Dreaming about social media: likes, messages and your phone

What social media in a dream usually points to

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme, always saying which is which.

Dreaming about social media usually has to do with being seen, being answered and belonging. A post that goes viral, an ignored message or a hacked profile are images of someone thinking about how others see them, about who cares and about how much of the day goes through a screen. It is a dream about people more than about apps.

The dream does not mean someone is going to expose you, or that a certain person will text you tomorrow. It shows expectations, comparisons and digital fatigue. The theme grows out of the device itself; see dreaming about a cell phone for the full portrait of the object.

Read also: Dreaming about a celebrity and Dreaming that you are naked in public.

What research says about screens in dreams

The continuity hypothesis, tested by Michael Schredl and Friedrich Hofmann in 2003, shows that dreams follow waking life, but not in the same proportions. In their study, activities such as reading, writing and using a computer showed up in dreams far less than the time spent on them during the day, while conversations and people showed up a lot. That is why a social media dream tends to bring back the face of whoever liked your post more than the screen itself.

Sound counts too. In 1958, William Dement and Edward Wolpert applied stimuli to volunteers during REM sleep, such as a sound, a flashing light and a spray of cold water, and saw that some of them made their way into the dream's story. A notification that goes off in the middle of the night can turn, in the scene, into the message you were waiting for.

Sources: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003; Dement and Wolpert, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1958.

Social media scenes and what goes with them

If the scene featured your ex, see dreaming about your ex. If the fear was of a hacked account and that has really happened to you, read how to tell if your WhatsApp was cloned and what to do.

See also: Dreaming about drinking or being drunk and Dreaming about losing money.

When the social media dream calls for attention

Dreaming about social media is common for people who use their phone all day. It deserves attention when the dream becomes a recurring nightmare, when you wake up to check notifications or when anxiety about replies gets in the way of sleep. Frequent nightmares are treatable, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine published a position paper in 2018 with the recommended approaches. Putting the screen away before bed usually helps; see evening habits for better sleep without medication and how to have fewer nightmares.

If you have been through exposure, attacks or humiliation online and the distress is strong, seek support from someone you trust and from a health professional. In the US, you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

Social media in dream books

O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book by L. P. Baçan, has no entry for social media, the internet or cell phones. The closest ones are letter (in life, surprises; in love, awkward situations) and applause (in life, success; in love, seduction), which recall messages and likes. It is a traditional reading, adapted by the dreamer, without proof.

Jung reminded us that a symbol does not fit in a list. A like in the dream of someone who works online and in the dream of someone waiting for news from a loved one do not speak of the same thing.

Sources: L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols.

Freud, Jung and faith on social media

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Freud never knew social media, but he described a typical dream that speaks to it: being undressed or poorly dressed in front of strangers, ashamed and unable to escape, while the people around seem indifferent. He compared the scene to the tale of the emperor's new clothes. The exposed post in the dream, which nobody comments on, has something of that embarrassment before unknown eyes.

In Jung's psychology. Jung called the face we show the world the persona, useful and necessary, but not the whole person. A profile is a persona with a photo and a caption. When a dream shows your profile hacked or exposed as false, it may be pointing to the distance between the image and who you are. Man and His Symbols deals with this tension.

In symbols and faith. In the Gospel of Matthew (6:1), there is the advice not to do good deeds in front of others in order to be seen by them. A Dictionary of Symbols links the mirror to self-knowledge and recalls the myth of Narcissus, who lost himself admiring his own reflection.

Bringing both readings together. Research shows that the screen enters dreams more through people and sounds than through images; traditions ask who you are showing yourself to. Both invite you to care for what remains when the phone is off.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols.

Folk readings about social media in dreams

In Brazilian folk reading, which has already made room for the cell phone, lots of likes are seen as prestige on the way, and no likes as a call to look inward. A message received would speak of good news; a deleted message, of a conversation that needs to happen in person. A red heart is associated with affection, and a blocked account with a limit that needs to be set. These are traditional readings, not predictions. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.