Although minor and misinterpreted, SNS might affect one’s self-esteem and well-being. Proceeding the argument about self-disclose, Gonzales and Hancockput (2011) suggest that honest self-presentation is positively associated with well-being since most of people who engage in self-disclose are interested in creating and maintain social ties. A study suggests that by engaging in honest self-presentation, people increase their social perspective and wider their need of social support. This indeed influence one’s well-being (Lee et al., 2013). On the other hand, social networking also may also have a negative impact on well-being; SNSs are platforms that mostly incentive narcissistic behavior (Chiou et al., 2014). Therefore, one is more concerned with depicting positive aspects of their life than being honest and offering social support. Another reason why SNS have a negative effect on self-esteem is due to the fact that one’s self alter to be the object of analysis, which is similar to the reaction of looking to a mirror. Chious suggests that a normal SNS user would recheck their profile online several times, which leads to short-term woe and, therefore, lower well-being. However, different to every day face-to-face interactions, people on social media have more time to prepare what to present or disclose; this give them the opportunity to present positive aspects of their life leading to a more positive self- evaluation, consequently leading to higher self-esteem. Another
The examiners randomly assigned participants to a control group (offline), exposure to a mirror (offline) and exposure to their social media profile page (online). Surveyors told all participants the study was designed to examine people’s attitudes about themselves after viewing different websites and told both offline groups that they were the control group. In the social media stimuli group, participants viewed their personal profile page for three minutes. The profile pages contained self-generated content. The mirror stimuli group viewed their reflection for three minutes. The control group viewed no stimuli. After the three minutes had elapsed, all participants completed a survey designed to measure self-esteem. To measure selective self-presentation, the examiners asked the online group if they left or edited their profile page. Compared to the control and mirror stimuli groups, participants exposed to their social media profile page reported higher levels of self-esteem. Individuals who viewed only their profile page reported greater self-esteem than individuals who also viewed other profile pages. Finally, participants who edited their profile page reported higher levels of self-esteem than those who did not. Gonzales notes that social media “is a unique source of self-awareness stimuli in that it enhances the awareness of the optimal self. Thus, the
There is debate over these social networking sites; do the benefits outweigh the dangers? Some people argue that social networking sites promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact and interactions with people from around the world. Others argue that these sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time involved in face-to-face interaction. On an average day it is said that American’s waste about 17% of their day on the internet interacting on social media and networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. The popularity of these sites has more than
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.
About 5 years ago when social media really began to take off, researched noticed that almost 80% of things posted on social media were very self-oriented. Not too long after this realization, two researchers from Harvard decided to investigate about how these self-oriented posts impacted the human mind. Ultimately, they found that sharing
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.
Can the excessive use of social media, specifically Facebook, be seen as a form of narcissism? Editors Edwin E. Gantt and Brent Slife of Brigham Young University present two opposing opinions to explore this topic in their presentation, “Is Excessive Use of Social Media a Form of Narcissism?”. Could the oversharing, “duck face”, and look at me virtual world be a way to reach out to each other or just a shallow attempt at self-validation? Each article expresses the author’s views, and research on the subject.
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,
Living in the 21st century requires one to stay current with latest technological advancements. Ever since the development of social networking sites, people are now able to create a carefully-crafted identity for themselves. This has led psychologists to question how well these online personalities match the person in front of the computer. The innovative branch of media psychology looks into how social networking portrays individuals and initiates human interactions within a society.
Social networking has risen in popularity throughout the last twenty years and in effect narcissistic behavior has increased within society(particularly America's society) since the 1980's(Jayson 1). Studies show that the greater an individual is inclined to narcissistic behavior; there is a resulting increase in their online social networking activity(Mehdizadeh 357). Social networking sites or “SNSs” are defined as: “A web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”(Boyd, Ellison 1).
Social networking has become a major part of society. Many people wake up each day and check social media websites specifically throughout Twitter and Facebook first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a newspaper. Since people are spending such a large amount of time surfing social networks, it is important to point out some of the positive and negative effects that social networking can have on a society. The positive effects of social networking sites are allow people to create new relationships and reconnect with friends and family. Increased communication, even online, strengthens relationships. And the other is social networking sites make people share everything that they want and bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety.
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 use of SNSs (social network sites) can have both positive and negative effects on the individual; however, few studies identify the types of people who frequent these Internet sites
The internet has a greater impact on people today than ever before. It has been a constant source of news, entertainment, and education for users around the world for more than twenty years. However, the most revolutionary of its technologies, social media, didn’t achieve mainstream popularity until about ten years ago. As a result of this new development, Facebook, Twitter, and similar services are becoming the most visited destinations on the internet. These websites allow users to quickly and easily share pictures, links, ideas and messages with other users; theoretically facilitating social interaction. But do these self-proclaimed social networking tools actually encourage healthy human interaction? The evidence suggests that they do.
Social sites are a beneficial way to communicate, however, it affects a person’s ability to communicate face to face with others. Many people spend much of their leisure time online rather than connecting with the offline world. In a specific article, a participant spends several hours each day updating her profile instead of talking face to face with others (Livingstone 399). Being online more than offline, decreases people’s abilities to interact with others who are disconnected. Furthermore, by communicating online also contributes to misrepresentation, which leads to misreading a text, leading to mixed emotions of a person who wrote the message. Therefore, social networking reduces an emotional aspect between people as it is hard to tell what a person is feeling through text. In addition, people lack confidence talking to an individual physically rather than virtually. In an