Insta-Famous or Invisible: Social Media Use and Belonging at a Public Flagship University

Abstract Social media and US public universities hold as-yet-unrealized potential for equity. Both institutions, however, also serve as reminders of social inequality while normalizing relatively privileged lifestyles. Past scholarship highlights how symbolic capital, felt stigma, and self-inflicted symbolic violence can maintain inequality, yet their operation across interconnected digital and higher educational contexts remains under-analyzed. Through 51 interviews with students at a US public flagship university, I investigate how social media use impacts perceived inequality in higher education. Social media—particularly image-centric platforms prompting users to share visual representations of their offline lives—more readily aided the accumulation of symbolic capital and digital prestige among students better equipped to emulate culturally dominant lifestyle content through proximity to hegemonic norms. The same platforms more readily amplified exposure to felt stigma and experiences with digital non-recognition among students distanced from these norms. Students experiencing felt stigma could exhibit learned invalidation, considering their lives unworthy of certain forms of digital documentation. Further, women students faced greater pressure to document their lives through image-centric platforms. I highlight a cross-institutional context where digital comparisons intertwine with access to perceived-vital resources for social integration and upward mobility, revealing digital platforms’ potential to intensify unequal experiences in higher education