchase more material items than peers does have a positive effect on happiness.

9

Self-Identity

Millennials are the true digital natives of today’s current society. The fundamental question about what they are sharing online is whether sharing experiences online is encouraging self-expression or homogeneity?

Maslow’s five stage model illustrates three categorical needs that all humans have; self-fulfilment needs, psychological needs and basic needs. The desire to seek approval from others and portray oneself positively on social media links to Maslow’s concept of esteem needs and self-actualisation. This poses the question, has social media made stage five self-actualisation unobtainable? Sharing online is no longer for the sole purpose of sharing with friends. In this digital age, millennials seek approval from peers online. They share to receive positive reinforcement through likes to boost their self-esteem and help them find their self-identity. Due to the advancement of technology humanities self-esteem needs have been taken away because of the lack of human interaction and the constant need to seek approval. Online sharing and obtaining likes and followers fills the fundamental human desire for approval from others; self-actualisation.

However, Rutledge (2011) criticizes Maslow’s hierarchy stating that ‘the need for belonging is not a third-tier need, it is an essential need’ (Rutledge, 2011). As a result, Rutledge reworked Maslow’s original model, placing needs in a circle with connection centric to those needs. This implies what users of social media seek which is not self-esteem or self-actualisation, but connection. Nevertheless, a sense of connection does fit into Maslow’s original hierarchy under ‘belonging needs.’ This shows that Rutledge’s revised hierarchy makes misleading judgements of Maslow’s original and suggests that Rutledge does not understand how to apply the original model into practice. Instead, it could be considered that millennials not only use social media for their own self- esteem but for a sense of belonging and connection with their peers. As a result, both Maslow’s original hierarchy and Rutledge’s revised theory can be applied to the needs of millennials on social media.

In addition to this Twenge and Campbell (2011) state ‘Narcissists thrive on social networking sites.’ (Campbell and Twenge, 2011). However, there has since been further research and investigation into this topic and it cannot be generalised that every user of social media is a narcissist. Keitzman (2011) produced the ‘honeycomb of social media’ model to demonstrate the reasons why individuals use social media. The central point of the model is identity which represents the extent to which individuals reveal their identity online. Furthermore, the model illustrates numerous points as to why people use social media, including; building relationships, presence, conversations and forming communities. This suggests there are other reasoning’s behind the use of social media and it’s not solely for seeking self-identity.

10

Sharing Experiences on Social Media Today

The advancement of technology and social media has rapidly transformed the way that information about industries predominantly the food and drink industry and tourism and travel is disseminated. Evidently, social media is one of the ‘mega trends’ that has significantly affected these industries and consumers purchasing decisions.

Millennials, being the true digital natives born into the digital revolution are the generation sharing online the most and they are predominantly engaging in experiences that can be shared online. This poses the question ‘are they living for the experiences or simply collecting them as virtual possessions?’ (Hargreave, 2016). The experience economy has influenced the way users are sharing and interacting on social media platforms. As a result, there has been an increase in the usage of social media, consequently social media addictions among millennials has become an issue.

Several studies have reported higher scores on social media addiction scales in younger people compared to older people (Andreassen et al, 2013). Predominantly because younger generations are ‘digital natives,’ being born into the digital revolution they have adapted to being constantly online and are more digitally aware and tech savvy than their older counterparts.

11

Experiences and sharing on social media: Future predictions and trends

Future predictions on the way millennials are using social media highlights the question; will experiences decrease in value as social media value decreases? Currently the material individuals are sharing is largely the same and this derives from the replication of what many online bloggers are doing. Furthermore, the implications for business and marketers will be huge because social media will continue to transform how businesses promote themselves. A dominant ideology that research will further identify is how the consumer is transforming into a marketing platform for brands.

Overall, much of the literature surrounding this topic is relatively outdated. Research and findings centrally focuses on platforms such as Myspace and Facebook, for example Twenge and Campbell (2009) focus their writing and observations around Myspace in ‘The Narcissism Epidemic’ (2009). Moreover, the internet has vastly expanded since and platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat have over taken these and they are much more relevant today. To address this gap relevant observations must be implemented to provide a detailed analysis into what millennials are sharing online. Furthermore, ample research and investigation must be collated to understand the concept of how sharing experiences online is causing increasingly narcissistic qualities among the millennial generation.

12

13

METHODOLOGY

01

Furthermore, the decision to explore solely the millennial generation posed a bias for the research as other generations have not been thoroughly explored. This makes the generalisation that they do not use social media when this cannot be assumed. However, the rationale for selecting solely the millennial generation to investigate was that much literature and secondary research surrounding this topic highlighted that they are the predominantly heavier social media users. Millennials are the digital natives of this society therefore they were deemed the most relevant group to further explore. The millennial generation cannot be generalised to just one group, so for the research, this generation was dissected into two groups; ages eighteen to twenty-five and twenty-six to

03

The Literature review highlighted a predominant gap in the research and findings available in relation to the increasing effects of narcissism on social media today. The literature around this topic was scarce in relation to modern day society as technology is ever changing and social media platforms are constantly evolving. Therefore, the rationale for this area of study was to understand how the millennial generation is utilising modern day social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, in relation to experience sharing and how this may be causing them to develop narcissistic qualities.

02

To build a reasoned and coherent body of primary research both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilised to collate a thorough insight into millennials attitudes towards sharing on social media platforms. A survey was shared via social media, to gather quantitative data in relation to experiences and social media. Furthermore, triangulation of qualitative research methods was utilised to assure validity of the data gathered. This was done by employing a variety of methods to gain an accurate insight into millennials attitudes towards the link between sharing experiences on social media and narcissism. In addition, semi-structured interviews and Netnography were carried out with a range of males and females aged eighteen to thirty-two.

Moreover, all research was conducted in alignment with the ethical guidelines and full consent from each participant was provided.

14

The methods proposed were utilised to explore and understand the following research objectives;

1) To identify millennial attitudes to experiences over material possessions, to explore the reasons behind why they value experiences and what types of experiences they are engaging in.

2) To understand how millennials are utilising social media by identifying what type of content they are most frequently sharing.

3) To investigate the motives behind why millennials, share content via social media and discover how this shapes self-identity.

4) To analyse the effects social media has on the millennial generation and what the implications are for the future.

15

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Quantitative

Online survey Firstly, a survey was conducted online and shared via numerous social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. The purpose was to understand and put into perspective millennial attitudes in relation to sharing experiences on social media, as highlighted in the second research objective. The survey gathered a hundred responses from a mixed range of males and females ranging between the ages of eighteen to thirty-two. The survey was used as it was one of the most timely and efficient methods collecting data. Furthermore, another benefit is that the survey provided a rich body of easily quantifiable data, from a large and varied group of respondents. However, a limitation of the survey results was the fact that there was a larger response from millennials in the eighteen to twenty-five age bracket, which highlights issues with how representative the survey was on millennials as a whole. In addition to this there was also a higher number of responses from females, which created similar pitfalls. But, sharing the survey on social media was highly useful as it targeted the specific group of people that the research was tailored to, therefore the respondents of the survey were clearly frequent social media users. Therefore, their insights on experience sharing on social networking was highly valuable.

In correlation with the proposed objectives, the online survey managed to address millennial’s thoughts on experiences vs materialism and provided scope into the specific type of experiences they particularly value. The survey also touched on objective number three; discovering how sharing online shapes self-identity, through questions such as ‘do you feel your social media profiles provide an accurate representation of your personality?’ On the other hand, as the survey was an exploration into narcissism and social media sharing, a limitation of this method was that respondents may have been unlikely to answer questions that portrayed them in an unfavourable way. Furthermore, as surveys largely consist of close-ended questions, this also provided data with a lower validity rate than other methods. However, this limitation was overcome by utilising the methods of Netnography and open-ended interviews, to gain qualitative data.

16

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Qualitative Interviews

‘The strength and power of the interpretivist approach lies in its ability to address the complexity and meaning of consumption.’ (Black, 2006). The Interpretivist approach can be applied to this research method as it is primarily focused on meaning and understanding. The main factors in relation to the research objectives were to understand why millennials post online, what they are seeking in return and how this shapes self-identity.

Individual interviews were conducted to gain an in depth understanding in relation to millennials use of social media and how this is creating narcissistic qualities among this generation. Eight millennials, four female and four male ranging between the ages of twenty-one to thirty were interviewed, to provide a varied sample size. Ten questions were asked, with scope for expansion and discussion on answers. This method was particularly beneficial as it provided each interviewee with the opportunity to freely express their views on the subject matter, resulting in a rich body of qualitative data.

The interview questions were specifically designed to explore the themes of self-identity, experiences vs materialism and to understand how millennials are sharing on social media today. In relation to the four objectives initially proposed, the interviews managed to explore them all. Firstly, by exploring millennial attitudes to materialism vs 8experiences. In addition, as the interviews were investigating narcissism, participants may not have answered specific questions entirely truthfully as being deemed narcissistic has a certain stigma attached to it. Therefore, this poses some validity issues within the research. However, this limitation was overcome through the next research method used, Netnography.

