Instagram and TikTok as Spaces for Self-Meaning: University Students Experiences in Consuming Beauty and Lifestyle Content on Social Media

Abstract

This study aims to understand how university students make sense of themselves when consuming beauty and lifestyle content on Instagram and TikTok. A qualitative descriptive approach was employed to explore students’ experiences and interpretations of digital representations. Data were collected through face-to-face open-ended interviews and analyzed thematically to identify patterns of meaning across participants, supported by member checking. The findings indicate that Instagram and TikTok function not only as sources of information and entertainment but also as spaces of reference and digital representation. Students encounter representations of beauty, fashion, lifestyle, achievement, productivity, career, and identity that may encourage self-evaluation and social comparison. These experiences generate diverse responses, including insecurity, inspiration, motivation, information seeking, and self-acceptance. Students also demonstrate agency by selecting, adapting, avoiding, limiting, or distancing themselves from representations they perceive as unsuitable or potentially harmful. Personal values and identity further shape how these representations are negotiated. The study concludes that self-meaning in social media is a dynamic, reflective, and negotiated communication process rather than a direct consequence of media exposure. Students actively interpret and negotiate digital representations according to their experiences, needs, identities, and personal values. Instagram and TikTok therefore function as spaces where students encounter representations of others while simultaneously reflecting on and reconstructing meanings about themselves.