Introduction
The rise of social media has influenced how people interact with one another, gain access to information, and display themselves to the outside world. Concerns regarding social media’s effect on our mental health have arisen in light of its users’ growing dependency on the platform. One such topic is the correlation between time spent on social media and feelings of self-worth.
This study aims to answer the question, “How does social media influence self-esteem?” Interest in this area is warranted since self-esteem is vital to overall mental health and has been connected to such diverse outcomes as success in school, personal relationships, and the workplace. This study will investigate the possible connection between social media usage and self-esteem, including how social media use might boost or lower self-esteem.
Social Media’s Influence on Self Esteem and Life Satisfaction
Addiction to social media has been linked to lower rates of depression, but it has been shown to hurt one’s satisfaction and well-being. Guven (2019) argues that feeling good about oneself and good emotions are all positively related to self-esteem. The study aimed to determine whether social media impacts an individual’s self-esteem and overall satisfaction. The hypothesis being tested was that the more time people spent, the less satisfied they felt.
Guven (2019) examines how being active on social media affects happiness and satisfaction. The survey was taken by over 19 students at the University of Alabama, with 78 percent of respondents being female and 21 percent male (Guven, 2019). The survey was divided into five sections, including demographics and four other analysis tools to gather the necessary information.
Similarly, the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ) was the only instrument used for the study. The metric for measuring social media use introduced by Guven (2019) is easy to implement and scientifically sound. According to Guven (2019), assessing one’s own level of life satisfaction is an important metric.
The researcher employed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale for the study to measure participants’ sense of personal worth. To gauge how life satisfaction correlates with contentment, the questionnaire used a 5-point scale (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”). Those who scored highly on the SWLS reported feeling content in most aspects.
This study clearly shows that what people publish on social media can have far-reaching implications for those who encounter it. Satisfaction is little affected by how much time one spends on social media. The positive effect scale and self-esteem are inversely correlated, while the negative effect scale and self-esteem are unrelated (Guven, 2019). Furthermore, self-esteem predicts well-being and happiness and is positively correlated with optimistic outcomes, which are associated with negative impacts.
Social Media’s Questionable Influence on Mental Health and Genders
According to Gallinari (2017), individuals can boost their mood with self-confidence and diminish it by comparing themselves to others. The study was based on the research question that aimed to find whether social media had an impact on mental health and differed across gender. The sound and adverse effects of Instagram on one’s sense of self-worth are contested by Gallinari (2017). Particular attention is paid to the downward comparison theory as the study describes the preponderance of female participants.
People’s self-esteem increases when they receive more “likes” than other users and decreases when they receive fewer. In a study by Gallinari (2017), 124 women between 18 and 20 were requested to display a recent Instagram post after being introduced to a modified post and to record how many “likes” the altered post received. The study employed a 20-item State Self-Esteem scale to assess the three facets of self-esteem: success, social, and presentation.
Based on the research, the number of “likes” on an individual’s post may not serve as a social comparison when considering social comparison theory. Gallinari (2017) also demonstrates that people’s sense of self-esteem is directly proportional to the number of “likes” they receive on social media posts. The results suggest that the effect of social media interactions on one’s self-esteem may vary depending on the person (Gallinari, 2017). There is a need for future research to consider how using social media affects people with poor self-esteem or those coping with psychiatric conditions that may alter their self-esteem.
Social Media’s Questionable Influence on Individual Self-Confidence and Trust
There is also a need to consider how social media affects an individual’s mental state. Acun (2020) researched to clarify how social media use by university students relates to their levels of self-confidence, trust, and life satisfaction. Some of the characteristics of the students that were being tested include their grade point averages, sexes, socioeconomic backgrounds, and self-described worldviews (Acun, 2020). A quantitative research methodology was employed to conduct the investigation.
Students from several social science departments at 12 different public Turkish colleges nationwide participated in the study. The total number of students who participated in the study was 2253 (Acun, 2020). Data were gathered using a categorical variable form, and three additional scales were explicitly developed for the study. A Likert-type scale was used for the evaluations and gathering of results. The data collected was then examined using the one-way ANOVA approach. The main findings from the study are that college students’ levels of trust fluctuate according to how frequently they use social media (Acun, 2020).
Students who perform better academically have lower social media exposure and have stronger self-esteem. Student life satisfaction scores differ significantly by gender. Additionally, Berry et al. (2018) provide further research on the effect of social media on self-esteem while including those with mental illnesses. The study research question is whether social media affects those with and without psychosis. According to Berry’s hypothesis, social media usage may be a predictor of negative mood, low self-esteem, low social standing, and increased discomfort.
Social media’s unique features can make it advantageous or disadvantageous for a person to exist. Berry et al. (2018) examined 18 participants without a history of mental illness and 18 participants who had such a history. The researcher then measures mood using the Positive Impact and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS).
