Research Paper on Social Media Influence on Teen's Self Esteem

Introduction

One of the advents of the present century is the internet and its impressive impact in connecting people and reducing the world to a global village. It with the internet that social media has emerged serving as an excellent platform that connects the world. It is no secret that the social media has brought significant distractions and the majority of people spend close to half their day on these platforms. One can log into Facebook to see how their friends are faring, check Twitter to catch on what their favourite celebrity is up to or upload their picture and videos on Instagram. While everything seems normal, these social platforms are causing more harm than good. At least the majority of the people on social media are not uploading pictures and videos or sharing their thoughts because they want to. Instead, they are doing so to get the attention of others and a system that is used to measure self-worth on the basis of the response and reactions to their uploads get. This is something that directly correlates to self-esteem. This study intends to establish a relationship between the social media use and self-esteem specific to the teenage population. The study uses secondary data from previous research to make a conclusion that there is a connection between social media use and self-esteem.

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Purpose of the Study

While the advent of the internet is applauded as one of the significant technological innovations in today's age, it's impact of increased social media use is considered toxic. A few research have examined the effects of social media use. Best, Manktelow, and Taylor (2014) researchs on teenagers on social media and conclude that the positive or negative criticism on teenager's uploads affected their well-being and self-esteem. The research concluded that negative feedback decreased the self-esteem of the teenagers while positive feedback improved it. This study intends to affirm such assertion, particularly on teen's self-esteem. The exact aims of the research are to evaluate whether a specific social media platform and the user's reaction to social media relates to their self-esteem.

Hypotheses and Research Question

Without a doubt, social media influences the lives of several people. Of its influences, the visible effects are more profound among the teenage population whose self-esteem has been impacted tremendously. The question driving this research is how the number of likes and the negative and positive comments on posts affects the self-esteem of teenage social media users. In addition, the research seeks to provide answers on how the number of friends or followers on social media platforms affects the self-esteem of teenage users. Ultimately, the research will evaluate the effect of a number of likes the teenage users receive on their selfies and how they feel about the likes.

Statement of Problem

These days, more than before technology has changed how people interact socially. Social media users are glued to their gadgets, be it smartphones, tablets, computers or other types of technology. Wallace (2015) claims that on a single day, people spend an average time of 7hrs on social media platforms. Wallace further provides the estimates for teems which is worse with approximations of 9 hours a day using some form of social media. Another research identifies an increase in the number of teenagers using various social media websites and points at figures of 55% to 83% approximately (Holland & Tiggemann, 2016). These increasing figures are worrying since teens are at the adolescent stages of their lives that is a crucial period where they are trying to figure out their identity, friends and where they belong. Low self-esteem is also linked to a number of psychological issues like suicide, depression, and stress. While social media has been linked to having the potential of negatively influencing teenagers' self-esteem, there might be ways to prevent that and help those already affected. This research will establish the relationship between low self-esteem and social media use as the initial step in drafting a solution to low self-esteem issue among adolescent social media user.

Research Methodology

This research hypothesizes that the use of social media lowers teenager's self-esteem. To establish a relationship between the two, this research takes a qualitative approach and reviews the findings from various studies conducted earlier. The research identifies some factors that generally affect teenager's self-esteem such as social comparison, the negative aspects of social media platforms, the pressure to fit in and stress. These aspects are discussed to develop a conclusion on the hypothesis.

Literature Review

The internet technology has brought tremendous advances in the present century and is a tool that is utilized on a global scale. It is correct to mention that these days, a significant fraction of the global population can access the internet either through their mobile phones, computers, laptops or tablets. With the improved and widespread access of the internet comes more exposure to the online social platforms which is both advantageous and disadvantageous. These days, social media acts as a channel for sharing information on what is happening across the globe. It is possible to be up to date with the current events as news spread globally within seconds through social media. In addition, the social media forms a platform where students can interact for educative purposes and exchange ideas on a matter affecting them in their course as learners. On the contrary, social media equally has its downfall in that its users are susceptible to distorted identity as a result of idolizing celebrities with wealthy lifestyle and glamorous bodies. Such idolization has been linked to low self-esteem in a number of social comparison studies. Food disorders are one of the results of complications stemming from teenagers who idolize thin models with perfect bodies and desires to achieve such looks. Similarly, social media has such influences in the teenager's self-esteem, their body image, psychological health, and eating disorders. Self-esteem which is how an individual feel how worthy they are is recognized as an essential factor in teens mental health and psychopathy influences. It is this knowledge that acts as the drive in the quest to evaluate how social media may impact self-esteem in an age of its widespread use.

