Digital Consumption: An Analysis of the Everyday Practices of Brazilian Instagram Users
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.6370Keywords:
Instagram, digital social networks, attention economy, digital consumptionAbstract
Within just a few decades, the Internet has become the catalyst for a revolution in the way people connect and disseminate content, offering numerous benefits to society. However, the human mind has been increasingly exposed to an overwhelming volume of information that exceeds cognitive limits, as websites, digital social networks (DSNs), messaging services, and other apps are readily available at users’ fingertips via smartphones. At the same time, reality itself strives to conform to the judgment of the audience within the feed, with places and objects designed to be recorded by smartphones and individuals eager to meet aesthetic and behavioural standards. These are the central themes of the research discussed in this article, with a particular focus on Instagram due to its current relevance and significance. Through semi-structured interviews, the study gathered the experiences of 25 Brazilian users who frequently engage with the platform, born between 1981 and 1996, corresponding to the so-called Generation Y. Also known as millennials, this generation witnessed the transformations from an analogue to a digital world. The methodological procedure used to process the interview data was thematic analysis. In this process, the research sought to answer the following question: what is the impact of the amount of information available and the stimulation generated by interactions with DSNs on users’ routines? Based on nine thematic categories, the main findings indicate that the use of the Internet and DSNs may harm social well-being and become addictive, with users influenced by boredom, escapism, and the “fear of missing out” (FOMO).
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