The interviews were designed to incorporate creative factors such as images to engage deeply with interviewee’s and elicit an emotional connection with them. ‘Whenever thinking contradicts with emotions, emotions win.’

(Franzen, 2001). Images were utilised in the interviews to tap into interviewee’s ‘system one’ thought process. Kaneham distinguishes between the two thought processes individuals have, named system one and system two. System one ‘is the brain’s fast, automatic, intuitive approach and system two, the minds slower analytical mode where reason dominates.’ (Kaneham, 2012). Therefore, showing an interviewee a selection of images immediately captures their attention which was likely to elicit a quick emotional response from respondents. This was particularly useful in question seven of the interview. (see appendix ..)

Nevertheless, this method had certain limitations. For example, with the nature of the interviews made it difficult to directly compare the results as each interview was unique. Furthermore, ten interviews in total were carried out this is a relatively small sample size so therefore it is difficult to generalise the results as a representation for the whole millennial generation. In addition, one of the main limitations was that the process of conducting the interviews and transcribing them was particularly time consuming. However, the interviews did provide a rich body of insightful and in depth qualitative data.

17

PRIMARY RESEARCH: Qualitative Netnography Thirdly, the method of Netnography was used. ‘Netnography is the branch of ethnography that analyses the free behaviour of individuals on the internet’ (Karr, 2015). This involved the observation of four different Instagram pages, three female and one male and then the individuals were asked a series of four questions in relation to what they posted, these were answered online (see appendix). The observation involved the analysis of a snapshot of nine to twelve images taken from each Instagram profile. The images were analysed in relation to several factors for example; frequency of status updates, number of followers and the number of pictures of oneself uploaded and how frequently they post. This method correlated directly with objective number three as it provided a deeper insight into how millennials seek to discover their self-identity online. Therefore, resulting in a rich body of qualitative data.

The social media platform Instagram was selected to observe and analyse as its highly relevant to the research question because it is one of the main platforms that millennials utilise to share their experiences on. ‘By 2019, nearly two- thirds of all millennial smartphone users will use Instagram’ (Emarketer, 2016).

However, a limitation of this method, is that similarly to the interviews a small sample size of four individuals was used, therefore it is difficult to generalise these findings as a representation of the whole millennial generation. Nevertheless, multiple qualitative methods have been used for research triangulation. Therefore, this ensured more reliability to the research findings.

The responses to the questions were recorded via instant messaging. This method posed certain restrictions, as the interviews were carried out online respondents may have been distracted and not as fully engaged with the interview as they may have been in a face to face situation. To further this point, the inability to give the interviewee visual cues and build rapport may have prevented respondents from being fully open with their answers as they were not actually interacting in person with a physical being. Despite that, the responses proved to be rich and detailed. Displaying that respondents may have found it easier to be honest sharing their answers online as opposed to a face to face situation. With the social stigma attached to the concept of appearing narcissistic, it was evidently easier for respondents to share their personal thoughts and experiences online.

18

SECONDARY RESEARCH: Secondary research has also been a highly valuable tool used to collate a thorough body of research on existing theories and concepts available in relation to the proposed research question. The following methods were used: Books / Journals Numerous books and academic journals have provided background research into theories and key issues surrounding the research question. ‘The Narcissism Epidemic’ (2011) provided a solid basis into the history and key issues around the concept of narcissism. However, a limitation of this method is that books and journals can often be outdated, for example in this book some of the studies focused on the social media platform ‘Myspace’ which is significantly outdated in today’s generation. To overcome this issue, several other sources were used such as market research, newspaper articles and analysis of social media platforms.

Market research Market research was also highly insightful in relation to the research question. Reports from sources such as WGSN and Mintel provided relevant information. Furthermore, a limitation of this research is the reliability, as the value of secondary research findings depends on a number of factors for example unrepresentative samples. This is a key issue in relation to this topic as the focus is specifically narrowed to millennials.

Newspapers Newspaper articles provided relevant and up to date information, online articles were also looked at for example; the Guardian and the Independent. However, the credibility of the information provided can be questioned as the ideas and concepts highlighted may be biased of the author. Furthermore, newspaper articles lack depth as they are often presented on only one side of an argument, failing to provide other viewpoints which leads to inaccurate information.

Nevertheless, the use of primary research managed to overcome these issues, by collecting various insights on millennial attitudes.

19

1.DIGITAL NATIVES

The proliferation of social media has transformed the way that experiences are shared online. This chapter will provide an exploration into the millennial generation; the ‘digital natives’ of society today.

Prensky (2001, p.2), referred to this generation as digital natives because they ‘are all native speakers of the digital language of computers, video games and the internet.’ They are the generation that grew up during the advancement of technology, therefore they continue to drive the trend of the experience economy by constantly sharing what they are doing on social media. Furthermore, an insight into how social media is shaping self-identity among this generation and the debate around this encouraging a narcissism epidemic shall be discussed.

The Evolution of Social Media As mentioned in the literature review, social networking initially began in 1978. The way that it has evolved since has proven phenomenal. Primary research indicated that the most popular social media platforms according to millennials today are Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. The survey illustrated that 81% of millennials had all three social media platforms. Evidently these are the most popular platforms that they are predominantly sharing their experiences on.

20

Self-identity and Social Media As mentioned earlier in the report, Goffman’s ‘dramaturgical analysis’ theory can be applied to social media, with the being the ‘stage’ that millennials utilise to portray the best version of themselves.

This thesis is backed up by primary research carried out in relation to this subject matter. Survey results portrayed that 55% of millennials answered ‘unsure’ when asked if they believed that their social media profiles portrayed an accurate representation of their personality. To further these findings Netnography gathered key insights from individuals regarding the way they think they are portrayed online. For example, all respondents stated that they enhance and edit images before uploading on Instagram because they want them to represent an idea of ‘perfection.’ When discussing the use of editing apps, participant one stated; ‘In my opinion I think it’s the norm for people my age to do this, I’m just conforming to the norm.’ (Participant one, 2017, Netnography). This extract from the Netnography interviews is highly insightful at is represents the mindset that many millennials hold, they want to be the same as their friends on social media to adhere to social norms on these platforms. This refers to Goffman’s theory and signifies how this is relevant to the present day as millennials feel they are just adhering to the norm, they feel the need to portray a certain persona online.

Furthermore, the negative effects of social media are becoming increasingly clear. For example, the word ‘contrived’ was selected five times to describe the social media platform Instagram. Instagram, has had huge effects on individual’s self-esteem and it is increasing narcissistic traits within society. A teenager on Instagram with over half a million followers made headlines after she announced she was leaving Instagram, describing it as a ‘contrived perfection made to get attention’ (O’Neill, 2015).

21

On the other hand, numerous individuals report using Instagram for its positive features for example food blogging and inspirational quotes. The interviews conducted highlight this as when shown the second set of images (see appendix) respondents reported feelings of ‘happiness’ ‘inspiration’ and ‘positivity.’ Therefore, this implies that Instagram does have positive attributes in a few ways for example; for bloggers, brands and individuals seeking to self-promote themselves.

Instagram & Narcissism

Instagram has increasingly become one of the most popular and influential social media platforms today. The proliferation of bloggers on Instagram and ‘Insta-famous’ individuals highlight the enormous evolution in society because of the influence of social media.

Recent research from the University of Swinburne, concluded that there is a distinction between two types of narcissists on Instagram; ‘grandiose’ and ‘vulnerable.’

(Paramboukis, O. Skues, J. Wise, L., 2016). Grandiose narcissism is described to involve traits such as superiority, callousness and aggression. Whereas vulnerable narcissism involves characteristics such as inadequacy, shyness and emptiness.

‘Vulnerable narcissists’ are likely to engage in activities such as posting images for self-validation, for the purpose of receiving likes to boost self-esteem. The research provides evidence and insight into why individuals post on Instagram. However, the findings concluded that there was only a weak correlation between narcissism and Instagram, which suggests that some of these concerns are somewhat overexaggerated. (Paramboukis, O. Skues, J. Wise, L., 2016) On the other hand, primary research findings highlight that all ten interviewees agreed that Instagram can encourage feelings of ‘FOMO’ (the fear of missing out).

For example, participant number six stated, ‘it causes FOMO by causing you to compare yourself to others.’ (Participant six, 2018, Interview.) Therefore, this correlates with the ‘vulnerable narcissist’ concept, an individual with these characteristics is more likely to experience anxiety and low self-esteem when viewing what others are posting on Instagram. Furthermore, the link between Instagram and self-identity has become extremely relevant in today’s society. The unpredictability of the amount of likes an individual will receive on posts employs emotions of anxiety but also excitement. Adam Alter, New York University professor states;

22

‘When someone likes an Instagram post, or any content that you share, it’s a little bit like taking a drug. As far as your brain is concerned, it’s a very similar experience. Now the reason why is because it’s not guaranteed that you’re going to get likes on your posts. And it’s the unpredictability of that process that makes it so addictive. If you knew that every time you posted something you’d get 100 likes, it would become boring really fast.’ (Alter, A, 2017.)

