From Need to Belong to Social Media Envy: Parallel Mediation Through Entertainment and Reality Alteration

Objective This study examines whether the need to belong predicts social media envy and explores the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship by distinguishing between two dimensions of social media flow: entertainment and imaginative curiosity (EIC) and immersion and reality alteration (IRA). Methods Using two‐wave panel survey data, we estimate cross‐sectional and autoregressive regression models, followed by cross‐sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses. Results A stronger need to belong is associated with greater social media envy both cross‐sectionally and over time. Although need to belong is positively related to both dimensions of social media flow in cross‐sectional analyses, longitudinal evidence shows that it predicts only immersion and reality alteration. Longitudinal mediation analyses further demonstrate that immersion and reality alteration—but not entertainment and imaginative curiosity—significantly mediates the relationship between need to belong and subsequent social media envy. Conclusion The findings suggest that belonging needs contribute to social media envy primarily by fostering immersive forms of social media engagement rather than entertainment‐oriented experiences. By identifying immersion and reality alteration as the key psychological mechanism linking need to belong to envy, this study advances understanding of how different patterns of social media engagement predicts users' emotional well‐being.