Impact of Social Media and Self -Esteem on Women

Impact of Social Media and Self-Esteem on Women

What is the issue?

© Photo by Jose Luis Merino

When asking someone if they have social media, it almost sounds like a silly question to ask right? Everyone, if not most, have some sort of social media platform whether it be Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, or Twitter amongst others. Although its original intention was to connect people from all walks of life, in most recent years social media has increasingly influenced one of our most private and delicate spheres of life, our self-esteem. So much so that it continues to especially negatively affect women's self-esteem. Social media culture has created a new standard in which women base their self worth on the amount of likes, friend requests, and appraisals women receive from others. As a result, women constantly compare themselves to each other. Through this, social media has silently injected its toxic influence in women's' self-esteem. The validation, worth, and sense of belonging we so desperately crave to fulfill us in others and social media's standards is diminished as we steer away from the one person who can truly love and accept us- ourselves.

Research Facts

• Social media users are more self-conscious about how they look

• Women have higher addictive social media usage than men

• According to Vogel, Rose, Roberts, & Eckles (2014), “Self-esteem may be affected by long-term exposure to social media in everyday life” (p. 207).

• Research by Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffiths (2017), “suggest that basic demographic variables (primarily age and sex), narcissism, and self-esteem are are associated with addictive use of social media” (p. 291).

• According to Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffiths (2017), "the role of self-esteem was supported by the empirical data because self-esteem was negatively related to addictive use of social media. This may imply that people use social media in order to obtain higher self-esteem” (p. 291). REFER TO 3.2 CORRELATION DATA

Research Statistics

© FHE Health

© FHE Health

© FHE Health

My Personal Experience: "Am I Good Enough?"

© Photo by Dove

This social issue is important to me and hits close to home as I see how social media has and continues to affect the self-esteem of the community of women around me ranging from friends, peers, and co-workers. Needless to say, I too have directly experienced the negative effects of social media usage when I had it. As a millennial born 1991, most may be shocked to know that I have been social media free since 2012. It was not always this way, at the rise of Myspace in 2005, Facebook in 2009 and Twitter in 2010, I found myself immersed in this new world. By 2010 going into 2012, I observed my social media usage increase as I dedicated at least 8 hours a day on social media to stay “up to date” with news as it made me feel like I was in the know. Not to mention, every day I found myself posting a selfie on both Facebook and Twitter as it became the narrative and reality of the world around me. I witnessed how negatively my self-esteem became impacted. On days when I did not receive "enough" likes, retweets, comments, and friend requests, I would feel worthless, to the extremity of experiencing episodes of depression. I realized that the greater the attention I received, the greater gratification and self-worth I found within myself. But it was not until I took myself out of one aspect of modern society--freeing myself from the constraints and narrative of social media, that I truly began to tap into my truest self. Although social media does have its perks, for me personally, I observed how it was negatively affecting my self- identity and self-esteem. For this reason, 7 years ago, I chose to turn a new life trajectory and live social media free. During my time off social media, I have been able to truly get to know and value myself and get to know others as our humanity always intended us to be and to connect with each other. I do not have the urge to get social media any longer, and use it only for my own purposes, as I have found a freedom in being the narrator of my own identity and self-esteem, free of expectations and free of illusions.

Interviews

Alejandra Fournier

"Social media has definitely affected me in a negative way when it comes to body image. I am a mother who is more self conscious because of my stretch marks and acne. Social media has had a big impact on my insecurities. Every time I see pictures of flawless instagram models on my feed, my self-esteem automatically goes down."

Allison Segura

“I recently disabled my personal IG account because it wasn't providing me joy anymore. I noticed that I would wake up and check my "stats" often wondering why or how others get more followers. How can I? It brings on anxiety and doubt about my own abilities which is frightening and toxic! I already have insecurities and social media amplified them, I allowed it to taint my mind with thoughts that I am not cool enough or smart enough compared to "so and so". Confidence has always been something I needed to work on because I shouldn't yearn for likes or anonymous followers to feel validated. What I truly cherish are the IRL connections with friends, family and co-workers, these people bring good energy that I can feed off of and then reciprocate back onto others. It is the simple act of talking to a like-minded individual in person that has boosted my self esteem. Social media can also be used as a tool which is why I'm keeping the ceramic art account active because that's the presence I wish to push upon the world through my own perspective and aesthetic. There's a difference when you use social media as a platform for a purpose as I am attempting through art. Let's build each other up through a sense of community, and the first step is engaging with people face to face. Facetime doesn't count.”

