Introduction: The rise of social media has transformed social interactions, becoming essential in the lives of young people. Its excessive use raises concerns about negative repercussions on mental health, especially on self-esteem, which is crucial for psychological well-being and academic success. Methodology: This cross-sectional quantitative study investigated the influence of social media addiction on the state of self-esteem among 521 psychology students, selected by convenience. The Social Media Addiction Scale - Student Form (SMAS-SF) and the State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) were used. Results: The results indicate that problems arising from social media use (β=-0.42, p<.001) and the obsession with being connected (β=-0.49, p=0.01) are significant predictors of lower state self-esteem, explaining 10% of the variance in state self-esteem. Discussions: Social media addiction has a moderately negative impact on the self-esteem of university students, which has negative implications for well-being. Conclusions: The need for specific interventions to mitigate these effects is highlighted. Further research is recommended to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions in the long term.

(1) Background: Problematic social media use has increasingly been conceptualized as a non-clinical addictive-like behavior characterized by impaired control and negative functional consequences. Despite the rapid growth of TikTok and its algorithm-driven content delivery, the contribution of individual psychological factors and users’ awareness of algorithmic processes to addictive symptoms remains insufficiently understood, particularly in Latin American contexts. This study examined the associations between personality traits, algorithmic awareness, and addictive symptoms of TikTok use among university students. (2) Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional design was conducted with a convenience sample of 238 university students from Ecuador. Participants completed self-report measures of social media addiction, algorithmic media content awareness, and Big Five personality traits. Spearman correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed, controlling for age and sex. (3) Results: Algorithmic awareness dimensions were not significant predictors of addictive symptoms. Demographic variables explained minimal variance, whereas personality traits accounted for the largest increase in explained variance in the final model. Neuroticism and Extraversion were positively associated with addictive symptoms, while Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience were negatively associated. (4) Conclusions: Personality traits were more informative than algorithmic awareness in explaining addictive-like TikTok use among university students, underscoring the relevance of self-regulatory and affective dispositions for prevention and intervention strategies.

La expansión de los medios sociales ha modificado la comunicación turística y ha dado a los usuarios un papel cada vez más relevante en la producción y circulación de información. A partir de este contexto, se explora la netnografía como herramienta para investigar la comunicación en internet. Su aplicación a TripAdvisor permite identificar los roles que adoptan los usuarios cuando publican contenidos que van más allá de la valoración de una experiencia, tomando como referencia la tipología de Mkono y Tribe (2017). La investigación sigue un enfoque cualitativo, exploratorio y descriptivo, basado en la propuesta netnográfica de Kozinets. Se seleccionaron tres destinos mexicanos presentes en TripAdvisor: Cancún, Tulum y Mazatlán. La recopilación reunió 3.528 opiniones en español, publicadas entre marzo de 2020 y febrero de 2021. Tras dos fases de cribado, se conformó un corpus de 182 publicaciones. El análisis comprendió operaciones de recopilación, codificación, combinación, tematización y traducción teórica. Se identificaron seis roles: guía o consejero, usuario agradecido afectuoso, crítico social, activista, socialité y escapista. Los resultados amplían las tipologías previas y muestran que TripAdvisor también funciona como un espacio para ayudar a otros viajeros, expresar afecto, formular críticas, promover movilizaciones, proyectar el estatus personal y canalizar emociones. La netnografía permite examinar estas prácticas atendiendo al contenido de las publicaciones, al contexto en el que aparecen y al proceso interpretativo del investigador.