Abstract
I examine the role played by the emotions of envy and resentment in interpersonal online dynamics during the COVID19 pandemic. I start by reviewing what we know about the interplay of social media use, social comparison and well-being, and by applying this knowledge to current circumstances. Then, I introduce some philosophical distinctions that complicate the already complex empirical evidence, differentiating, in particular, between envy and resentment, and between different kinds of envy. I argue that we can use the knowledge of these distinctions to better cope with these painful, but sometimes productive and always informative, emotions.
Highlights
Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic, the bittersweet activity of browsing Facebook or Instagram has become increasingly devoid of sweetness, and increasingly replete with the acrid taste of envy, jealousy, anger, resentment and indignation
I start by reviewing what we know about the interplay of social media use, social comparison and well-being, and I apply this knowledge to current circumstances
I distinguish between envy—an emotion that does not arise from a perception of wrongdoing and that I define here as an aversive response to perceived disadvantage vis-à-vis a similar other with regard to a self-important domain—and the emotions of resentment and indignation, which I define as aversive responses to a perceived wrongdoing or injustice
Summary
Since the start of the COVID19 pandemic, the bittersweet activity of browsing Facebook or Instagram has become increasingly devoid of sweetness, and increasingly replete with the acrid taste of envy, jealousy, anger, resentment and indignation. Because SNS provide the majority of the our social life in a pandemic, that is how we have found ourselves looking in disbelief at friends—and most painfully frenemies—ignoring public health guidelines and flaunting their mask-free shenanigans; getting indignant at our relatives propagating dangerous and debunked theories about the virus and purported remedies; feeling the sting of envy as acquaintances share post-vaccine pictures, while we are still unable to get one; or wallowing in sadness as the prospect of hugging loved ones who live in different countries is still out of reach.
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