Nostalgia and Online Autobiography: Implications for Global Self-Continuity and Psychological Well-Being

Yuwan Dai, Qiangqiang Li, Haichun Zhou and Tonglin Jiang ()
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Yuwan Dai: Peking University
Qiangqiang Li: Binzhou Institute of Technology
Haichun Zhou: Beijing Forest University
Tonglin Jiang: Peking University

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023, vol. 24, issue 8, No 15, 2747-2763

Abstract: Abstract Personal narratives constitute one of the most fundamental means of making sense of one’s experiences. In the digital age, documenting life online has emerged as a new form of personal narrative. However, what contributes to documenting life online and its implications has remained unaddressed. With self-reported scales (Studies 1–2) and the behavioral indicator from social media (i.e., posts on Weibo, a Twitter-like online platform in China; Study 2), we examined the relationship between documenting life online and nostalgia, as well as implications for global self-continuity (i.e., a sense of connectedness among past, present, and future selves) and psychological well-being. We found nostalgia was positively associated with self-reported (Study 1) and behavioral (Study 2) documenting life online. Meanwhile, we also found a sequential mediation model: nostalgia was positively associated with documenting life online. Further, this act of online documentation is sequentially linked to positive impacts on global self-continuity and psychological well-being (Studies 1–2). Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Keywords: Documenting life online; Nostalgia; Global self-continuity; Psychological well-being; Personal narrative; Social media usage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00701-y

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