Are you being your authentic self on social media, or do you use it for image management? Do you genuinely enjoy it and use it to share and connect with others, or is it more of a comparison tool that causes you a lot of undue stress? Take this test to find out.
Grounded User (0–24)
To you, social media is a tool for sharing and connecting with others. Your mood and well-being aren’t affected by likes and reactions. You can post something that doesn’t get any attention and still feel totally fine.
The opposite is also true: even if a post goes viral, it doesn’t affect how you see yourself or how you approach future posts. You don’t try to impress other people online or present yourself as a kind of “winner.” You don’t need social media – or likes – to prove your worth.
Overall, you are an authentic social media user who isn’t desperate for attention. You are the kind of person who could post something and forget about it.
Casual Validator (25–49)
You are a balanced user who may notice reactions without getting too affected by them. Sure, attention may feel nice, but you don’t hyperfocus on it, and you can still handle life even when you don’t get much of it.
Occasionally, some comments and reactions may feel personal, but they don’t send you into a spiral. To you, online feedback matters in a similar way to how it matters in real life, but just like in real life, your approach is balanced and realistic, without overreacting.
From time to time, you might care a little too much, especially when you’re bored, lonely, or under stress. If you think you are slipping, try to post less and avoid checking reactions too often. If you don’t want to allow social media to steer your emotions, you need to train yourself to resist the desire for instant attention, and that can take a bit of practice.
Approval-Seeking Curator (50–72)
Your results suggest that you might be a little too sensitive to how people react to what you share on social media. For example, if you post something and it doesn’t perform well, it can feel oddly uncomfortable — like you put yourself out there and nobody cares.
Because you take social media reactions as seriously as reactions from people in real life, things can get personal very quickly. You may spend more time than necessary choosing the best picture, writing and rewriting captions, editing, and tweaking the wording. You are sensitive and care about how you come across. You want to be seen positively, and polishing your photos and posts is an attempt to manage other people’s perceptions of you.
The problem is that the more you curate, the more it can feel like you have to come across as someone impressive on social media. This makes the whole experience less authentic, less enjoyable, and more stressful.
Spotlight Manager (73–100)
Your results suggest that you take social media very seriously. It absolutely steers your mood: it can quickly lift you up when the reaction is strong, or it can upset you when the reaction is not what you hoped for. You closely track engagement and notice who pays attention to your posts and who doesn’t. You are also likely to compare yourself to other people on social media and adjust your content based on what brings the most reactions.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a narcissist, but it does mean that you might have given internet strangers way too much power over your mood and well-being. This can be very stressful because you are constantly reacting to reactions. The issue is that you use social media feedback as a measure of your success in life and a benchmark for self-evaluation.
Posting less, checking notifications less, stopping yourself from tracking reactions from specific people, and avoiding comparison can help calm your nervous system and allow you to enjoy social media more.
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