Approach or Avoid? A Quantitative Study on the Dualistic Nature of Social Media Envy in Undergraduates in a Non-state University in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Envy is a complex emotion studied recently, especially with the impact of social media. This study explored the dualistic nature of social media envy in Sri Lankan undergraduates from a nonstate university. Using a quantitative design, data from 155 participants were collected via Google Forms and analysed with Spearman’s Rank test. Results indicated statistically significant positive moderate relationships between social media usage and both benign envy and malicious envy. However, social media only accounted for 20% of benign envy and 8.8% of malicious envy, suggesting it’s only one of many contributors. Furthermore, the association between social media usage and benign envy was stronger than that with malicious envy, implying social media envy may be less severe than perceived in Sri Lanka. The study acknowledges limitations, such as sample size and focus on one university. Future research should address these limitations and explore the dualistic nature of social media envy in different populations and contexts. Overall, the study emphasises the need to understand the complexity of envy and how social media can amplify or alleviate it. Findings have implications for social media usage, regulation, and interventions promoting emotional well-being.