According to Berry et al. (2018), 20 statements on a 5-point Likert scale make up the paranoia scale used to measure the condition. The Paranoia Scale was then employed to assess paranoia using 20 items on a 5-point Likert scale. The Social Comparison Scale (SCS), consisting of a list of eleven pairs of antonyms, was then used by the researchers to evaluate social rank’s initial judgments. The researcher discovered that social media platforms, like Twitter, can encourage the development of specific social ranks (SRs) due to people’s propensity to display themselves and share particular events positively.
The researchers used the Social Comparison Scale (SCS) to generate baseline social comparison levels and quantify the level of social comparison. Based on the findings, people who perform well in the SCS also seem to perform well in the SR. The literature is then examined by Berry et al. (2018) to create a social media baseline summary.
To measure individuals’ emotional attachment to social media and their daily lives, researchers used the Social Network Use Integration Scale (SMUIS). According to projections, using social media will increase negative consequences while reducing favourable ones (Berry et al., 2018). Yet, forecasts show that social media use is a poor indicator of anxiety or low self-esteem. Positivity and self-esteem are high when people post about their regular activities on social media, but low when they post about their feelings and complaints.
Based on the results, social media use has the same impacts on those with and without psychosis. However, having psychosis weakens the link between venting and negative outcomes. In addition, individuals with psychosis use social media less frequently. Research shows that those with and without psychosis are equally at risk while using social media (Berry et al., 2018). The overall unfavorable psychological repercussions underscore the necessity to consider usage in treatment, even though there are not many variations across the groups.
Alternative Perspectives
The impacts of social media on satisfaction and confidence are discussed from different angles in various studies. According to Midgley et al. (2020), those with low self-confidence are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of social contrast on social media. The study’s research question examines whether social media users are more likely to feel superior to those they encounter. The findings highlight how upward comparisons are more common than downward ones and hurt one’s well-being, outlook, and contentment with life. The viewpoint considers the psychological, emotional, and behavioural effects of frequent social media use on its users.
After performing a sensitivity analysis, the researchers assessed the data for social comparisons across three different studies. In the first study, the researchers compared the likelihood that 63 women and 27 men would make an upward distinction before asking the participants to answer a series of questions (Midgley et al., 2020). The social contrast domains explored through Facebook and Instagram in the first study include appearance, academics, career, friendliness, popularity, morality, personality, and health.
In the second sample, 63 women and 27 men were asked a series of questions after reading a positive Facebook post to determine whether or not they were more likely to draw an upward distinction. In the third sample, 165 men and 45 women are analysed. Most respondents have access to both Facebook and Instagram on their mobile devices.
Midgley et al. (2020) found that social media users with low self-esteem made more positive comparisons to others and experienced more unfavourable outcomes. Researchers found that spending time on social media affected participants’ sense of self-worth, emotional state, and daily habits. The findings suggest that increased time spent on social media is negatively associated with well-being and contributes to higher levels of social disparity. The research offers a broader outlook on how social media affects confidence.
Social media platforms can be categorized into various groups based on their frequency of use. Jan et al. (2017) categorized social media platforms into seven classes based on the Social Technographics Ladder. They proposed that social networking platforms positively impact self-esteem for all users, whether they are creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners, viewers, or spectators. They used a self-esteem questionnaire with ten items on a Likert scale and a survey instrument to assess its validity. In Oman, the study analyzed variance (ANOVA) on the heights and weights of 97 locals, with females making up 75.3% of the sample and males 24.7%.
According to the study’s findings, social media profile-changers among creators have high levels of self-esteem and widespread support from their fans. In addition, utilizing Twitter to send messages to others boosts confidence. Like conversationalists, these users regularly update their profiles on many social networks with new information about themselves. Successful conversationalists tend to be confident individuals. A growing sense of self-worth directly results from time spent on social media. According to Jan et al. (2017), critics typically have high self-esteem levels and greatly benefit from the online spotlight. Responding to collectors with positive feedback can boost their sense of self-worth.
Like spectators, inactive users who do not interact with other users through posting, following, and commenting have low self-esteem and are negatively impacted by social media sites like Facebook. Therefore, inactive consumers are likely to have poor self-esteem. These findings highlight the various social media activities and their effects on users’ self-esteem (Jan et al., 2017). The study concluded that the joiners have low self-esteem and obtained results consistent with Midgley et al.’s (2020) research. The study demonstrated that using social media to compare one’s life to others lowers one’s self-esteem.
There is also a need to assess the importance of self-esteem during adolescence. Daniels (2020) emphasizes that adolescents are going through identity formation at a time when self-reflection is likely to impact self-esteem. The researcher thoroughly analyzed Valkenburg’s (2017) findings about the relationships and social self-esteem of teenagers on social networking sites. She examines the development of self-esteem in adolescents and emphasizes how important this development is.
