Using Low Self Esteem Thought Facebook Is Safe And Appealing For Self Disclosure

Being addicted to a certain task or substance is never a good value to have, in the case of using social media, lack of real-life socializing is a hazard to a person’s health. For the first article, a survey on 23,532 Norwegians from ages 16-88 was conducted. All of the participants were required to complete, web-based survey that contained the e Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Andreassen, Pallesen, Griffiths, p. 287). The results were concluded to finding a negative correlation between social media usage and self-esteem. In the discussion section, it elaborates on why certain people respond to social media in a powerful way. “People with low self-image, may also prefer communicating online instead of face-to-face” (p. 291). This portrays a message indicating that social media can create an unsafe environment for a person’s mental health by someone relying on a screen to express their emotion rather than physical appearances.

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) offers infinite connections and the ability to express oneself to the world. But are these connections and images of self-based upon fact or fiction? Through selective self-presentation, people often present the “ideal self” instead of the “actual self” in the online environment to achieve the feeling of positive self-esteem. In “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am”, Peggy Orenstein writes of how her Twitter posts reflected an idealized version of her life. Two studies support the hypothesis that such editing can have a positive effect on personal self-esteem. “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem” by Amy Gonzales presents a study demonstrating

Clarissa Silva article in the Huffington Post delves into social media’s impact on self-esteem. As a behavioral scientist, her interest in the matter relates to her field. She also gets the help of other experts Dr. Jennifer Rhodes, Natalia Lusinski, and Dr. Suzana Flores to help with her research. Silva states that “social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills" (1). Then outlines her research findings using rhetorical appeals.

The article “Examining Students’ Intended Image on Facebook: ‘What Were They Thinking?!’” by Joy Peluchette and Katherinne Karl focuses on their research on the reasoning behind the inappropriate Facebook posts of college students. After their research they conclude that the posts of students completely depends on the specific way the student wants to illustrate themselves to their intended audience. Peluchette and Karl strengthen their argument with frequent use of various statistics and transition words; however, they weaken their argument with choosing a topic that can not be fully prove and the lack of in-depth thinking.

Firstly, there have been significant links between our online presence and other aspects of our mental health, which has inspired the subject matter of many recent research studies around the world. There are many psychological and physical factors that affect our mental well-being due to the impact of social media. Depression and Body Dysmorphia being the leading causes, due to the content the individuals are exposed to while online. Even though researchers coined the correlation between social media use and depression as complex. Data was collected from a sample of 340 first year college students, and the findings were that the increase use of Facebook have been associated with higher levels of loneliness. Also the extensive use of Facebook has been associated with higher rates of disordered eating and body image insecurity.

In particular, “Facebook is the leading social media site that promotes information sharing, and part of the company’s mission is to “make the world more open.” In his book The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick explains that Facebook finder’s believe that “more visibility makes us better people. Some claim, for example, that because of Facebook, young people today have a harder time cheating on their boyfriends or girlfriends”” (Tapscott 117) Sharing information is helping the younger generation learn valuable life lessons. With many young Americans on Facebook it reveals who you are in a relationship with. If one individual sees that another has a relationship with someone else, most likely they will not try to start a new relationship with that same person and wreck the previous one. Additionally, revealing all information helps society as well. For example, “When we reveal personal information we can help society too. Every time a gay person comes out or someone with depression opens up about his condition, it helps break down the stigma and prejudice. Fully 20 percent of all patients with the fatal disease ALS share intimate information about their treatment and condition on the network PatientsLikeMe.com. And tens of thousands of others with rare diseases who use that website report that sharing has helped them manage their illness.” (Tapscott

Soraya Mehdizadeh’s work, “Self-Presentation 2.0: Narcissism and Self-Esteem on Facebook,” presents the view that social networking is a “fertile” platform for narcissist to feed their egos with shallow relationships and self-promotion. In other terms, Facebook is the new public relation firm. While regulating what is seen, and presented about themselves, the narcissist are pulling attention to where they want it, their greatness. According to Mehdizadeh, it is proposed that low self-image or “vulnerability to shame” are at the root of narcissism, and Facebook likes brings validation for these people. Looking that definition, she has created a basis for her study.

Social media in society today has an effect more than ever before. Many argue that social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, are crucial in self-representation among young adolescents. As Tettegah points out in her book Emotions, Technology and Social Media, “The site [Facebook] allows adolescents to formulate self-referential intentions as they engage in self-expression online”

There are two possible ways that the use of social networking sites can affect a person’s self esteem. According to a study conducted by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffrey T. Hancock, Facebook helps amplify students’ level of self-esteem. They explained in their study that when people post something on their profile, they have the opportunity to filter the negative information that they would not like to be exposed, and only publicize the information that they consider as positive. By doing this, people can build an ideal image of themselves online, which consequently increase the level of their self-esteem (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011). On the other hand, the study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which

Throughout the years, numerous of researches are conducted to see the connections between social media (namely, Facebook) and narcissism. University of Michigan conducted a research to find the relationship between social media and narcissism. For the first part of the study, the researchers recruited approximately around 486 college undergraduate students with the median age of 19. Meanwhile, 93 adults, mostly white females, with an age mean of 35 years old, were asked by the researchers to complete an online survey for the second part of the study. Participants have to answer questions about their social media use and a personality assessment to measure their level of narcissism (Swanbrow, 2013). Based on the results obtained, Facebook users that scores higher on the personality test tend to have more friends, tag themselves more often in photos posted and update their status more often (Firestone, 2012,

Recent research has documented how technology, and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Instagram) in particular, have given rise to a growing obsession with impression management and self-presentation online. Whether it’s searching for the perfect Instagram photo filter or carefully crafting a humblebrag Facebook status about a recent publication, users frequently engage in selective self-presentation strategies to portray an ‘ideal self’ through social media (Chou & Edge, 2012; Manago, Graham, Greenfield, & Salimkhan, 2008). In turn, we seek out social approval and positive feedback in the form of comments and likes.

The aim of this study is to analyze key psychological processes leading to a false Facebook-self, with an emphasis on key predictors mentioned in the previous sections. And the goal was to find out how the presentation of a “fake self” on Facebook is derived from psychological problems during the early years of upbringing. The theory presented stated that negative attachment styles (avoidant and anxious) both affect the person’s representation. Such false self-representations on Facebook can lead to similar negative consequences and may merit increased awareness, and in some extreme cases – when the gaps between the true and fake self are at

Each moment we spend on social media sites such as Facebook and compare ourselves to others, the more our self-esteem lowers and the more we also get depressed. The worst part is that we forget to take into account that a lot of what we see, particularly from celebrities and brands, is

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

As a consequence, people associate their best self with their digital identity, who ultimately isn’t who they are ,causing a drastic disconnect from one’s actual self and who ‘they are’ online. This disconnect causes an internal dissatisfaction with every aspect of ourselves that turns into something much worse than just a low self-esteem. Anxiety, depression, and addiction have all been results of this, as proven with the BFAS- Berge Facebook Addiction Scale and ‘Facebook Depression’ .(Jennifer Van Pelt, MA)