23

Instagram & Narcissism Alter provides a psychological perspective on the effects of Instagram, suggesting that there is a link between receiving likes and the brain releasing dopamine. ‘Dopamine is the chemical in our brain associated with stimulus and reward, the pleasure centre of our brain.’ (newhopephotography.com, 2017). The concept that ‘likes’ induces the release of a dopamine in the brain illustrates just how influential Instagram can be. Research findings from the Netnography study back up this concept, when discussing photo editing participant one stated, ‘I also edit 3 / 4 of them on Instagram I save them to my drafts and I edit them all so they’re all ready to go then I ask my friends which is the nicest because obviously, I want to get as many likes as possible.’

(Participant one, 2017, Netnography.) This directly highlights the comprehensive thought process that happens before an image is put out there and the way that images are curated to the look the best they can to receive the most likes.

Evidently, the generation of digital natives are both consuming and driving the trend of experiential sharing on social media. Which goes hand in hand with the increasing effects of narcissistic qualities present in millennials.

The two differing types of narcissism distinguish the reasons as to why millennials feel to share everything with their online communities.

24

2.Effects on industries ‘Social shoppers’ (Chahal, M, 2016) coined the term to describe the new generation of online shoppers. These are individuals that visit social media sites as part of their online shopping routine. Social media has become an online catalogue, subliminally incorporating travel, food and fashion advertisements. This chapter will provide an exploration and analysis into the effects that social media, particularly Instagram has had on brands. Furthermore, the implications for brands, the concept of becoming materialistic with experiences and personalisation of products and services shall be discussed. These three key themes will be deliberated in relation to the millennial generation with links to how this is approving narcissism in society.

25

Implications for Brands The shift towards social shopping is forcing brands to adapt, to remain relevant. Palm Vaults restaurant in London is one of countless examples of restaurants remaining up to date and relevant by making their entire restaurant ‘Instagramable’ meaning they photograph well and would be worthy of posting on social media. The trend of the colour ‘millennial pink’ (Pantone 13-1520) is an example of brands adhering to the idea of being ‘Instagramable.’ Millennials want experiences that they can share on social media to boost their online persona. Primary research backs up this point, for example the survey results illustrated that 82% of respondents answered ‘yes’ to the question, ‘have you ever visited a location because you had previously seen it on Instagram?’ (see appendix). Instagram has become the new tool for remaining relevant in the digital age.

This is highly applicable to the research question as it signifies how brands are encouraging narcissistic qualities in millennials and making this a social norm. They know what they want and they are driving this trend. For example, brands like Urban Outfitters and COW have advertisements in their dressing rooms, encouraging shoppers to try on clothing and post images of this on Instagram, tagging the brand. Primary research found that users enjoy sharing this type of content, participant two stated ‘I want to share what I’m wearing with my Instagram audience.’ (Participant two, 2017, Netnography.) Although, this chiefly benefits brands as they are utilising the consumer as a marketing tool.

26

Overall, are business changing themselves to become more ‘Instagramable?’ Research and findings would suggest that they are indeed. Brands are keeping up with the consumer desire for visually aesthetic experiences and unique interiors. The ‘unicorn café’ in Bangkok is a prime example of this emerging trend on a global scale. The unicorn café is described as ‘an explosion of pastel colours and all things sickly sweet.’ (Bowman, L, 2016). Everything in the café from the décor to the food incorporates the unicorn theme. Visitors are also able to put on a unicorn onesie and pose for pictures. This demonstrates how experiential dining has become popular on a global scale, there is a growing consumer for desire more than just a standard dining experience they desire unique, visually aesthetic experiences. Which is increasingly encouraging the narcissism epidemic. People are becoming more superficial with not just materialistic goods, but experiences. Because if they are not aesthetic they cannot share them and boost their own social status.

27

Materialistic with experiences

Furthermore, with the increasing value placed on experiential purchases over material ones, this probes the question; are millennials becoming materialistic with experiences?

Primary research and findings suggest that this is in fact the case, 87% of the survey respondents declared that they would be more inclined to spend their money on an experience over a material possession (see appendix). A disproportionately greater amount chose the experience option, this is suggestive of the fact that millennials are becoming materialistic with experiences because they want to engage in experiences that they can share with their social media following. ‘Our experiences become not about our own fulfilment, the fulfilment of those we are with, or even about sharing; they become about ego, demonstrating status, seeming cool or smart.’ (Silverman, J, 2015). This highlights the extent to which narcissism and experientialism link, to the point that individuals are going on holiday and travelling, solely for the purpose of sharing online.

Participant one discusses the relevance of this, ‘I think having these ‘ideal’ holiday pictures that everyone aspires to have I think is something that a lot of people desire. I wanted to look like I was having a great time and create this persona of being cool.’

(Participant one, 2017, Netnography.) This suggests that travel images on Instagram are so extremely curated to the point that the individual in them is just creating a false perception of enjoyment, however their social media following is oblivious to this.

Millennials immerse themselves in experiences and ‘visit’ unique places that are deemed cool to portray a certain persona online. Yet it is evident that they lack individuality because they visit the same places and therefore post strikingly similar content. Sketch London is a prime example of this, the hashtag ‘SketchLondon’ currently brings up almost fourty thousand very similar images of the restaurant. Furthermore, a key issue with millennial’s obsession with online sharing raises the concern that instead of living in the moment they are too absorbed in perfecting the best photograph, that they are missing out on the experience. Interviews, for example highlighted a key issue; out of selection of words (see appendix), millennials repeatedly chose words to describe Instagram that completely contradicted each other. For example, ‘Cool and contrived’ (participant three, 2017, interview.) ‘Amusing’ but ‘repetitive’ (participant five, 2017, interview). The word contrived was selected a total of five times, which clearly highlights that millennials are aware that the content on Instagram is often completely curated. However, this generation still beholds the desire to portray themselves in the same way that other popular users of Instagram do.

Evidently, the concept of becoming materialistic with experiences is suggestive of the negative impacts of the increasingly narcissistic qualities among millennials. Primary research has proven a key indicator of this, although results are

28

Personalisation ‘Personalise it: a top consumer trend for 2017’ (Euromonitor, 2017.) As millennials transitioning towards post-materialistic values ‘a shift from values that place priority on material needs to one that focus on belonging, self-expression and quality of life.’ (WGSN, 2012). They value experience those that provide them with self-affirmation in the online world. Certain industries have adapted to the concept of providing increasingly personalised experiences to appeal to the millennial generations. This is something some hotels are currently doing ‘hotels are responding by adding more technological amenities like complementary high-speed Internet and iPads in every room.’ (WGSN, 2012). The desire for technological ammonites for example highspeed internet, signifies the importance of being connected to the online world and experience sharing has on the millennial generation. The reliance millennials have on technology is apparent from primary research, the majority (57%) answered that they spend on average two to four hours on social media each day.

Starbucks is a leading example of personalisation being successful. With writing of names on cups, ‘From now on, we won’t refer to you as a ‘latte’ or a ‘mocha’, but instead as your folks intended: by your name.’ (Starbucks, 2012). Starbucks latched onto the idea of how personalisation is a key marketing strategy. However, in relation to the research question it portrays how personalising the cups became a social media phenomenon, among the millennial generation. They are more than likely to take a picture of their cup and post online, due to the personalised touch. This makes it about them, ‘generation me.’

This furthers the question, is only reason millennials are being increasingly narcissistic is because they are lonely as were constantly on their phones seeking attention on social media? Seeking approval from others as this generation is increasingly insecure due to socia media.

29

1) Travel as a platform for accumulating photos:

KEY INSIGHTS

One of the key findings from primary research signified the value that millennials place on having opportunities to travel. Netnography proved to be one of the most effective methods of understanding this, as this provided a rich source of information into what this generation is sharing and why. The key insights derived from this include; they share because they want everyone to know they are on holiday, especially when travelling to unique and exclusive destinations. Participant one exemplified this by saying ‘I wanted everyone to know I was on holiday in the Dominican Republic as it’s a cool, different place to go to.’ (Participant one, 2017, interview). Evidently travelling to exotic places provides excellent photo taking opportunities. In relation to the research question, this directly affiliates with narcissism. As research and findings suggest millennials are travelling for the photo taking opportunities, not solely for the enjoyment of travelling abroad. The Netnography also illustrated that users post much more frequently when they are on holiday, for example it was noted that both participant one and two posted images to Instagram everyday whilst on holiday. This information is detrimental to the travel industry as they are constantly evolving to suit the needs of millennials and their social media reliance.

2) Narcissism aids purchasing Furthermore, another key insight that derived from research and findings is the fact that narcissism aids purchasing. Consumers purchase for the sake of sharing with online followers to create a cool persona and every virtual like they receive equals a status boost.

Therefore, this is something brands are acknowledging as they have significantly adapted to become social media friendly. They must portray a cool, visually pleasing aesthetic if millennials are to engage with them. The concept that narcissism aids purchasing links directly to the desire for increasingly personalised experiences. This is currently highly relevant within the travel industry. For example, an online article states; ‘they want the ability to unpack and personalise their package holiday through new and innovative services.’ (Buckley, J, 2018). Therefore, consumers desire an experience that is personalised to them as this encourages them to feel good and provides them with a status boost.

