Facebook And Its Effects On Self Esteem Essay

A photograph, painting, canvas, or drawing today is not the same as it was a decade ago. Technology has evolved to the point where we can photoshop a person into a picture, enlarge a person’s butt, or even whiten people’s teeth. At what point do those technological advances cross a line? With social media ranging from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Tumblr, do these media sites promote egotistical behavior? In January of 2013, John Paul Titlow discusses some of the disadvantages and advantages that Instagram has in his essay: “#Me: Instagram Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie” that was posted on a website called ReadWrite. Although Instagram was primarily created to simply share pictures, it has evolved to do much more than that. Some businesses use it to advertise, some people use it to share their art, but then there are some people use it to flaunt their own personal lives in the form of pictures. Titlow acknowledges that Instagram is a desirable way to share art and diverse imagery, but additionally acknowledges that it can be a place where one can promote their own self-popularity. He explains that Instagram has become remarkably important in people’s lives to the point that they cannot view life past those Instagram likes (Titlow). Ultimately, Titlow succeeds in emphasizing the issues that Instagram has created by reason of the way he expresses his text, while furthermore expressing who the audience of his essay is, and by making his overall purpose clear.

Social media is categorized under corporate media in which websites are used to advertise new trends through social networking sites that have many insecure teenagers. By looking at these images of other people, women often compare themselves to them. Girls love to look at pictures on Instagram, Tumblr and even Facebook of their friends and often compare themselves with them. Social media does not always impact one to change their self-image alone, however, the need to belong relates to the people whom women hang out with because those are the people who they feel accept them for who they are. Friends and social groups of these women look into social media for the ‘ideal woman’ they want to be and of course these women do not want to be the odd one out so they change themselves to be like their friends. To feel accepted, you compare your body image, looks, likes, hobbies, eating habits and so on to those that your friends feel are at the “moment trend.” Friends who constantly know what is in or

Jessica began struggling with her mental health and how she viewed her body in seventh grade, the year she made an account on the popular social media site, Instagram. Jessica’s world started to change as she spent more time online viewing the mirages of perfect lives. Everyday, she consumed edited “thinspiration” photos, and with each passing day Jessica felt more insecure about how her body measured up. She became intoxicated in the world that was social media and obsessed over popular Instagram models (people who earn endorsements on the site and advance their modeling career through Instagram). Instagram was once a fun way to interact with friends, but each time she used the website, she fed the growing destruction within her mind. Extreme dieting seemed like the only way for Jessica to achieve the pinnacle of beauty she saw every time she went on her phone. She sought validation of her appearance in likes, comments, and followers. When she didn’t get as many likes as her peers, her self-esteem plummeted. Satisfaction was never achieved for Jessica; no matter how toned her body became or how many followers she gained, she never felt like it was enough, as someone always looked better than her. After several years of maintaining detrimental habits, Jessica started to realize that social

New media has been easily made available everywhere and Facebook in particular as one of the world most popular social networking site (SNS) can be made accessible from desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablet because of this, almost everybody can have access to Facebook anywhere they go. For the most reason, due to the introduction of new media, Facebook plays a key role communication and staying in touch with families, friends, acquaintances, businesses, groups meetings and a whole lot of others. Moreover it has also been useful in growing markets and advertising mediums through big companies, brands and highly respectable top class businesses. New media as a broad topic can be defined as a “form of communication which transmits information through a medium that uses routers and servers via high-speed internet and involves materials been received via desktops, computers, tablets and smartphones”.

Instagram has been introduced to the community around 6 years ago as a social networking app for sharing photos and videos from smartphones. Along with the growth of technology and the Internet, Instagram is now gradually become more and more popular in many social media websites, especially for teenagers. However, many types of research and studies state that Instagram may cause several negative effects on the individuals who use them usually. As the report “Instagram Is Killing Teen Girls’ Self-Esteem”, the author states that almost every girl teenager feels isolated and unsatisfied with what they have. Indeed, they often feel envious and have inferiorities when they see someone have a beautiful dress or living a luxury life (Kohli). Moreover, Instagram users often compare their lives to other people on social media and try to build the perfect platform on social media. If teenagers overuse Instagram for most of their time, it may lower the self-esteem of teenagers, damage the body image, lifestyles, or even affect the mental systems in life satisfaction.

In this day and age, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It has created a platform for people to share information instantly and communicate with people all around the world. Facebook is the most outstanding example of successful social media network. According to the first quarter 2015 earnings announcement by Facebook, the site has achieved 1.44 billion active users per month, and 65% of which are daily active users. Other social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are also a powerful means of communication. With such a large audience, social networking sites provide ample opportunities to acquire information, network, and connect with friends.

