Self-esteem and Social Media
Social media has taken over the world of communication and has changed the ways in which we communicate on a daily basis. It is extremely influential on our lives because of how easily we are able to access these mediums of communication. I’m intrigued by the effects that social media has on people’s perceptions of their self-worth. Almost all of the social networking sites seem to measure, at least to some extent, the popularity level or status of its users. All have a number of ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ which if there’s a high number of followers or friends that seems to elevate a person’s popularity level or their online status. This in turn could make their self-esteem or ego rise, whereas if their follower level is low it may disappoint or aggravate that user. All of these sites also offer areas where followers can ‘like’ pictures or posts, ‘comment’ on these pictures/posts, ‘share’ the post, and what have you. How important are ‘likes’ and whatnot to our actual self-esteem? Do we value online popularity the same way or more than we value real-life interactions? How could this affect the mental health of those who use these networking sites? Is this kind of online community promoting more narcissistic persons in the community? So many questions… I’m not alone in asking these questions. I’m convinced that social media has a negative influence on the self-esteem of its users.
The University of Salford in the UK did a study last year on social media’s effects on self-esteem and anxiety, and reported that 50% of their 298 participants said that their “use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter makes their lives worse”. (Medical Daily) The study also reported that participants said ...
... middle of paper ...
...artin's, 2013. N. pag. Print
Henderson, J. Maureen. (7/11/12). Is Social Media Destroying Your Self-Esteem? Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2012/07/11/is-social-media-destroying-your-self-esteem/
Selfie-Loathing: Here’s Why Instagram Is Even More Depressing than Facebook. Slate Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html
Facebook And Social Media Activity Reflects Self-Esteem, Study Finds. Medical Daily. Retrieved from http://www.medicaldaily.com/facebook-and-social-media-activity-reflects-self-esteem-study-finds-256832
Facebook Envy: How The Social Network Affects Our Self-Esteem. Facebook Envy How The Social Network Affects Our SelfEsteem. Retrieved from http://www.wbur.org/2013/02/20/facebook-perfection
The expectation of being continuously monitored has now transformed into attention craving, with individuals being willing to concede privacy and even morals if it means being acknowledged by others. These sites have become a haven for those who crave attention, as self-worth becomes entrenched in a person’s number of ‘followers’ and ‘friends’ rather then in worldly accomplishments, feeding one’s self-love along with their status hunger; new age sites such as twitter are based solely on the idea that a persons every though and deed is worth another’s attention. In this explosion of virtual networks, narcissism has become a popular vice
John Paul Titlow discusses the possible positive effects of the increase in social media in one’s everyday life. In his essay, “#Me: Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie,” he explains that while social media platforms such as Instagram may seem to just encourage narcissism, in fact they may be helping to improve the self-image of it’s user. This is an effect from the increased exposure to less professionally constructed images compared to those we normally run into in popular media and advertising. From my own personal experience with social media I can agree with this claim. While some images on social media can still be edited or distorted, it is rarely to the same degree as professional advertisements. In addition, the types of people
The growth of social media has improved our communication skills as a country, but where people are concerned, the substantial growth has had quite the toll on the self esteem of many. I do not think the goal of social media was to have negative effects on people’s body image and the way they see their self, but that is what has seemed to happen. With all of the famous people getting surgeries to make themselves look “perfect” is just showing people that how they were born and how they look naturally is not good enough. The negative effects seem to outweigh the very little amount of positive affects social media has on people’s body
Furthermore, it is thought that social media lets humans connect with others and have more friends than those in the real world. However, this is not always true. People worry about their online worlds and whether people will like them. Online, people are more judgemental than real world friends, which can lead to a low self-esteem. The article “YES: Connecting Virtually Isn’t Like Real-World Bonding” by Larry Rosen states that “...our constant need to check comes from anxiety…” Obviously, technology has a negative effect on people as far as lower self-esteem and
Social media was created with the purpose of aiding the general population to communicate with one another. these platforms have other uses as well, but mainly for communication. However, given handheld and other communication devices that are always connected to the internet, it is becoming increasingly rare for people to make human interactions such as meeting up with people face-to-face. In some cases loneliness, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and heightened aggression are possible repercussions of spending copious amount of time on the internet. Using social media gives people, more specifically adolescents, exposure to bullying and harassment. According to a study in UK, social platforms such as Facebook is giving cause to anxiety and increased feeling of inadequacy. In this study, half the respondents stated that social media had changed their behaviour, felt less confident in contrast to their online friends’ achieveme...
