"En chans att vara någon annan" : En kvalitativ studie i symbolisk interaktionism och hur unga män använder Instagram som en plats för att skapa och forma sin självbild

Sammanfattning: Instagram is one of the fastest growing social networks and has given the image a new meaning. With social media like Instagram, the user can decide how he wants to be perceived by others. By choosing what images he wants to publish, he creates and forms the content of Instagram, which in turn creates and forms how he will be perceived. This study is about young men’s self-representation on Instagram. Based on theories about Symbolic interaction, the Dramaturgical perspective and FoMO the study is looking into which images are the most common to publish among the respondents. Furthermore, how the respondents create and form their self-image by how they imagine that other people perceive them. The study is also looking into how the self-image is affected by comparison with others and finally, what impact Instagram has on the respondents. The study has been done by interviewing six young men and also by a thematic overall analysis of their images on Instagram. The result of this study shows that a common behavior among the respondents is to make themselves look better on Instagram. The images that they publish often represents “the good life”, such as fancy dinners with friends, champagne and trips to different places around the world. Images that does not represent a luxury lifestyle are often left “behind the scenes”, and they are therefore invincible for others. The respondents also tend to create and form their self-image by their imagination of how others see them. Like a mirror, the respondents often see themselves from the eyes of others and they choose pictures just so they can live up to that specific image they think others have of them. With Instagram, the respondents can also stay updated of what other people do, but at the contrary, they are also updated of what they are missing out on. This comparison of what others do and what the respondents do not do tend to have negative effects on their self-esteem. An “optimized me” on Instagram can give increased self-esteem, but at the same time it contributes to more comparison and jealousy, which can lead to a misguided self-image.