Date

3-22-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)

Chair

Vonda Beavers

Keywords

social media, social comparison, life satisfaction, well-being, and happiness

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

The problem in this study is that undergraduate students' use of social media may influence their perceived happiness. The aim of this transcendental phenomenological study is to understand undergraduate students’ lived experiences with social media and how it is related to their perceived happiness. The theory guiding this study is Festinger’s theory of social comparison. Participants perceived happiness was explored based on their lived experiences of using social media and how it related to their perceived happiness. Data collection methods included journal prompts, individual interviews, and focus groups, as these methods proved the most useful in this qualitative study for the outlined research questions. The study also consisted of 10 participants who were separated into two focus groups. The data were then analyzed by hand coding, along with inputting the data through NVivo to identify and organize identified and like themes. I identified themes of thematic analysis, the themes of the Purpose Behind Social Media Use, Impacts of Social Media Use, and Unintentional Outcomes. The use of epoché, phenomenological reduction, and imaginative variation during the data analysis process was used to limit biases from being present during the analysis. The central research question for this study is: How do undergraduate students describe their lived experiences with social media as it relates to their perceived happiness? The findings of the study identified the relationship between social media use and the perceived happiness of undergraduate students, which was seen through the type of content viewed and the time spent on social media by the participants.

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