Does Social Media Affect Self Esteem

Self-esteem is a global evaluative dimension of the self and determines if you are satisfied with certain aspects of your life. For example, your appearance, your personality, your abilities and your relationship with others. The media is a powerful source of tool to manipulate adolescents that portrays unrealistic images that affect the way they feel about themselves. I believe that the social media does affect the self-esteem of adolescent’s due to self-image.

Social media influences a teenager's self-esteem because it can lower or boost their self-esteem. It can lower a teenager's self-esteem by having cyberbullies on the internet putting them down with their negative opinions of the teen which can also drive the teens to feel hurt, or discourgaed by letting others opinions get to them. Social media can boost a teenager’s self-esteem by having a lots of friends or followers, because they’ll feel cool and popular. It can also boost their self-esteem because if they post a selfie of themselves on social media and everybody is commenting on how pretty or how nice they look, they will feel

Authors Jakobsons, Simmons, and Kellas all agree on one basic idea, social media can affect teen’s mental health. Jakobsons and Kellas both argue that this age of visual platforms makes teens feel inadequate, compared to others. Comparisons can bring pressure to look perfect, resulting in a higher risk of anxiety and depression. Though Simmon’s dispute revolves more towards the negative body image teens can develop when looking at their feed, she also agrees on the ties it has with mental illness. However, unlike Jakobsons and Kellas, Simmons feels that teens should not be so easily bought in with the images they see on their screens, but should look with the same critical eye as seen through with movies and magazines. On the other hand, Kellas brings in the fact that social media, has made teens feel below average in beauty, intelligence and worth. Authors Jakobsons and Simmons both acknowledge that in order to help with the negative effects of social media parents should talk to their children about feeling confident and letting them know they are perfect the way they are.

Communication barriers are not the only issue that has been brought on by social media. Extensive social media use has also been known to affect a person’s self-esteem. Some individuals suffer from a low self-esteem and limit themselves to social media in hopes to create a different image of them. According to Charles Cooley, “The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind" (Morine, 2009). For some teens and young adults, social media may help them open up and achieve a higher self-esteem. On the other hand, social media on other teens and young adults may have a completely opposite effect. In an article titled, Is Facebook Making Your Child Depressed, it is stated that social media websites such as Facebook “can create a skewed reality that makes teens feel alienated” (PR, 2012). When a person, that is not completely happy with their life, goes onto social media and reads all about other people enjoying a multitude of activities and enjoying their lives this could

The internet has become a place where people can communicate with each other, share personal information, and create an image for themselves. Although there are many positives to the internet there are many negatives as well. Social media today has expectations for how people should act or behave. This affects children because they feel the need to live up to those expectations in order to fit in. Therefore, kids often portray themselves to be something they are not. In addition to that, people get so caught up in the popularity online. They care so much about how many followers they have and how many likes they get on a picture.

While these youngsters should be able to control what they appear like online, they should not be self conscious. Children should not sacrifice who they are for what they want to appear like online. Generally, minors want to appear socially acceptable online. Often, children prevent themselves from expressing their individuality so they appear more socially acceptable in the digital world. This can have a major effect on society as a whole because children will start to become more and more like each other, effectively ridding of individualism. But it is not entirely the children’s fault for acting this way. The thought of having yourself in the digital world permanently can be scary. Not only are posts and comments permanent, but everyone can easily access them. In Teddy Wayne’s “Holdouts of the Social Media Age”, Wayne explains that people should be cautious about what they post because big corporations and the government has full access to the digital information. Mr. Flanery, who joined Facebook in 2007, stated, “It was only gradually that I began to realize the visibility of my posts on other people’s pages, to a body whose makeup I couldn’t police” (3). Flanery only realized how public his posts were after he freely posted and commented. Because big corporations and the government have access to digital profiles, Flanery and many other adults choose to post carefully. These adults have a choice of what they post. In contrast, children can not control what is posted about them. This is why children should not be introduced to social media until they get older. This enables them to choose what they want publicly posted about them when they have an understanding of how public their information

