Virtual Bites, Real Diets: How Exposure to Eating Livestreaming Shapes Restrained Eating via Symbolic Self-Completion Theory

Grounded in symbolic self-completion theory, this study reconceptualizes eating livestreaming as an active, meaning-oriented media practice rather than a passive exposure. Focusing on user motivations and body satisfaction, it demonstrates that eating livestreaming functions as a symbolic resource through which viewers negotiate tensions between hunger and restrained eating. Body satisfaction conditions these symbolic processes, revealing heterogeneous outcomes that cannot be explained by viewing frequency alone. By showing that motivational orientations outweigh usage intensity in shaping eating-related consequences, this study advances an agency-centered understanding of how digital media practices operate as tools for symbolic self-regulation.