30

WHAT IS NEXT? RECCOMENDATIONS

31

Disconnected escapism One of the key insights pulled out from the research is the concept of ‘disconnected escapism.’ Research revealed that there has been an increase in sales within the travel industry and millennials place more value on experiential purchases over material ones. Van Boven states ‘experiences bring more joy than material goods because they are more meaningful part of one’s identity and contribute more to successful social relationships.’ (Van Boven, 2003). Evidently, suggesting that experiences make individuals happy because they can enhance relationships. Primary research indicated that millennials do seek enjoyment from engaging in experiences, for example the survey highlighted that holidays, travelling and attending concerts or festivals were ranked as the highest value experiences. However, the constant obsession with visually documenting experiences to post online, trying to get the perfect ‘selfie’ is detracting from the enjoyment of experiences. Furthermore, this underlines the debate of how this is a contradiction of the very point of going on holiday. The purpose of a holiday is relaxation and enjoyment. Therefore, a possible idea for stage two could be to offer a sense of disconnected escapism, time away from smartphones and social media. This could be in the form of a holiday resort or simply a dining experience that gets people to put away their phones for a certain period of time and actually enjoy the company they or with or the experience that they are engaging in. This would also be beneficial to the brand as it would enable them to elicit an emotional connection with consumers.

Social experiences Another key recommendation for stage two would be to offer millennials tailored social experiences. This would consist of highly visual aesthetic experiences that are curated for the purpose of sharing online. As primary research demonstrates that only 4% answered unlikely and 0% highly unlikely to the question ‘how likely are you to visually document an experience you have had on social media.’ This recommendation is highly adaptable to numerous different industry sectors, for example, this could be tailored to retail, food and drink or travel.

32

TO CONCLUDE

33

To conclude, the report has outlined that social media is encouraging the implementation of narcissistic qualities among the millennial generation, however this is focused on heavy social media users and cannot be generalised for all millennials. Research and findings point towards the direction of numerous key findings, for example; experiential purchases are valuable to millennials, even though they may not have an ample financial status they will strive to travel as much as possible. In relation to businesses, it is evident that many brands are taking leaps and measures to appeal to millennials and what they desire; which is Instagramable content.

Furthermore, the report has answered the four key research objectives that were initially proposed. For example, primary research revealed that millennials are predominantly utilising platforms such as Instagram to share content from holidays and experiences. This factor is the key reason behind the narcissism epidemic in society today. Research provided key insights into the motives behind why millennials constantly post on social media, which revealed that they post because they are seeking affirmation and a confidence boost from other users. Evidently millennials are utilising social media as a platform for seeking a status, which links back to the characteristics of ‘vulnerable narcissism’ where users are posting images for validation from others. Clearly, there is a mixture of the two different types of narcissists that were discussed in chapter one, on social media today. Which is the reason behind the differing motives of social media users.

Overall, social media has had enormous effects on millennials today. This is highly likely to continue in the future as society becomes increasingly over saturated with online content and more digitally connected as technology advances further.

34

35

List of References Books Alter, A. (2017). Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. 1st ed. New York: Penguin Press.

Bouwam, M and Franzen, G. (2001). The Mental World of Brands: Mind, Memory and Brand Success. 1st ed. US: NTC. Gilmore, J. Pine, J. 1999. The Experience Economy: Work is theatre and every business is a stage. 1st ed. United States: Harvard Business School.

Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. 1st ed. US: Anchor Books.

Kozinets, R. (2013). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. 1st ed. Los Angeles: SAGE. Kahneman, D. (2015). Thinking, fast and slow. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Twenge, J. and Campbell, W. (2014). The Narcissism Epidemic. 1st ed. New York: Atria Books.

Spaas, L. and Selous, T. (2002). Echoes of Narcissus. 2nd ed. New York: Berghahn, pp.1-2.

Journals Andreassen, C. S., Griffiths, M. D., Gjertsen, S. R., Krossbakken, E., Kvam, S., & Pallesen, S. (2013). The relationship between behavioural addictions and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Behavioural Addictions, pp. 22, 90–99.

Arundale, R. 2009. Face as emergent in interpersonal communication: an alternative to Goffman. In: Bargiela-Chiappini, F., Haugh, M. (Eds.), Face, Communication and Social Interaction. Equinox, London, pp. 33–54.

Black, I. (2006). The Presentation of Interpretivist Research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, [online] 9(4), pp.319-324. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/13522750610689069 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Choi, T., Lee, E., Lee, J., Moon, J., Sung, Y. (2016). The role of narcissism in self-promotion on Instagram. Personality and Individual Differences, [online] 101, pp.22-25. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0191886916304032/1-s2.0-S0191886916304032-main.pdf?_tid=1de5b096-fea5-11e7-ac1b-00000aab0f02&acdnat=1516537258_4436630d71bddde08bf19b7a8a6b1820 [Accessed 1 Dec 2017].

Easterlin, R. (1973). Does Money Buy Happiness. The Public Interest, [online] 30. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1298112841?accountid=14693 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Howell, R. and Hill, G. (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison. The Journal of Positive Psychology, [online] 4(6), pp.511-522. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903270993 [Accessed 2 Jan 2018].

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410 – 422.

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 280 –287.

Kietzmann, J., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. and Silvestre, B. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, [online] 54(3), pp.241-251. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0007681311000061/1-s2.0-S0007681311000061-main.pdf?_tid=2a902ebc-fd64-11e7-9437 00000aab0f27&acdnat=1516399411_427372a3f1a8efd93e6bc67a69c1adf2 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, [online] 50(4), pp.370-396. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34195256/A_Theory_of_Human_Motivation_-_Abraham_H_Maslow_-_Psychological_Review_Vol_50_No_4_July_1943.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1516401804&Signature=tkffTpL7We7tNIG5isglBTEFriY%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DA_THEORY_OF_HUMAN_ MOTIVATION.pdf. [Accessed 6 Jan].

Miller, H. (1995). The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet. [eBook] London. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/089b/89cbb0af6d6d02122b0dfccd7a124a181b02.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Paramboukis, O., Skues, J. and Wise, L. (2016). An Exploratory Study of the Relationships between Narcissism, Self-Esteem and Instagram Use. Social Networking, [online] 05(02), pp.82-92. Available at: https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/1623f785-7c23-48b9-97fc-95bd5f12d367/1/2016_paramboukis_an%20exploratory%20study%20of.pdf [Accessed 4 Dec 2017].

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, [online] 9(5), pp.1-6. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/10748120110424816 [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

McCullough, M and Polak, E. (2006). Is Gratitude an Alternative to Materialism? Springer. Available at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10902-005-3649-5.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Van Boven, L. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Review of General Psychology, [online] 9(2), pp.132-142. Available at: https://search.proquest. com/docview/614456401/fulltextPDF/273B3324FA2A4786PQ/1?accountid=14693 [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Websites Bowman, L. (2016). Overgrown children, unite! There’s a unicorn café in Bangkok and it’s pretty damn magical. Metro. [online] Available at: http://metro.co.uk/2016/09/28/overgrown-children-unite-theres-a-unicorn-cafe-in-bangkok-and-its-pretty-damn-magical-6158278/ [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Buckley, J. (2018). Travel trends to watch in 2018: From millennial package holidays to responsible travel. The Independent. [online] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/ travel/news-and-advice/travel-trends-2018-where-to-go-millennials-package-holidays-responsible-tourism-kuellap-turkey-a8147736.html#r3z-addoor [Accessed 12 Jan 2018].

Chahal, M. (2016). Social commerce: How willing are consumers to buy through social media? Marketing Week. [online] Marketing Week. Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/2016/03/23/social-commerce-how-willing-are-consumers-to-buy-through-social-media/ [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Emarketer.com. (2016). Instagram Continues Double-Digit Growth. [online] Emarketer. Available at: https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Instagram-Continues-Double-Digit-Growth/1013612 [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

36

37

ESRC. (2018). The Easterlin Paradox. [online] Available at: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-us/50-years-of-esrc/50-achievements/the-easterlin-paradox/ [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Euromonitor International Blog. (2018). Personalise It: A Top Consumer Trend for 2017. [online] Available at: https://blog.euromonitor.com/2017/09/personalise-top-consumer-trend-2017.html [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Gajanan, M. (2015). Young women on Instagram and self-esteem: ‘I absolutely feel insecure’. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/ nov/04/instagram-young-women-self-esteem-essena-oneill [Accessed 28 Dec 2017].

Hargreave, S. (2018). Millennials Only Want Experiences That Can Be Shared on Social Media. [online] Huffington Post UK. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ sam-lewishargreave/millennials-only-want-exp_b_11429578.html [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Karr, D. (2015). What is Netnography? [online] MarTech. Available at: https://martech.zone/what-is-netnography/ [Accessed 6 Dec 2018].

New Hope Photography, Dopamine: Social Media and the Addiction of Likes. (2017). [Blog] New hope photography. Available at: https://www.newhopephotography.com/ blog/2017/6/9/dopamine-social-media-and-the-addiction-of-likes [Accessed 6 Jan. 2018].

New Hope Photography, Dopamine: Social Media and the Addiction of Likes. (2017). [Blog] New hope photography. Available at: https://www.newhopephotography.com/ blog/2017/6/9/dopamine-social-media-and-the-addiction-of-likes [Accessed 6 Jan. 2018].

