People who are obsessed with celebrities or have high levels of narcissism are more likely to develop unhealthy habits on Instagram. New research published in psychology journal reveals that this behavior is driven by an underlying fear of missing out and a struggle to control difficult emotions. This study provides a clearer picture of how certain personality traits make some users vulnerable to addictive social media routines.
Psychology researchers frequently investigate how the Internet shapes human behavior. As social platforms grow, experts want to understand why some individuals use these apps in ways that disrupt their daily lives. Instagram is particularly popular, with around 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. It features highly visual tools such as photo editing and short video updates that disappear.
These features make the platform very attractive. For some users, this involvement shifts into a pattern resembling a behavioral addiction. This happens when app use takes over a person’s life and changes their mood. Individuals may also develop a tolerance, requiring more screen time to feel the same effects.
Addiction also includes withdrawal symptoms when an app is deleted and repeated conflicts in offline relationships. Because true addiction requires meeting all of these strict criteria, researchers prefer the broader term for most users. They call this widespread pattern problematic use of Instagram.
Hadi Fazelirad, a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Iran’s Karazmi University, led a team investigating the psychological roots of this behavior. The group wanted to test a specific psychological framework used to study behavioral addictions. This framework suggests that an individual’s underlying personality traits combine with emotional and cognitive responses to create addictive habits.
To test this idea, the researchers focused on two different personality traits as a starting point. The first trait was narcissism. Narcissism is a condition in which a person has an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance and a deep desire for excessive attention and admiration. The platform’s visual emphasis provides an ideal stage for individuals high in narcissism to showcase their lives and receive praise.
The second personality trait was celebrity worship. This term describes an intense, sometimes obsessive obsession with a famous person. Some users simply follow celebrities for entertainment or to connect with other fans. Others develop extreme emotional attachments, sometimes approaching pathological behavior.
The researchers suspected that two internal mechanisms might link these personality traits to problematic Instagram use. One mechanism is the fear of missing out. This is a persistent fear that someone else is having a rewarding experience without you. Another mechanism is general difficulty regulating emotions.
Emotional regulation refers to an individual’s ability to manage and respond to their emotions in a healthy way. People who have poor emotional control may have difficulty controlling their impulses when they are upset. You may also lack the strategies you need to calm yourself down. Researchers theorized that these emotional and cognitive hurdles drive vulnerable personalities to excessive app use.
The research team surveyed 450 students from six different universities across Iran. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 35 years, and nearly 80% of the group was female. To collect data, the researchers distributed an online questionnaire that assessed various psychological characteristics of the problem.
Participants completed several standardized psychological assessments. They answered questions gauging their attitudes toward celebrities, checking for different levels of obsession. The study also includes a specific scale to measure narcissistic tendencies. Other sections assessed participants’ struggles to control their emotions, fear of missing out on social events, and the severity of their Instagram habits.
After collecting responses, the researchers analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. This statistical method allows scientists to examine complex relationships between multiple variables simultaneously. This helps determine whether one factor is directly causing another, or whether a hidden variable is acting as a bridge between the two factors.
Researchers found a positive association between narcissistic traits, celebrity worship, and problematic Instagram use. In other words, people who score high on narcissism and celebrity obsession also report unhealthy relationships with apps. However, the relationship was not only a direct link from personality to addiction.
Rather, this study revealed that fear of missing out acts as a bridge between these personality traits and social media habits. For strong narcissists, Instagram can make a positive impression on a large audience. These people have a strong fear of missing out on opportunities to attract attention and control their social image. This anxiety causes users to keep checking the app.
A similar pattern emerged among people obsessed with famous people. Celebrities constantly share updates about their personal and professional lives on the platform. Fans who are obsessed with these numbers have a deep fear of missing out on posts and stories. Fear of missing out causes them to constantly monitor their feeds.
The study also found that difficulties with emotion regulation played a central role. Narcissistic people often have a hard time processing negative emotions in a healthy way. Instead of processing these emotions internally, you may turn to Instagram for a quick mood boost. A few likes and comments can help temporarily distract from emotional pain.
Avid fans of celebrities face similar emotional hurdles. Constantly comparing your life to the lives of carefully selected, idealized celebrities can damage your self-esteem. Lacking the tools to deal with these negative emotions, we turn back to apps to distract ourselves. This creates a problematic cycle of use that is difficult to break.
Understanding the emotional mechanisms behind problematic app use may help mental health professionals develop better treatments. Therapy that teaches people how to accept negative emotions and build healthier offline habits can be highly effective. Recognizing the underlying fear of endless scrolling is a necessary step for users to take back control of their digital lives.
The researchers highlighted potential interventions that could help vulnerable users. One option is a treatment model designed to address emotional disorders by teaching cognitive reappraisal. This technique encourages individuals to view negative emotions as temporary conditions that will eventually disappear. By embracing these feelings rather than avoiding them, users may be able to resist the urge to escape to social media.
Other practical interventions may directly target fear of missing out. Educational programs that emphasize good sleep hygiene and limit technology use before bedtime have proven helpful in similar situations. Treatment centers and parents can work together to promote offline emotional recognition and reduce young people’s reliance on digital validation.
Although the study provides new insights, the researchers noted some limitations to their study. The participants were all Iranian university students. Because of this specific demographic, the results may not automatically apply to people in other age groups. Individuals living in different cultural backgrounds may interact with social media differently.
The data relies on self-report surveys, which can skew the results. People are not always objective when answering questions about their shortcomings, introducing potential bias into the results. The study was also cross-sectional, meaning it captured only one moment in time. This type of research cannot definitively prove that one behavior causes another.
Future research could address these gaps by following participants over time. The researchers suggest that future studies should include equal numbers of male and female participants to see whether these dynamics vary by gender. It is also helpful to distinguish between specific types of narcissism.
The researchers also recommend looking at how overall internet habits influence Instagram-specific behaviors. Tracking the total time spent online can provide a broader picture of an individual’s digital life. Understanding how different platforms interact can help professionals design more comprehensive strategies for digital wellbeing.
Despite these limitations, this study uncovers psychological pathways that lead to problematic digital habits. Social media platforms will continue to grow and may introduce new features designed to capture the attention of users. Identifying personality traits and emotional struggles that make users vulnerable is an important step in promoting healthier technology use.
The study, “Celebrity Worship, Narcissism, and Problematic Instagram Use: The Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation Difficulties and Fear of Missing Out,” was authored by Hadi Fazelirad, Mehreen Pirzad, Jafar Hassani, Bahman Bourki Milan, Robabeh Nouri Qassem Abadi, and Mark D. Griffiths.