One of the most important psychological aspects is self-esteem; how people view themselves and their self-worth. It affects one 's personality, happiness and personal well-being. Self-esteem is defined as the "confidence in one 's own worth or abilities; self-respect" ("Self Esteem", 2010, p. 1615). With access to the internet and media twenty-four hours of the day, teenagers begin to take in and believe what is said on social media; believing that is what they are supposed to be, listening to other teenagers who do not have as much knowledge and experience dealing with self-esteem rather than parents. The self-esteem of young adolescences was usually stable before the media became more involved in the lives of teenagers and now their self-esteem
University of Michigan. (2013, June 11). You're so vain: Study links social media use and
In particular, interest over whether people who use SNSs have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users of such sites. Two reasons have been discovered as to why people who use SNS may have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users. Firstly, Narcissism is strongly associated with forming relationships as an opportunity for self-enhancement (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Online communities, like Facebook and Twitter, encourage self-absorbed behaviour as they are built on superficial ‘friendships’ and often are used to maintain large numbers of relationships rather than deeper relationships. This allows Narcissists to maintain large numbers of shallow relationships, which constantly affirms their Narcissistic esteem (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Secondly, these sites offer a highly controlled environment, providing owners with complete power over self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010). This provides an ideal setting for the owner to manage the impression they portray to others and create their “hoped-for possible selves” (Mehdizadeh, 2010). In particular, SNSs can be used to only share attractive photos of oneself or writing posts that are self-promoting, creating a biased impression of themselves (Ryan & Xenos,
Why Social Media Makes Us Bitter? Forbes.com. The. Forbes Magazine, 22 Jan 2013. Web.
Olenski, Steve “Social Media Usage Up 800% for U.S. Online Adults In Just 8 Years” Forbes.com Inc. 6 September 2013. Web. 6 February 2014
Teens on social media have been around for many years. Have you ever thought of the Internet being a place where teen’s self-esteem may be affected in a negative way? However, it doesn 't mean that social media is out to purposely make people feel this way, it 's all how the teens per take. Many people don’t realize that the little things others post on social media can affect someone in the long run. This is especially true with young teenagers who have access to the internet and social media platforms. I strongly believe that social media does affect teens self-esteem by lowering it due to the reason of advertisement, personal image, and bullying.
These things have become so common that not having them almost makes it seem like there is something missing. Because of features such as these, it is incredibly easy to share every aspect of what we are reading, doing, eating and listening to with everyone in our social networks. While this has meant incredible advances in the way we interact with our world, it has also fundamentally changed the way our social relationships are created and sustained. Social medial led users to have false impression of others and changed our feelings. Because social media users tend to only show the most positive aspects of their lives, social media users have a false sense of reality when it comes to how they seem themselves, how others see them and how they see other people. “It is not difficult to say that social media effect our perception of others” (Goshgarian213).
One example that plays a part in this occurs when an individual spends a large amount of time looking through other’s user’s profile’s content. If an individual spends an excessive amount of time on sites such Facebook and Instagram, exclusively looking at other people’s photos and profiles, this can enable a sense of exclusion, envy, and loneliness (Krasnova, Wenninger, Widjaja, & Buxmann, 2013). Not only do we focus on looking at other people’s content, but in most cases we try to replicate our image from those who are have a more interesting and attractive profiles. A study conducted in 2015 by Nesi J Prinsten, focused on the role of how “social comparison and feedback-seeking” affect the with the development of depressive symptoms. The study was focused around 8th to 9th graders, and the results reported that those who engaged in social comparison and feedback- seeking behavior, had experienced even more depressive systems later that year. With this information gathered and collected, there is evidence that supports the idea that social media can have a negative impact within an individual’s social and physical
Gonzales, Amy L., and Jeffrey T. Hancock (2011), “Mirror, Mirror on My Facebook Wall: Effects of Facebook Exposure on Self Esteem,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (January/February), 79–83.
Several decades ago, communications philosopher Marshall McLuhan spoke about the development of the Global Village and how the evolution of new technologies would help connect people on opposite sides of the world, creating online communities that would break boundaries and borders. While this change has been recognized, so too has the idea explored by his successors in which while individuals were expected to look at others in the world through a telescope, they have alternatively developed the tendency to look at themselves through a microscope. As the era of worldwide connectivity began, so did the era of ‘me, me, me’. Both the hardware and the software of the new millennium, inclusive of the iPhone’s forward-facing camera, and apps that allow one to fix blemishes and whiten teeth, have adapted to allow this change to an inward focus. While this has certainly caught on, it has also begun to cause a lot of problems. The act of posting about the self began to be seen as a negatively self-centered one when Facebook NewsFeeds were filled with egotistic stories and ‘Selfies,’ photos of the self. Shortly after, the application Instagram was created, where the occurrence of the Selfie was magnified to a greater degree. This intensive focus inward, and the way these pieces of media are shared, have made some individuals reliant on the positive expressions of others for self-confidence and social approval. When self-esteem is intertwined with how many ‘likes’ a photo gets on a mobile application, we start to see a shift in how self-awareness is formed, what people will do for this approval, and how some will react to a lack of attention.