Gratification Sought from Instagram: A Gender-based Study of Adolescent Users
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/tjmitm.2026.16.01.08Abstract
Social media is the most preferred medium for communication due to its extensive use across the globe at present. People are using it according to their needs and satisfaction. Instagram with more than 2.7 billion monthly active users, is one of the biggest social media platforms. By applying U&G theory, this research paper empirically tends to draw attention towards gender differences in gratification sought from Instagram use among adolescent users. For this study, a total of 100 adolescents, 50 males and 50 females (ages 13 to 19) who use Instagram, were recruited as a sample from Delhi-NCR for the survey. As a measure, 20 items representing six different gratifications of Instagram use were utilized which was anchored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The findings of the study revealed that male adolescents are more inclined to use Instagram for self-expression, pass-time, relationship maintenance, information seeking and social influence than their female counterparts. Further, this study also finds that female adolescents are more inclined to use Instagram for entertainment gratification than their male counterparts.
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