Investigating the association between problematic social media use and the feeling of self-alienation.

Problematic social media use (PSMU) has emerged as a growing concern, with researchers, and the broader public alike, interested in its associations with well-being.However, little research has addressed how PSMU may be linked to disruptions in more fundamental aspects of the self.Across five studies using U.S.-based samples (N = 1,479; 2023-2025), we tested the hypothesis that PSMU is associated with greater self-alienation (i.e., a felt sense of disconnection from the self).Studies 1a and 1b provided weak cross-sectional evidence of a positive trait-level association between PSMU and self-alienation while controlling for general psychological distress and self-esteem.Studies 2 and 3 attempted to experimentally manipulate PSMU at the state level by inducing momentary urges to use social media and test if it would produce subsequent shifts in state-level self-alienation.Neither manipulation produced the intended causal effect; however, trait-level PSMU positively predicted state-level self-alienation above and beyond negative affect, self-esteem, and spontaneous mind wandering, though these effect sizes were weak.Study 4 employed a daily diary design and revealed both within-and between-person associations between PSMU and daily self-alienation, although these positive associations were weak controlling for daily negative affect and spontaneous mind wandering.Taken together, these findings point to a possible positive association between PSMU and self-alienation that cannot be fully accounted for by negative emotional states or attentional disengagement; however, these relationships appear to be correlational, not causal, and very weak in magnitude.