Social Media Impact On Self Esteem

1364 Words3 Pages

On February 4, 2004, Facebook was launched and with it the epidemic of social media impact crept in its shadows. Society was revolutionized by a new era of social interaction, where individuals could connect through media channels and share their unique brand with the immediate world. Just two years later Twitter was launched, and soon after Instagram was the newest contender in the running. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are just three of the top social media outlets that millennials crave. In the world of social media, anyone can be whomever they desire, and fame has reached feasible accessibility. Through accessibility, moral standards are quickly diminished and the platform for psychological impact has reached an all time high. Social …show more content…

With advances in social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram, celebrity has hit an entire new ease of access, with many accounts exceeding millions of followers. Every single day, individuals seek more and more to be apart of celebrity lives, many of whom mimic such aspects of celebrity lifestyle and leave themselves with nothing more than mental disorder. In an almost decade long study, the academic journal, “Attributional Style, Self-Esteem, and Celebrity Worship” by Adrian C. North, Lorraine Sheridan, John Maltby, and Raphael Gillet, the developmental effects of celebrity worship are examined. Through multiple studies it was concluded that, “ intense celebrity worship was associated with poorer mental health, and particularly with poorer general health (depression, anxiety, social disfunction) and negative affect (stress, low positive affect and life satisfaction).” (North, Sheridan, Maltby, Gillet 292) One of the most impactful accounts of social media diminishing self-esteem was explain by 19 year old Essena O’Neill, when she went viral on quitting social media. In early November, 2015, the Instagram famous model took to her followers to explain the “fake world” of Instagram, as explained in a Today News article. In an effort to stop this fake world, “Before deleting her account, O’Neil edited the captions of [her] photos...revealing that a beach bikini photo actually took more than 100 attempts.” (Murray 1) She further explains that due to Instagram, “I’ve spent a majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status, and my physical appearance.” (Murray 1) Her instagram followers revolted the claims, and others were astounded that the truth had actually been spoken. The truth is that the social media world is in many cases very fake, and the people that are celebrated on these forms are not even who they

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