I Don't matter anyway. Will more Instagram change that? Anti-mattering and Instagram Feed vs. stories addiction symptoms: The moderating roles of loneliness and life satisfaction

The present study examined the relations between two facets of Instagram addiction symptoms (i.e., Instagram Feed Addiction – IFA and Instagram Stories Addiction – ISA), anti-mattering, loneliness, and life satisfaction. More specifically, we explored the potential moderating roles of loneliness and life satisfaction on the link between anti-mattering and Instagram addiction symptoms. The sample involved 280 Romanian adults aged 18 to 57 ( M = 22.58, SD = 4.62, 72.86% females, mostly from rural residential areas. Findings showed that the higher the age, the lower the scores on both IFA and ISA. Male participants reported higher IFA and ISA than females. Anti-mattering was positively associated with loneliness, Instagram feed, and stories addiction symptoms and negatively associated with life satisfaction. A moderated linear regression with residual centering suggested that both loneliness and life satisfaction moderated the links relations between anti-mattering and Instagram feed and stories addiction symptoms. These findings are discussed in relation to their practical implications for preventing and managing digital addictions among adults. • We examined the relations between Instagram addiction, anti-mattering, loneliness, and life satisfaction (LS). • The higher the age, the lower the scores on Instagram feed (IFA) and stories (ISA) addiction. • Anti-Mattering was positively associated with loneliness, IFA, and ISA and negatively associated with LS. • Loneliness and LS moderated the relations between anti-mattering, IFA, and ISA.