How does engagement on social media reinforce life aesthetic literacy? The role of interpersonal and intrapersonal influences

Abstract

With the proliferation of social media, researchers have begun exploring novel forms of literacy. One emerging concept is life aesthetic literacy (LAL), or the capacity to interpret and assign meaning to artistic and creative content perceptively. This study explores the impact of LAL on social media platforms. To do so, it draws on probability-proportional-to-size sampling in the Taiwan Communication Survey to investigate 1,776 social media–savvy adults and adopts structural equation modeling, path analysis, latent class analysis, and multi-group analysis to validate the proposed models. The findings show that increased exposure to and involvement with artistic material on social media platforms positively influence LAL. Furthermore, enhanced LAL extends to improved perceived self-expansion and self-concept clarity. These findings provide empirical evidence that social media use has a multifaceted impact on contemporary literacy and self-perception. The findings provide practical guidelines for platforms to cultivate LAL through tailored content and engagement strategies.