Rutledge, P. (2018). Social Networks: What Maslow Misses. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201111/social-networks-what-maslow-misses-0 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Silverman, J. (2015). ‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/26/ pics-or-it-didnt-happen-mantra-instagram-era-facebook-twitter?CMP=fb_gu [Accessed 30 Nov 2017].

Vazquez, L. (2016). Study Identifies 2 Kinds of Instagram Narcissists: Grandiose and Vulnerable. [online] Big Think. Available at: http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/what-caninstagram-tell-us-about-narcissists-heres-the-data [Accessed 6 Dec 2017].

List of Illustrations 1) Mozara, V. (2018). Pink flamingo. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/m82uh_vamhg [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

2) Aaron, C. (2017). Pink sea. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/IeTmKYls1vM [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

3) Lum3n (2017). Millennial pink. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/-RBuQ2PK_L8 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

4) Kolde, B. (2017). Smartphone. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/xdLXPic3Wfk [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

5) Leung, J. (2017). Alaphabet. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/ncLdDcvrcfw [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

6) Roydev, D. (2017). Standing on the edge. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/OoW0YOzfJOs [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

7) Neonbrand (2017). Info. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/nZJBt4gQlKI [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

8) Rouse, A. (2016). Wake me up when I’m famous. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/M7mu6jXlcns [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

9) Heftiba, T. (2017). The Instagram Book. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/mMSNRZvaiCU/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

10) Zaleski, D. (2014). Typing on a keyboard. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/RYyr-k3Ysqg [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

11) Ewxy. (2017). Pink. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/qjCHPZbeXCQ/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

12) Dooley, I. (2017). Self Portrait. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/6hXjibNzCig [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

13) Zack, B. (2017). Self Reflection. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/rfe-TYmj0QM/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

14) Jang, A. (2017). We Like you too. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/8pOTAtyd_Mc/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

15) Lune, I. (2017). Ocean photos on a wall. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/PhciG8fpRKw/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

16) Highsnobiety (2017). Social media has created a generation of narcissists. [image] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB781GB781&biw=1680&bih=895&ei=2XtmWu7uCIXSwQLv7YugBw&q=highsnobiety+narcissism&oq=highsnobiety+narcissism&gs_l=psy-ab.3...4384.11852.0.12282.20.18.0.2.2.0.

75.1067.18.18.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.18.954...0j0i67k1j0i131k1j0i131i67k1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j33i160k1.0.HctMpukZ1Vk [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

38

39

17) Preez, P. (2017). Scrabble letter spelling. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/qensZDlj_MA/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

18) Ishan. Lost in the Turquoise. (2017). [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/aEtl64kP8mk [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

19) Emmainks (2017). Palm Vaults. [image] Available at: http://www.emmainks.com/2017/05/31/palm-vaults-an-independent-cafe-that-feels-like-a-holiday-in-hack ney [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

20) Time Out (2014). Sketch London. [image] Available at: https://www.timeout.com/london/art/sketch-gallery [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

21) Compass Modern (2018). Millennial Pink. [image] Available at: https://compassmodern.com/blog/2017/7/2/millennial-pink-is-here-to-stay/ [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

ma

22) Hubell, D. (2018). Unicorn Cafe. [image] Available at: https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/gvkbxw/i-went-to-bangkoks-unicorn-cafe-and-it-was-not-the-mostmagical-place-on-earth [Accessed 6 Jan. 2018].

23) Thought Cataloge (2018). Book about Instagram and media on marble. [image] Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/jWQj5Wjepuk/info [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Bibliography Alter, A. (2017). Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. 1st ed. New York: Penguin Press.

Bouwam, M and Franzen, G. (2001). The Mental World of Brands: Mind, Memory and Brand Success. 1st ed. US: NTC. Andreassen, C. S., Griffiths, M. D., Gjertsen, S. R., Krossbakken, E., Kvam, S., & Pallesen, S. (2013). The relationship between behavioural addictions and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Behavioural Addictions, pp. 22, 90–99.

Arundale, R. 2009. Face as emergent in interpersonal communication: an alternative to Goffman. In: Bargiela-Chiappini, F., Haugh, M. (Eds.), Face, Communication and Social Interaction. Equinox, London, pp. 33–54.

Beckman, S. Langer, R. (2005). Sensitive research topics: Netnography Revisited. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, [online] 8(2), pp.189-203. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/13522750510592454 [Accessed 12 Dec 2017].

Black, I. (2006). The Presentation of Interpretivist Research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, [online] 9(4), pp.319-324. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/13522750610689069 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Choi, T., Lee, E., Lee, J., Moon, J., Sung, Y. (2016). The role of narcissism in self-promotion on Instagram. Personality and Individual Differences, [online] 101, pp.22-25. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0191886916304032/1-s2.0-S0191886916304032-main.pdf?_tid=1de5b096-fea5-11e7-ac1b-00000aab0f02&acdnat=1516537258_4436630d71bddde08bf19b7a8a6b1820 [Accessed 1 Dec 2017].

Choobineh, J and Kini, A. (1998). Trust in electronic commerce: definition and theoretical considerations. System Sciences, [online] 4, pp.51-61. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9db5/5d845b43a09ac26868f23df851c19bea95e0.pdf [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].

Easterlin, R. (1973). Does Money Buy Happiness. The Public Interest, [online] 30. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1298112841?accountid=14693 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Churchward, A., Krause, K., Kennedy, G., Gray, K., Judd, T. (2008). First year students’ experiences with technology: Are they really digital natives? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, [online] 24(1), pp.108-122. Available at: http://file:///C:/Users/Jazmin/Downloads/1233-3831-1-SM.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Gilmore, J. Pine, J. 1999. The Experience Economy: Work is theatre and every business is a stage. 1st ed. United States: Harvard Business School.

Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. 1st ed. US: Anchor Books.

Howell, R. and Hill, G. (2009). The mediators of experiential purchases: Determining the impact of psychological needs satisfaction and social comparison. The Journal of Positive Psychology, [online] 4(6), pp.511-522. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903270993 [Accessed 2 Jan 2018].

Kozinets, R. (2013). Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. 1st ed. Los Angeles: SAGE. Kahneman, D. (2015). Thinking, fast and slow. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410 – 422.

40

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. (1996). Further examining the American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 280 –287.

Kietzmann, J., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. and Silvestre, B. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business Horizons, [online] 54(3), pp.241-251. Available at: https://ac.els-cdn.com/S0007681311000061/1-s2.0-S0007681311000061-main.pdf?_tid=2a902ebc-fd64-11e7-9437 00000aab0f27&acdnat=1516399411_427372a3f1a8efd93e6bc67a69c1adf2 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, [online] 50(4), pp.370-396. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/34195256/A_Theory_of_Human_Motivation_-_Abraham_H_Maslow_-_Psychological_Review_Vol_50_No_4_July_1943.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1516401804&Signature=tkffTpL7We7tNIG5isglBTEFriY%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DA_THEORY_OF_HUMAN_ MOTIVATION.pdf. [Accessed 6 Jan].

Miller, H. (1995). The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet. [eBook] London. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/089b/89cbb0af6d6d02122b0dfccd7a124a181b02.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Paramboukis, O., Skues, J. and Wise, L. (2016). An Exploratory Study of the Relationships between Narcissism, Self-Esteem and Instagram Use. Social Networking, [online] 05(02), pp.82-92. Available at: https://researchbank.swinburne.edu.au/file/1623f785-7c23-48b9-97fc-95bd5f12d367/1/2016_paramboukis_an%20exploratory%20study%20of.pdf [Accessed 4 Dec 2017].

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, [online] 9(5), pp.1-6. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/10748120110424816 [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

McCullough, M and Polak, E. (2006). Is Gratitude an Alternative to Materialism? Springer. Available at: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10902-005-3649-5.pdf [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Rutledge, P. (2018). Social Networks: What Maslow Misses. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201111/social-networks-what-maslow-misses-0 [Accessed 6 Jan 2018].

Silverman, J. (2015). ‘Pics or it didn’t happen’ – the mantra of the Instagram era. The Guardian. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/26/ pics-or-it-didnt-happen-mantra-instagram-era-facebook-twitter?CMP=fb_gu [Accessed 30 Nov 2017].

Spaas, L. and Selous, T. (2002). Echoes of Narcissus. 2nd ed. New York: Berghahn, pp.1-2.

Twenge, J. and Campbell, W. (2014). The Narcissism Epidemic. 1st ed. New York: Atria Books.

Van Boven, L. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Review of General Psychology, [online] 9(2), pp.132-142. Available at: https://search.proquest. com/docview/614456401/fulltextPDF/273B3324FA2A4786PQ/1?accountid=14693 [Accessed 1 Jan 2018].

Vazquez, L. (2016). Study Identifies 2 Kinds of Instagram Narcissists: Grandiose and Vulnerable. [online] Big Think. Available at: http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/what-caninstagram-tell-us-about-narcissists-heres-the-data [Accessed 6 Dec 2017].

41

Appendix

Appendix 1

Appendix 2 Interview 1: Navlyn Chima, 27.