Body Image and Self-Esteem

The theory of social comparison has been utilized as a tool in the evaluation of media influence on people. The concept is equally applicable in the case of social media and help in explaining how the platform can influence a teenager's perception of themselves and their self-esteem. Suls and Wheeler (2013) while quoting the theory of social comparison maintains that individuals evaluate themselves in contrast to others. This comparison is tied to individual aspects such as body shape, body image, abilities among others. Fashion adverts always employ the aesthetics of beautiful slim models and masculine men in a marketing attempt. Even though it is quite evident that some of these models are unhealthy and looking underweight with edited perfections, they still affect people's self-esteem especially those who have personal interests in them.

Research has proved that there is a significant relationship between media exposure and the overall dissatisfaction with one's appearance and lower self-esteem. The body type that is idealized by the media is often unhealthy. Ahern, Bennett, and Hetherington (2008) in their study states that most models and celebrities acknowledged to have the perfect body have weight problems despite their idolization and being the cause for body discontent among women. To establish a connection between body dissatisfaction, social comparison and low self-esteem Myers and Crowther (2009) conducts a meta-analysis research. In the study, some factors including methodological variables and demographics as the possible moderators are examined. The findings from 156 studies revealed that social comparison had a strong relationship with higher levels of body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem. More precisely, the study revealed that the effect of body dissatisfaction as a result of social comparison was stronger in women when compared to men relating to age inversely. The effect was stronger when measured directly rather than inferred. There was no difference established relative to the study design, eating disorder or the objects of comparison. The findings from this study confirm the research and theory of social comparison by appearance or looks leads to dissatisfaction with one's body. It is this dissatisfaction that creates low self-esteem within individuals.

In a comparable research, Grabe, Ward, and Hyde (2008) shows teenage girls the images of some thin and average sized models to assesstheeir feelings on the ssizze of the models. After being shown the images of various average sized and thin models. After viewing the pictures of these models, a survey was conducted on these teenage girls to measure their levels of body satisfaction and self-esteem. Among the questions asked in the survey includes; do clothes look better on thin models, are fat people regarded unattractive, what would make people consider them attractive, what do they consider as attractive? The research concluded that there is some level of body dissatisfaction between viewing the images of ultra-thin models for the adolescent girls. However, the pictures of the average sized models seem to give these young women some relief effect as compared to that of thin models. To come up with a solid conclusion, this study evaluated several factors including mental functioning, self-esteem, idealization of the ideal body, self-concept clarity, and social comparison tendency. The findings were that the pictures of the models caused some distress in regards to the body image of these young women. The conclusion was that that the picture of this model had a negative correlation with self-esteem and body satisfaction while that of average models was fair to these teenagers offering some relief. For teenagers who are less equipped to deal with such distress exposed to them from social media, and their peers, the impact is negative on their self-esteem.

While one would think that body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem affects only women, similar themes are observed among the male population. Spurr, Berry, and Walker (2013) run two matching qualitative studies using focus groups to assess teenagers understanding of psychological wellness and healthy bodies. The research holds nine focus groups involving highschool teenagers between the 16-19 age gap from Mid-Western Canada. These studies are designed following an interpretive humanistic standpoint, and a 6-step thematic method is used to analyze the data. One of the common theme established from both studies is the negative impact of media on teenagers body image and the pressure to conform to the ideal body as to what Western world believes is standard per physical appearance. However, this theme would be brought up by one of the male teenagers who state that males are equally vulnerable to the body image effect that media is pushing. He would assert that the figure on tv of toned and muscular men whom they want to be like is negatively impacting on their body image and the overall self-esteem. Spurr, Berry, and Walker (2013) would additionally establish an improved audience of the male-directed periodicals in relation to the sturdy craving by young men to progress their forms which is impracticable to some. Such revelations highlight the need for a need in the understanding of the influence media has on not...