Due to the increase in popularity of social media, today’s generation is bombarded with unrealistic standards when it comes to beauty. When young people today first turn on their cellphones, more often than not, they refer to a social media site. Whether it’s the ever-popular Instagram, where people can post pictures and followers can “like” to show their approval or post comments. Or, whether it’s Twitter, where people can post witty or inspiring or informational things for their followers to see and can be retweeted or favourited. Or they could click on the little blue Facebook icon, where all of the above can happen. These are some of the most popular social media outlets today because young people are

There is no denying that social media: Instagram and Tumblr, has a significant influence on all of us. The current effects of social media have increased dramatically among young women aged between 15 and 25. As stated in the study by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) that the high exposure to social media portraying the thin-ideal body may be linked to body image disturbance in young women. They used a meta-analysis examined experimental and correlation studies testing the links between media exposure to young women's body dissatisfaction and the unconscious behavior towards having a thin ideal body. The results by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) support the claim that high exposure to social media images depicting the thin-ideal body is related to

In this literature review, I investigate existing scholarly writing in the areas of Instagram, Social comparison theory through the media, and low self-esteem due to body images on social media. Scholarship in each of these areas provides the groundwork necessary for me to conduct my own research in which I ask the question, “What are the social comparisons of Instagram and low self-esteem of body image pertaining to young girls?”

Why are we so pressured to be perfect, especially with social media? Why now? What has changed? While advertising has existed for decades, teens, specifically females, have never felt this much pressure to have the “ideal body.” Social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, have overtaken a substantial part in teenagers’ lives. Everyone wants to earn the most likes, have the most followers, and receive the most retweets, which stimulates a great deal of psychological pressure. A social media subcategory of advertising has become the main contributor to poor self-image in young adults today. While this phenomenon affects each teenager differently and to varying degrees, young women tend to feel the most detrimental effects.

Technology has had a great impact on the way the world communicates. Access to technology has become an integral part of education, socialization and industry related requirements, and accordingly Internet usage is evolving and growing rapidly. MySpace, Twitter, Skype, and Facebook are some of the online connections people use today to stay in contact with friends, coworkers, and family. Communicating in today’s society has become a lot easier with social networking sites allowing us to communicate with people with a simple click of the mouse. In this paper, I will address the strengths and limitations of social networking. I will look at the ways that social network can impact the social world of people and communities, especially those

Instagram impacts user’s self-image and self-esteem. Young girls and boys are being shot down by users not liking their image, commenting, or even sharing one’s post. Americans check Instagram multiple times a day, because they are looking to see how many likes, or comments they get. If these users’ do not get a certain amount of likes that exceeds their expectations they think, “I’m I pretty enough?”, “is the picture taken well?”, or “does anyone like me?”. This breaks down young Americans emotional health and well-being. Americans today that use Instagram are commenting publicly about how their self-esteem was jeopardized because of this form of social media. For example, Michelle Linker states “I feel anxiety over how many likes I get after I post a picture. If I get two likes, I feel like, what’s wrong with me? Some people judge Instagram by deleting photos that don’t get enough likes” (Gajanan). This quote is an example of how Instagram effects user’s emotionally. Some users even check their “like” count multiple times a day once uploaded for

Social Media has a massive impact on a person’s self-presentation because of the different trends where everyone wants to fit in with society’s expectations of what we should look like. Celebrities are made to be our role models, however, magazines photoshop and make them more toned and a lot slimmer, which makes young people want to make their bodies more like theirs. This then leads to the modern generation becoming self-conscious because they feel they have to fit in and achieve an ideal self that fits in with those around them.

Facebook is currently largest social networking site in the world based on monthly unique visitors – attracting 130 million unique visitors every day (Alexa Inc. 2012). The site’s popularity exploded in 2007 and it bypassed its social networking rival, MySpace, in April 2008 (Phillips 2007). Over the last few years Facebook has impacted people’s social lives in various ways. With its availability on modern smart phones, Facebook enables users to continuously stay in touch with friends, relatives and peers wherever they are in the world as long as they have internet access. It can also group people together who share beliefs and interests and has been known to even reunite lost family members and friends through its enormous social reach

Women lurk on a man’s page seeking for their materialistic items such as cars, money, and the way a man dresses. Instances such as these causes low self-esteem of individuals who do not portray these specific items or lifestyles on social media. USA Today asked 23 Chicago college students about social media and 20 out of 23 students believed social media caused anxiety or added stress to an individual’s life. One female college student believed that social media adds a lot of pressure to be the perfect person, because that’s how individuals can make themselves look online. A lot of women on social media with low self-esteem issues show their skin and wear revealing outfits to feel “better” about their own body by taking into account how many likes on Instagram or Facebook they receive. The college students have realized it was easy to portray a different version of them on the internet. Individuals believe the number of likes on Facebook/Instagram or retweets on Twitter is used as a tool for verification for acceptance within their group of peers. This can cause a domino effect of problems on an individual’s self-esteem. An individual will post photos that are outside their character just to seek approval through the likes from their peers. This may boost an individual’s self-esteem temporarily, but once he or she logs off social media their self-esteem really hasn’t improved. Valkenbur, P. M., Peter, J., & Shouted, A. P. (2006). Friend