Interviewer: Scenario: Your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

- Clothes / shoes - Concert tickets - Jewellery - Tickets to a music festival - Weekend abroad - Spa weekend Please could you explain the reasons for your chosen option…

Respondent 1: I would have to say the weekend abroad, a weekend abroad would be more exciting and provide new experiences such as the opportunity to visit a new city or country. Most of the alternative options such as clothes/shoes are something I would usually purchase for myself and would therefore not be something I would ask for on a special occasion.

Interviewer: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

Respondent: Yes. I would most likely use Facebook and Instagram to reach as many friends as possible.

Interviewer: Which of the following words would you use to describe the social media platform ‘Instagram’? (select as many as you like) -Fun -Positive -Fake -Boring -Exciting -Repetitive -Contrived -Cool -Amusing -Egotistic Respondent: Fun, fake, cool.

Interviewer: Why do you use Instagram?

Respondent: I mainly use it to share images with friends and look for travel/fashion inspiration.

How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

Just after I have posted I feel happy and content.

What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

Self-centred, overly concerned with physical appearance and material possessions.

Appendix 2

Interviewer: ) Here is a selection of images taken from the Instagram ‘explore’ page. Please select one image which you would associate with the term ‘narcissistic.’ (Labelled 1-6, from top left to bottom right.)

Respondent: I would have to say the top middle one, the one of the girls face.

Interviwer: ) Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

Respondent: Yes, as people constantly upload images of themselves having a ‘good time’ creating a false perception to others that this is their life all of the time! This is inaccurate and makes others viewing these images feel as though they are missing out and should also be doing these things.

Interviewer: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

Respondent: AW! I would feel happy as I really like animals therefore love seeing people share pictures of their pets...especially dogs! Also, these are all images that really signify happiness and positivity, especially the Dalai lama quote and the graduation photograph.

Interviewer: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

Respondent: A few of these images are ones that I tend to find particularly annoying when I’m scrolling through Instagram. For example, the image of Kim Kardashian promoting a product that she most likely doesn’t use and it probably doesn’t work. I think in comparison to the first set of images, some of these are pictures that have slightly negative connotations.

Appendix

Interview 2: Ellie Campbell, 22 Student (R:Respondent) (I:Interviewer) I: So this a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

- Clothes / shoes - Concert tickets - Jewellery - Tickets to a music festival - Weekend abroad - Spa weekend R: I would say weekend abroad because I think having the experience of going abroad and being somewhere new would be exciting. I love travelling and exploring new cultures and I try to travel as much as possible. The other options such as jewellery and clothes didn’t appeal to me as much, if there was an item I wanted I would usually save up and purchase that for myself or use my student loan or something. I think the experience of doing something and making fun memories is much more exciting.

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: Yes, I would probably share images of my holiday on social media. I would most likely use snapchat to show where I am and what I’m doing with friends and Instagram.

I: Okay, so here is a list of words, out of these which would you use to describe the platform Instagram, chose as many as you want.

R: Cool, repetitive, contrived.

I Why do you use Instagram?

R: I mainly use Instagram to connect with friends, share images of myself and things that I’m doing. I also follow a few celebrities and bloggers on there as I like seeing what they post and I also get a lot of fashion inspiration from Instagram. Most of the time I’m just using Instagram when I’m bored, like most other social media platforms it’s something to scroll through and get a bit of entertainment from when I’m bored. Embarrassingly, I use it to stalk a bit as well, like bloggers I just like seeing their pictures and the explore page just makes me end up on random profiles and before I know it I’m like 56 weeks deep in someone’s pictures. As I’m at university I think I’ve used Instagram a lot to connect with people from the Uni, my course and halls. At Uni, you meet so many people and make friends with people you’ve known for like two minutes, so Instagram kind of gives you a platform to find people and have a browse through their profile to get an idea of who they are, their personality and like what things they like doing etc. I think you can actually find out a lot of information on someone just through their Instagram page.

I: How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

Happy, I enjoy sharing things on Instagram. Sometimes I feel a anxious after posting something like a selfie if time has passed and it hasn’t received many likes. Occasionally I go through my page and delete pictures I don’t like anymore. But it makes me feel good when friends and family post nice comments on my pictures.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

R: Narcissistic is a quality of somebody who is self-centred and only concerned about themselves and their feelings.

I: Here is a selection of images taken from the Instagram ‘explore’ page. Please select one image which you would associate with the term ‘narcissistic.’

R: Number two.

Appendix I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Yes, it definitely does. I find a lot of the time Instagram is filled with travel pictures which makes you feel like you want to be out travelling more. I think a lot of what is on Instagram is quite fake in a way, everything is put together to look ‘perfect’ when that’s not the reality. Everyone on there seems to be having a good time which may encourage the feeling of ‘fomo’ as you feel like you are missing out on having a good time, if you’re not doing anything at that moment.

I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

R: would feel happy I think they’re all positive pictures and some of them are promoting positive messages, for example the girl graduating.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

R: Yes, I probably would be bored scrolling through Instagram looking at these images, they are the kind of repetitive things I often see on there. I don’t find these images as inspirational as the first set. But some of them do give me the desire to work harder so I can have/experience those things like the nice car, holidays and designer things.

Interview 3: Manveer Maan, 32 I: Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

- Clothes / shoes - Concert tickets - Jewellery - Tickets to a music festival - Weekend abroad - Spa weekend

R: Spa weekend.

I chose this because it would give me the opportunity to have a nice, relaxing weekend to myself and a little break from my two young kids. I did find it difficult to choose between this option and the weekend abroad, but I think a weekend abroad would take a lot of planning and preparation and I would prefer to go for a longer period of time.

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: I’m not sure if I would share images on social media, but if I did I would most likely use Facebook and Snapchat, to share with friends and family.

Appendix

I:so here is a list of words, out of these which would you use to describe the platform Instagram, chose as many as you want...

R: Fun, cool, repetitive.

I: Why do you use Instagram?

R: I use Instagram to share images with friends and family and to see what they are doing. My Instagram page is mostly images of me and my children and holiday pictures.

I: How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

R: I feel happy and excited to share with my followers.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

R: The word narcissistic means self-absorbed, self-centred and obsessed with appearances.

I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

Yes, it does in a way, but it’s unlikely for somebody to post a bad photo on Instagram which is why this platform promotes the idea of ‘perfection’ and that everyone is always having fun. Therefore, this causes the feeling that you are missing out if your just at home or something, scrolling through Instagram and you see people on holiday/out etc. appearing to be having a great time.

I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

I would feel relatively positive, for example I enjoy using Instagram to look at food images and find new places to go out to eat and find cool new recipes. The images include people smiling which obviously connotes happiness and that makes me feel good.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

I think these images convey a slightly different message for example they portray another purpose of Instagram which is advertising and self-advertising. A lot of bloggers have become successful because of Instagram, so I think that portrays a positive aspect of the platform.

These images don’t provide you with the same happy, heart-warming feeling as the first set. The image of Kim Kardashian is quite annoying as Instagram is often overly saturated with the Kardashians and posts like that image, of ‘celebrities’ endorsing products (that probably don’t work).

Interview 3: Dan Bradley, 22. Student.

I: So this a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

- Clothes / shoes - Concert tickets - Jewellery - Tickets to a music festival - Weekend abroad - Spa weekend

Appendix R: Shoes - I chose this out of the selection of options because there is a pair of trainers that I really want and they are quite expensive so I would be likely to ask for these for my birthday.

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: I probably wouldn’t share this on social media, if I did though I would most likely put this on Snapchat to share with friends.

I: Here is a list of words, out of these which would you use to describe the platform Instagram, chose as many as you want...

R: Repetitive, amusing I: Why do you use Instagram?

R: I use Instagram to look at fashion pictures like clothes and trainers I mostly follow accounts that post this kind of content as I like to get inspiration from them. I also follow fitness pages as they sometimes give me fitness motivation and meal preparation ideas. I don’t share images that much on Instagram, I use it just to scroll through every now and then when I’m bored. My page mostly consists of images of me with family and friends and pictures from holidays and concerts.

I: How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

R: I don’t really post much, I suppose when I do I feel alright (haha) I don’t know happy probably.Just doesn’t really bother me that much.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

R: I think narcissistic is a personality trait of someone who is self-centred and probably obsessed with themselves.

I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Yes definitely, most things on Instagram are put together to make it seem like everyone is having a fun as obviously, people want to be portrayed in the best light on social media. So, this can make you feel like you’re missing out on things.

I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

R: Happy, I like looking at food images on Instagram they give me inspiration on places to eat and new types of food to try out.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

R: In a way, these images kind of motivate me to work hard, they show wealthy people/’celebrities’ which makes me want to work hard so I can have nice things for example like the car in one of the images and expensive trainers and clothes. I think Instagram kind of sells you a lifestyle that you aspire to have, especially with all these bloggers and like ‘insta famous’ people.

Appendix Interview 4: Micheal Constant, 23,Student.

I: So this a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

- Clothes / shoes - Concert tickets - Jewellery - Tickets to a music festival - Weekend abroad - Spa weekend R: Weekend abroad I chose this over the other options because this would be the most fun. I think the having the experience of going to a new country out weights most of the other options. I think travelling and having experiences is more enjoyable and rewarding than having loads of clothes/shoes etc.

I:Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

Yes, I would probably share images and videos of my holiday on snapchat, just so everyone can see what I’m up too.

I: Why do you use Instagram?

R: I use it to share pictures with family and friends, nothing exciting.. I like to see what my friends are doing. I follow a lot of my favourite rappers and singers on there as well. I use Instagram for fashion purposes as well I like seeing clothes/trainers on there and the tattoo pages provide me with inspiration on tattoo ideas that I would like to get next.

I: How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

R: I don’t really feel anything after posting…. I sometimes keep track of how many likes I have received though.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

R: Someone who is really bothered about their appearance and how they come across I’d say.

I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Yes definitely, for example if you’re bored at home doing nothing and you see people posting images of them out and having fun on Instagram it can make you feel like you are missing out and not having fun/enjoying yourself.

I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

R: These images make me feel happy, it’s nice to see genuine things on social media. I like seeing inspirational quotes on my feed, it’s refreshing and puts me in a positive mind set.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images? would say these images don’t make me feel as positive as the first set of images, I find them quite artificial and repetitive. I think they signify how Instagram can be a platform for people to show off and show everyone what they have, to make themselves feel good.

Appendix

Interview 5: Alexandra Philips, 21, Student.

I: So this a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

R: Tickets to a music festival All the options were really appealing and it was actually a bit of a struggle to choose. But I think the tickets to a music festival would be the most exciting for me. I went to Park life festival last year for the first time and it was so amazing even if I was covered in mud and freezing cold most of the time (laughs).

I had the best time with my friends and I would really love to relive that experience all over again. Being at concerts is one of my favourite things the atmosphere is just great, it’s kind of like an escapism for a few hours and so I’d love to go again!

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: Yeah definitely! It’s pretty certain that I’d be snap chatting the whole time, I want my friends on there to see where I am and what I’m doing and how much of a great time I’m having. Festival clothing is also the coolest, you see people there in the craziest outfits. I love all the glitter and sparkles and everything. I would definitely share a lot of pictures on Instagram too as I would want people to see my outfit and see that I was there.

I: Here is a list of words, out of these which would you use to describe the platform Instagram, chose as many as you want...

R: Fun, cool, amusing, contrived, fake, repetitive I: Why do you use Instagram?

R: To share what I’m doing with friends, share selfies sometimes I just post pictures when I’m bored. I use it to connect with friends as well I like to see what they’re doing. I get fashion inspiration from Instagram too I follow a lot of clothing/beauty brands like PLT, misguided, Topshop etc. I also watch a lot of make-up tutorials especially when I’m bored, there’s so much on there! And they actually give really good tips.

I: How do you feel just after you have uploaded an image on social media?

R: It depends on the image, if it’s something like food or drink or pictures of an object like something I’ve just bought, I don’t really feel that bothered after posting. I post these types of images on there to make my page look fun and cool and balance it out so it’s not just full of selfies (laughs). If I post a picture of me I actually feel quite anxious, as soon as I’ve posted I’ll keep checking it and refreshing the page to see how many likes its getting. If it doesn’t get enough likes I’ll immediately delete it. The thought of people seeing my picture and it not having many likes and them scrolling past it kind of stresses me out.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic’?

R: Narcissistic means that you are vain and care only about yourself and your really into your appearance, I think it describes someone who is kind of self-absorbed as well.

I: I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Yeah definitely. If your sitting at home bored and you see your friends on amazing holidays posting lots of pictures of them looking great, or just people in general out and about having fun. Especially a lot of celebrity pictures as obviously, some live such an extravagant lifestyle. It can really make you feel like you are missing out and not making the most of your life, it can kind of make you feel boring as well. When obviously, everyone wants to show the best version of themselves on Instagram, if you don’t have cool pictures on there it makes you look like you don’t do anything fun. I think it causes FOMO by causing you to compare yourself to others.

Appendix I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

Seeing images like this makes me really happy, I use Instagram a lot to look a dog pictures (laughs) because I really want to get one. The rest of the images make me feel good too.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

R: These are the kind of typical images that Instagram is highly saturated with. I follow some of the people in the images like Kim Kardashian just because I like to keep updated. In comparison to the first images, I don’t particularly enjoy seeing these as much. They kind of make me feel bad, these are the kind of images that cause FOMO and make you feel like you’re missing out because you’re not rich and travelling like some of these ‘Insta famous’ people.

Interview 6: Prav Dhinsa, 30.

I: So this a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

R: Weekend abroad.

Well out of all the options a weekend abroad sounds the most relaxing, it would be nice to get away for a few days. I think this would be my ideal way of spending my birthday, well as long as its somewhere and hot and sunny (laughs). Also, getting away would be nice it would give me a little break from work which I’d really enjoy.

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: Well I wouldn’t say I really use social media a lot. I might share a few pics on Instagram or share what I’m doing and where I am on snapchat, so my friends can see what I’m up to.

I: What words out of the selection here would you use to describe Instagram?

R: Boring, repetitive I: How do you feel after uploading an image on Instagram?

R: ) Erm…. Not really too bothered. I mainly would share travel pictures and the occasional picture with friends. I don’t have that many followers either it’s all just people I know like friends, family and people from work.

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic?’

R: The term narcissistic describes a person who admires themselves a lot, they are overly confident and overly self-absorbed.

I: Which image would you say associates most with the term narcissistic?

R: 2 I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Hmm, I would say it’s something I have personally experienced. I do think a lot of social media platforms like Instagram have the possibility to do this. I definitely agree and see how it’s possible for Instagram to cause people to have these feelings. Obviously, a lot of the time people post on social media for the sake of showing they are having fun, people aren’t going to post the negatives or bad days it’s not what they want their followers to see. So yeah, it definitely can

Appendix I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

R: These kind of pictures reinforce positive emotions I think, like I like to use Instagram to look for holiday destination ideas when I’m bored. So these makes me feel good, they’re quite calming images too. A couple of them have people smiling too so that definitely makes you feel good.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

R: These images do make me feel differently, it’s kind of just people showing off. Like that ‘broke’ hoody is a bit of a contradiction obviously as the people wearing them are obviously not ‘broke’ (laughs) … hmm, it’s not the kind of content I like to see on my feed I prefer to see images of like friends and family and positive things so yeah I definitely prefer the first set of pictures just because they were able to make me feel more positive and happy.

Interview 7: Simon Dhillon, 27.

I: This a hypothetical scenario. Its your birthday is soon and your family have asked you what you would like. They provide you with several options, what do you ask for?

R: Weekend abroad I chose the weekend abroad because it sounds the most appealing, obviously going to a new country and having that experience would be so much more exciting than receiving shoes or clothes. The other options like the material ones are things I would tend to buy for myself anyway and I’m not that excited by these (laughs).

Tickets to a music festival would be cool as well, but I’d definitely pick the holiday. I think doing something/going somewhere is just more fun and you get to make memories with friends, like going on holiday for your birthday is something you’ll always remember, but getting some new shoes or something … you might really want them at the time but give it a few months and something new will come along and you’ll have forgotten.

I: Would you share images of this on social media? (E.g. snapchats, Instagram, Facebook) If yes, which social media platform(s) would you be most likely to use to share your images?

R: Yeah, I use snapchat quite a lot just day to day showing what I’m up to. So, if I was on holiday I would definitely share this on there, obviously, you want people to see what you’re doing especially on your birthday say, you want people to know you’re doing something special and enjoying yourself. I use Facebook and Instagram sometimes as well, so if I captured some good images, of scenery or good pictures with friends then I would probably share on there.

I: What words out of the selection here would you use to describe Instagram?

R: Amusing, repetitive, cool I: Why do you use Instagram?

R: Um, I use Instagram mostly when I’m bored like sometimes when I’m bored at work (laughs) sometimes when I’m in bed and can’t get to sleep as well.

Really, I use it to post things that I’ve done/experienced, like I have a lot of holiday pictures on there. I use it see what my friends are doing as well and see what they’ve posted. But mainly it’s just to scroll through when I’m bored, like sometimes I’ll end up on the explore page looking at the most random things, like meme’s and stuff (laughs).

I: What is your understanding of the term ‘narcissistic?’

R: Narcissistic… that means someone who is overly vain, overly confident and probably a stuck-up person who has a big ego.

Appendix I:How do you feel after posting on Instagram?

R: It’s a bit weird but I do feel a bit anxious or stressed sometimes straight after I’ve put something out there, I might delete posts after a while if I’m not feeling them anymore. Just because what you put on social media goes out to so many people. These days people can screenshot images and all sorts, so you could put something out there for two minutes and delete it but people could already have that image.

I: Which image would you say associates most with the term narcissistic?

R: 2 I: Do you think Instagram causes users to experience ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out)?

R: Yeah definitely, I think the Instagram ‘explore’ page has a really big factor to play in that because there’s a never-ending selection of images posted people by you don’t even know. There’s so many travel pictures as well, so when your scrolling through there when you’re just bored and there’s so many amazing pictures of people in like Thailand and Bali and stuff, it can make you feel quite bad and like your missing out.

