A comprehensive review of more than 28,000 participants suggests that not all social media use is equal, with problematic and consumption-focused engagement showing the strongest links to materialistic values while highlighting the potential role of culture and media literacy.
A recent study published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Social media's growing influence on materialistic values
Materialism refers to “a set of values emphasizing the significance of possessions and the acquisition of material goods in achieving desired outcomes”. It is often demonstrated by conspicuous consumption.
It is characterized by three aspects: Possessions measure success, possessions are central to life, and acquiring possessions results in happiness and life satisfaction.
The negative aspects of materialism are well-known, including lower life satisfaction and self-assessment, compulsive consumption, and a higher risk of indulging in risky behaviors like gambling. Other researchers have described materialist traits as including envy, stinginess, possessiveness, and hoarding tendencies, as well as goals such as financial success, fame, and image.
Moreover, materialism is linked to negative mood, reduced trust and wellbeing within relationships, and adverse effects on social and environmental interactions.
Much research has gone into identifying factors that contribute to materialistic values, including the role of media. At present, about 5.4 billion people use social media, which represents two out of three people worldwide.
Concerns have been raised that increasing social media use over the last few decades is linked to the growth of materialistic views among users. This is expected according to the cultivation theory in psychology, which states that “prolonged exposure to media may shape users’ attitudes, beliefs, and values over time.”
Posts by materialistic social media users are often highly visually oriented and focus on fashion, wealth, and luxury. The authors suggest that these cues may activate and reinforce materialistic values over time. The unique characteristics of social media may explain their powerful impact compared to conventional media. These include the interactive, user-generated nature of posts, with the potential for social comparison that is both highly visible and easily measurable due to quantifiable social feedback in the form of comments and likes.
Social media algorithms may prioritize similar content based on previous engagement, potentially strengthening the reinforcing effect. Moreover, reciprocal effects may be at work, with materialistic users more likely to engage with social media to gain external validation, a key emphasis of materialism.
Earlier literature examining the relationship between social media use and materialism has shown mixed findings, with effect sizes ranging from small to relatively strong. This might be because materialism was often treated as one of multiple outcomes.
The current study comprises a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis that seeks to synthesize available data, while identifying potential moderators such as age, platform, or usage. The analysis aimed to provide a comprehensive estimate of the overall association and to identify factors that may explain differences between studies. This would provide baseline evidence for further research and to shape preventive and adaptive interventions.
Comparing different types of social media use
Researchers conducted a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis of 55 published studies examining the association between social media use and materialism. The review combined data from multiple studies to estimate the overall relationship while accounting for differences between studies.
The studies came from multiple countries across three continents, with a total sample size of 28,531 participants.
The researchers also examined factors that might influence the strength of the association, including participant age, sex, type of use, country income levels, measures of materialism, and study design. The authors suggest that the type of use may moderate the relationship with materialism.
Accordingly, they stratified social media use into four categories:
Who is most affected by different social media habits
Overall, more frequent social media use was moderately associated with higher materialism, though causality remains to be established. Age, country income, and sex did not play any moderating role.
Type of use as a moderator
The association was generally stronger for consumption-centered and problematic social media use than for general social media use. The authors suggest that general social media use exposes people to a broad mix of content, whereas consumption-related use may involve repeated exposure to materialistic messages, which may help explain the stronger association. Conversely, consumption-related social media use may involve frequent exposure to content that reinforces materialistic values, thereby explaining the association.
In addition, social media algorithms may present users with more consumption-related content based on their interests, allowing materialistic individuals to consume disproportionately more of such content. This may give rise to echo chambers in which the viewer is constantly exposed to similar content, potentially strengthening materialistic values over time.
Problematic social media use involves addictive, compulsive, or excessive engagement with the content. The authors suggest that this could lead to more frequent and more immersive exposure over time. These users are also more likely to engage in more social comparison. Taken together, these attributes may, according to the authors, make materialistic clues feel more relevant and natural.
The researchers caution that the different effect sizes observed across types of social media use could signal less robust associations, which require further research.
Cultural factors as moderators
With more individualistic cultures, the association with materialism weakened. This may reflect a weaker reliance on social norms and standards of success and worth, favoring materialism over personal goals and standards.
Materialism measure as a moderator
The researchers also examined whether the Material Values Scale (MVS), one of the most widely used measures of materialism, affected the results. Both the MVS-original and MVS-other versions showed a stronger association with social media use than other materialism scales. The authors suggest this is because the MVS specifically measures materialism as a value system centered on the importance of possessions, success, and happiness, whereas other measures capture a broader mix of concepts, such as personality traits or life aspirations.
This finding suggests that social media use may be more closely linked to materialistic values than to other related aspects of materialism, although the authors note that future research is needed to directly compare these conceptualizations.
Study design limits conclusions about cause and effect
Most of the included studies were cross-sectional, preventing causal inferences. Some studies may have been missed because grey literature was not systematically searched. Self-reported measures of social media use and materialism might have introduced biases. Finally, potential mediators were not addressed.
Reducing materialistic content may help shape healthier values
The findings from this study support the relevance of the cultivation and social comparison theories in explaining the association of social media use with materialism. The study also identifies the type of use, culture, and materialism measure as factors that influence the strength of the association.
The authors suggest that given earlier results showing improved sustainability values following increased exposure to sustainability content on social media, materialism may be mitigated by increasing the visibility of non-materialistic content and promoting more diverse recommendations.
Moreover, interventions should target problematic social media users in particular, while also aiming to improve media literacy and critical engagement with social media more broadly.
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Journal reference:
- Liu, Z,, Ding, J., & Chao, M. (2026). The relationship between social media use and materialism: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-08493-1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-08493-1