Social media can have negative effect on people’s self-esteem and, in severe cases, lead to depression. According to socialnetworking.procon.org, social networking sites help people who are socially isolated or shy connect with other people. More than 25% of teens report that social networking makes them feel less shy, 28% report feeling more outgoing, and 20% report feeling more confident (P.1). Although it boosts the confidence and self-esteem of some, social media can

Picture this, you just got the greatest haircut of your life. Feeling good, you take a selfie and post it on Instagram with the caption, “Feelin’ good.” A few hours later, you get a notification that someone commented on your picture. That comment reads, “You’re feeling good about THAT haircut? LOL!” You were just a victim of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is one of the many negative effects of social networking and social media on teens, and could create a situation that results in death (Mulvihill). Some people, however, claim that social media can improve teens’ knowledge of current social affairs, but others assert that the cons outweigh the pros. Although social media can inform teens

Caroline Knorr, in her article "Five ways social media can be good for teens," explains the common misconception that social media doesn’t have any benefits for improving a teen’s self-esteem or well-being. She explains that social media causes positive impacts on teens. Knorr points out several advantages of how social media can increase a teenager’s confidence or general well-being, such as allowing them to express their individuality. Teenagers have a desire

Social media increases strong traits of low self-esteem in many different age groups, by unachievable physical appearance, the negative messages media leaves, and never being able to achieve a persistence private life. There is a continuing cause of low self-esteem since it was created, girls and boys always having posts, comments, and pictures weighing on their shoulders. Social media as defined by the Oxford Dictionary as, “Social media noun [treated as sing. or pl.] websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking” was created for the soul content of creating and

Predominantly 7% of adolescents receive negative feedback pertaining to their online profiles every visit to their social network of choice (Valkenburg). As for the remaining 93%, they have neutral interactions, receiving both positive and negative feedback. CNN reports that teens are spending 9 hours a day consuming media, the vast majority of which is done through social media (Wallace). Teens are spending more of their time than ever before interacting with the world and their peers, all possible in the comfort of their own homes. With the majority of teen’s lives being consumed by the internet, the psychological effects at play must be carefully addressed. All

Many teens simply watch other kids acting out which influences them to behave poorly as well. “The latest studies show that people, especially teenagers, who frequently visit their social media account increase their likelihood of participating in poor habits, such as smoking, drinking, and premarital sex, compared to people who do not have an account or seldom visits it” (Socmedsean). Not only can the chronic use of technological devices have a negative impact on the development of social skills, it can also affect a child's mental health. Social media is changing the way each person communicates with one another and the way we are recognized, positively and negatively. This eventually decreases the amount of face-to-face conversations teenagers have. Every time a photo is posted, or a status is updated, this is contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand. It is stated that only seven percent of communication is from written or verbal, and ninety-three percent is non-verbal body language (Tardanico,Susan). Non-verbal communication could lead to teenagers lying about their emotion and problems so they are not questioned. A total of

Social media use is one of the challenges that young adults face regarding their self esteem levels. Findings from Youth Central stating that 62% of young people felt that social media and advertising in the media impacted their self esteem levels in a negative way (as cited in Berman & White, 2013). Social media profiles are often well constructed and also well thought out, and often only show and emphasize the positive characteristics of either the user themselves or the life that he or she lives (Woods & Scott, 2016). Viewing profiles that are well constructed can be linked to a decrease in the self esteem of the viewers, because of the view that he or she is

According to an interview of both men and women aged twenty-eight to seventy-three conducted by the Huffington Post, sixty percent of people reported that social media had a negative effect on their self-esteem. Fifty percent of those people also reported that social media had a negative effect on their relationships and eighty percent said that it is extremely easy to be deceived by others on social media. Preteen girls are too vulnerable and not properly equipped to be on social media. Social media is a place where we compare our backstage lives to others controlled and curated lives, easily falling into the trap of not being able to distinguish between fact and fiction. Adults often have a hard time determining the difference, meaning preteen girls are especially susceptible to the lies of social media.

Write an essay in which you examine the effects of social media on teenagers’ self-esteem. You can choose males or females in your essay. Discuss how fashionistas, Hollywood stars and rich people’s social media sites have affected young girls or boys’ perceptions of their lifestyles, beauty and worthiness.