There’s a lot of quite young ‘Insta famous’ blogger type people or whatever they’re called. They seem to not have a job and they’re just rich, constantly travelling, wearing designer clothes and everything. So, at my age it can make you feel like you haven’t achieved as much because you’re not constantly bombarding people with pictures of yourself and where you are. It does make you feel like you’re missing out it makes you think, why am I not doing all of these amazing things.

I: How would you feel seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed?

R: Happy, the beach picture makes me imagine myself for a start. I like the Dalai Lama quote, that’s one of the things I do like about Instagram, the positive feel good quotes they can be quite motivating when you feel a bit deflated.

I: Would you feel differently seeing these images whilst scrolling through your Instagram feed in comparison to the first set of images?

R: Well in comparison, obviously not as happy. On my Instagram feed, I’d prefer to see the first the first set of images. These images are just slightly annoying/boring. It’s really just a bunch of people showing off.

Appendix Appendix 3: Netnography Ella, 21 Student (Participant one) Updates: Everyday Followers: 755 Following: 461 12 images: 7 selfies Total posts: 734 1) What made you post these images?

I wanted everyone to know I was on holiday in the Dominican Republic as it’s a cool, different place to go to. Not a lot of people go there because the Caribbean is expensive and, I think venturing out of Europe is cool. I think having these ‘ideal’ holiday pictures that everyone aspires to have I think is something that a lot of people desire. I wanted to look like I was having a great time and create this persona of being cool.

2) Do you use filters or editing apps to enhance photos before you share them with your followers?

Embarrassingly, yes for holidays I use a lot of colour editing apps (visco cam) it adds a vintage effect to your photos, it makes them look like they have been shot on a disposable camera which I think is really cool. I use the traditional Instagram filters too, as they can make you look tanned when you are as white as a sheep. But when I’m not on holiday, if I’m doing a night out photo and my skin is really bad and I have a lot of spots, red eyes, not smooth skin I always edit that out. I always want to look perfect also sometimes I have been known to do something really bad. I sometimes make my nose smaller on face tune, but not often only if it’s really bad. In my opinion I think it’s the norm for people my age to do this, I’m just conforming to the norm. I don’t feel like it’s weird because I’m just conforming. If my friends weren’t doing it then I wouldn’t. I feel pressure to look perfect, for my self-esteem I want to look like them. It’s embarrassing but not that embarrassing when you consider how many people are doing it.

3) How long do you spend ensuring an image is perfect before sharing online?

I usually get quite excited to post, sometimes post it immediately then regret later. I’m quite speedy at using the editing apps, I use them so much I know what I need to do to make it perfect. I spend max ten minutes, if it takes you any longer then you know it’s just an ugly photo and you probably shouldn’t post it lol. I also edit 3 / 4 of them on Instagram I save them to my drafts and I edit them all so they’re all ready to go then I ask my friends which is the nicest because obviously, I want to get as many likes as possible. and to be honest even if they say one is nicer, in the end I just post the one I liked anyway (I know my face best).

4) Do you think that this snippet of your Instagram page provides an accurate representation of your personality?

No. I’d say I have two identities, a virtual and real life identity. I think it’s really hard to present a unified identity online. I think younger people care more about the way they appear online because that impression you put out there goes out to a much wider platform of people than you would see in your day to day life, that why I care so much more. It’s an easy way of conveying your personality but it’s not accurate, definitely for myself… I’m not as cool. It’s hard to portray a multi-faceted personality on social media.

Appendix

Navlyn, 27, Legal advisor (participant 2) Updates: Every few days (But posts more frequently when on holiday) Followers: 124 Following: 176 9 images: 3 selfies Total posts: 104 1) What made you post these images?

Well some of the images are pictures from when I went away to Mallorca, I love travelling and going on holiday and I wanted everyone to see that I was on holiday having a great time. I think the images of the sea are really cool just because the water was so clear and the colours in the photos make my Instagram look super cool. One of my favourite things about going on holiday is planning really cool, fun outfits, so in some of these pictures I’ve got on my new hat and sunglasses and I want to share what I’m wearing with my Instagram audience because I think my outfits looked good. That snapshot of my page also includes a picture of me and my friend in Amsterdam, again I shared this because I wanted to show that I’ve travelled to a lot of places.

2) Do you use filters or editing apps to enhance photos before you share them with your followers?

I don’t use any editing apps. I mainly enhance my photos using the features on the IPhone camera, like removing red eyes and increasing brightness, saturation etc. Then I also use Instagram to filter and edit pics, I really like the Valencia and Aden filters. They add a cool colour contrast to the pictures. Like if I look pale in a picture I’ll edit it to make me look more tanned. I just want my pictures to look the best they can and I think the Instagram filters particularly do a good job at this.

3) How long do you spend ensuring an image is perfect before sharing online?

Probably up to five minutes I would say, anything longer is a bit excessive and if you are that unsure of the photo then it’s probably not that nice and you shouldn’t post it anyway.

4) Do you think that this snippet of your Instagram page provides an accurate representation of your personality?

I think in a sense yes it does. Although obviously some of the pictures are quite posed like the ones of just myself. I think this snippet kind of gives of the impression that I’m always going out or travelling which is the persona that I like to give off on social media but it’s not necessarily entirely true lol! I

Appendix

Wali, 22, Student (participant 3) Updates: Every day Followers: 8,591 Following: 593 9 images: all selfies Total posts: 44 1) What made you post these images?

Well I’ve accumulated a lot of followers over the years as I’m really into fashion, so I feel that I have to post every day to keep up with my followers. I don’t want them to get bored and unfollow me lol. One the pictures includes one of me on a recent trip to New York, obv I wanted to share with everyone that I was there as its really cool place and somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit!

2) Do you use filters or editing apps to enhance photos before you share them with your followers?

No I don’t use editing apps. I use the Instagram filters and stuff though, doesn’t everyone? They can enhance your pictures so much. When I post its going out to a lot of people so I do feel a bit of pressure for everything I put out there to be perfect.

3) How long do you spend ensuring an image is perfect before sharing online?

Lol, well embarrassingly I can spend up to 10/15 minutes making sure an image is absolutely perfect. My Instagram page is kind of like my fashion blog, I get a lot of messages asking about where clothes I’m wearing are from and stuff, so posting something bad could have a really bad effect on me. So what I post has to be absolutely perfect and the images on my page follow a certain theme, they all link together to portray my style so I try hard to keep up the persona of being quite edgy and cool. (not to sound big headed haha) 4) Do you think that this snippet of your Instagram page provides an accurate representation of your personality?

No, I don’t really think it’s possible to showcase your personality on Instagram if I’m honest. People see my pictures and where I am/what I’m doing etc. but this doesn’t mean that they know me. For example, I wear a lot of designer clothes and show this on my page as I’m really into luxury fashion, I think its cool. But people might assume I’m big headed or whatever because of this when that’s not the case at all. I don’t think its possible for anyone to show an accurate representation of their personality on Instagram, because a lot of the content is quite staged. It takes me like 20 shots before I pick the right photo to post sometimes lol.

Appendix

Alexandra Philips, 22, Student (participant 4) Updates: Once a week Followers: 950 Following: 230 9 images: 4 of self Total posts: 134 1) What made you post these images?

I share pictures of myself and me with friends on Instagram because it makes me feel good. Most of my pictures here, are ones of my from nights out (lol).

I feel like when you go on a night out you get dressed up and do your make-up and just feel your best, then getting an unreal selfie from that night just adds to it, it makes my night lol. I want everyone to see that I’m going out and I’m at uni having a great time. One of those pics is me on my birthday, I posted that as a throwback recently, just because I thought it was such an unreal photo of me, I actually made my mum get me balloons as well on purpose just so that I could get that one amazing pic with them haha.

2) Do you use filters or editing apps to enhance photos before you share them with your followers?

Yeah its got to be done. I have used face tune in the past and I know a few friends that do this. I actually sometimes make my waist look a little bit smaller if it’s a lengthie of me. But other than that I just use the general Instagram filters and enhance things like brightness/saturation/colour etc depending on the photo.

3) How long do you spend ensuring an image is perfect before sharing online?

Hm, roughly up 3-4 minutes, definitely no longer than five. Sometimes though I’ll upload something then hate it after. Or sometimes I edit pics and keep them in my library when I just can’t decide if I like it then I might post it one day if I’m bored or something. Obviously you want to look your best I think it can be hard to decide what’s a nice photo of yourself sometimes. Like I’ll hate a picture of me but my friends will think its nice, which I just don’t get sometimes lol. I do usually ask friends for their opinion though before posting, it’s a bit of an esteem boost and it makes you feel less anxious about posting.

4) Do you think that this snippet of your Instagram page provides an accurate representation of your personality?

I think it does, I’m a confident person and I like going out a lot. Hate to admit this but I think maybe it makes me appear a bit more fun, showing that I’m always going out when obviously I’m not always. But then again, I think everyone wants to come across this way on social media and show the best version of themselves.

Appendix

Netnography observation: Wali

Netnography observation: Alexandra

Appendix Netnography observation: Ella.

Netnography observation: Navlyn.

Appendix