Follow or be followed: Exploring the links between Instagram popularity, social media addiction, cyber victimization, and subjective happiness in Italian adolescents

Introduction: The aim of the study is to investigate the association between Instagram popularity and subjective happiness, and to test the mediating roles of cyber victimization and social media addiction. Methods: We recruited a sample of middle school students (N = 345; 49% males, age M: 13.31 years; SD = 1.42; range = 11–16) who reported having an active Instagram account. We collected the following data: sociodemographic data, Instagram activity indicators and followers/following counts, perceived social media addiction, cyber victimization, and subjective happiness. Results: Adolescents’ followers count showed a negative indirect effect on subjective happiness via an increase in social media addiction and exposure to cyber victimization. In contrast, the following counts of adolescents show a positive indirect effect on subjective happiness via a decrease in social media addiction and exposure to cyber victimization. Conclusions: Findings seem to indicate that as adolescents become more popular on Instagram (i.e., as their followers count increases), it also increases the risk that they might develop a behavior addiction to Instagram use, and experience cyber aggressions, which in turn may have a negative impact on their psychological well-being. Instead, adolescents whose activity on Instagram is more passive, and less dominated by digital status seeking behaviors, may be less exposed to these negative consequences. Limits and future directions are discussed.