The method in which an individual uses social media can either benefit or negatively affect their sense of self-worth. According to Valkenburg et al. (2017), the kinds of online activities adolescents engage in and the outcomes of their online actions are predicted mainly by the traits of their personalities and unique online behavior. Valkenburg et al. (2017) tested two possible theories that the research was testing. These theories entail how adolescents’ social media use stimulates their social self-esteem and how this self-esteem will increase their social media use.
Adolescent self-esteem rises when they report engaging in behaviors that win the favor of their peers. The study investigates how social media use influences the social self-esteem of 1,783 adolescents, utilizing a three-wave panel survey conducted by the Institute (Valkenburg et al., 2017). The researchers begin by assessing social self-esteem using the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. Valkenburg et al. (2017) calculated the positive frequency of feedback using a diverse self-regression approach to analyze the longitudinal relationships between social media usage and social self-esteem.
The researchers conclude that the effect of social networking on self-esteem can be either positive or negative, depending on how individuals use it. The findings suggest that adolescents’ attitudes and individual online activities significantly predict the type of online behavior they engage in and the impact of their actions on their self-esteem. This study highlights the crucial role of individual differences and online activities in shaping the effects of social media usage on adolescents’ social self-esteem.
Conclusion
In summary, it is evident that social media directly correlates with lower self-esteem, especially among adolescents. The alternative viewpoint of Berry (2018) implies that social media use is a poor predictor of anxiety or self-esteem. In contrast, the perception of social media use by Guven (2019) looks into the relationship between social media use and the general level of life satisfaction and discovers a favorable correlation. Jan et al. (2017), however, dispute the relationship between a user’s use of social media and their sense of identity and self-worth. The researcher also discovered that comparing one’s life to others on social media depletes self-esteem.
The prevalence of women on social media and how it relates to the theory of downward comparison needs to be considered. Gallinari’s (2017) study recommends that future studies investigate the effects of social media on self-esteem and mood disturbances that may affect one’s self-perception. On the other hand, Guven (2019) suggests that using self-reported assessment tools to explore the consequences of social media use can be challenging, as there is no connection between social media use and life satisfaction.
Midgley et al. (2020) propose that social media hurts self-esteem because the similarities between groups on social media can lead to self-deprecating attitudes. Additionally, Guven (2019) notes significant social resistance and unhappiness on social media, and self-report measurements should be addressed as a vulnerability before conducting further studies. In contrast, Valkenburg et al. (2017) offer a unique perspective, suggesting that socially well-adjusted adolescents may experience a slight improvement in self-esteem with increased use of social media.
In conclusion, the findings show direct and indirect relationships between social networking and self-esteem. In addition, it is essential to note that a variety of characteristics, like sex, age, and mental illnesses, have an impact on someone’s sense of self-worth. Prospective researchers should consider all forms of social media and networking sites because the opposing viewpoint raises issues about which social media platforms and other factors contribute to changes in self-esteem.
The implication for the hypothesis is that there is a need for responsible social media use to minimize these negative impacts on one’s self-esteem. It is also necessary to raise awareness and educate individuals about the potential negative impacts of excessive social media use since social media has been found to have adverse effects on self-esteem. There is also a need for further research to explore the specific mechanisms through which social media impacts self-esteem and potential moderating factors such as age, cultural background, and personality traits.
References
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Berry, N., Emsley, R., Lobban, F., & Bucci, S. (2018). Social media and its relationship with mood, self‐esteem and paranoia in psychosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 138(6), 558–570. Web.
Daniels, J. M. (2020). The impact of social media on the self-esteem of youth 10–17 years old: A review of the literature (Publication No. 506) [Doctoral thesis, National Louis University]. Digital Commons Publishers. Web.
Gallinari, E. (2017). “Likes” for self-love? The effects of social media on self-perception. Undergraduate Review, 13(1), 100-105. Web.
Guven, A. (2019). Relationship between social media use, self-esteem and satisfaction with life (Publication No. 1423489) [Master’s thesis, The University of Alabama]. Edu Publishing. Web.
Jan, M., Soomro, S., & Ahmad, N. (2017). Impact of social media on self-esteem. European Scientific Journal, 13(23), 329-341. Web.
Midgley, C., Thai, S., Lockwood, P., Kovacheff, C., & Page-Gould, E. (2021). When every day is a high school reunion: Social media comparisons and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 121(2), 285. Web.
Valkenburg, P. M., Koutamanis, M., & Vossen, H. G. (2017). The concurrent and longitudinal relationships between adolescents’ use of social network sites and their social self-esteem. Computers in human behavior, 76(3), 35-41. Web.