Krystal Rubio

“There are days when social media can make me feel inspired to explore and be more adventurous; all the fun profiles of people posting their traveling pics, their new cars, achievements and even selfies that update me and tell me people appear happy in their life’s in that moment... all these things can remind me to have fun and enjoy life. At the same time social media can also make me feel lazy and disconnected from the world and even disconnected from myself. First off, social media is like a vortex it’s always there and never ends 5 minutes on the media easily turns to 30 minutes the posts never end someone always has something to share and you can easily forget where you are in your day, outside of the internet. Too much time spent on social media makes me feel like I have wasted hours of my day doing nothing, literally, like I’ve just been scrolling, but not getting any work done... Also, “Dming” through Instagram is not the same as spending quality time in person. Social media makes it easy to access people, but the quality of the interactions with other people is taken away when you are not spending face to face time with one another. I feel that overtime communication through social media lessens the importance of our relationships with people because we get accustomed to sending messages rather than making time for one another. Secondly, social media can make me feel disconnected when I compare myself to what others are posting and feeling. Most time people only post about the good things in life, which always makes me feel the need to feel happy and as if any emotions of sadness is not valid because everyone else is happy. This is unhealthy, all emotions we face sad or happy are valid and just because people highlights the best moments of life (as we should) doesn’t mean that people also face different emotions throughout the day, that we need to attend to. Also, us millennials, have magnified and created a social media culture of what is popular, what gets the most views and likes and what does not. Social media culture has also created a new trend towards looks and beauty. A new hype on what a woman should look like to get “likes”. This can lead to comparison and comparison is unhealthy. Overall I’d say a balance in using social media is good to update and stay updated but too much time spent on it is unhealthy and wasteful.”

Catalina Lepe (no image)

  “I’ve always had social media, not so much because I loved it but because everyone around me had social media. When social media started it was different than what it is now. It used to be a place to post super random things and only your friends (people you knew in real life) would ever see. Social media is not the same thing that it is today. Today, social media is about showing off what you have. It could be your body, your money, your food, your vacations but it is all to show people how great your life is. I started slowly getting away from social media once I started realizing that I was constantly comparing myself to these people and I would feel bad about that fact that my life wasn’t “perfect” like theirs was. I started unfollowing big names like the Kardashians and any “YouTubers” since they were the ones who made it seem like their life was perfect. I then completely stopped using instagram, I have my profile but there are no pictures in my profile. The only social media that I ever use is Snapchat and that’s because I only follow people who are my close friends. People whom I don’t feel like I have to compete with. As women, we had been shown standards that are physically impossible to achieve unless you have surgery. It makes me sad that young girls are seeing these women and think that the only way for them to be worthy is by looking like them. Young girls are starting to look like grown women because they have these role models now. Young girls are being forced to grow up way too quick, these women are selling sex and young girls replicate that. I don’t think that social media has been good for young girls empowerment, but rather it has given girls the wrong idea of what is truly valued in this society.” 

Veronica Gallo (no image)

“The way social media has affected my self esteem: Because I am 40 there is very little social media has affected my self esteem or self worth. By the time FB was a new thing I was already 30 and didn't care for what my social status meant. I will admit that sometimes when I see friends having a moment of success I do not have for myself I can be a little envious but for the most part I am more happy for them than I am feeling unsuccessful. So thankfully growing up in the 80's and 90's when there was no FB or IG I was able to grow up living a carefree life worried about who I was and what I meant to my close group of friends and not worried about 1000's of strangers approval or judgment.”

Get the Buzz Going

Action to Change

As we continue to see social media implement itself into our everyday lives, we must learn to develop a healthy relationship with social media as we learn to disconnect ourselves from its view on beauty and definition of self. A good way to start is to change the narrative and symbolism connected to women, self-esteem and social media. By taking social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook and use it as a tool to send out positive messages such platforms will become a safe haven for all women where they will be able to freely express themselves and be themselves in all their natural glory free of filters, free of  photo edits, free of body edits, and free of body shaming. Through this, we (women) will help ourselves and the women around us develop a new positive and reaffirming narrative that nourishes women’s self-esteem and self identity rather than break each other down. We are women who were made naturally beautiful by God. If you are a woman reading this (or man), know that there is beauty and greatness found within you. No amount of likes, pictures, comments, or what others say can take that away from you. As we learn to love ourselves and disconnect from social media’s narrative, we will gain the love and acceptance we have inside of us waiting to be discovered. Remember you each exemplify the definition of beauty all within yourself ♡.

References

Andreassen, C., Pallesen, S., & Griffiths, M. (2017). The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 287.

[Dove UK]. (2014, July 4). The best bits: The Beauty Project on social media and self-esteem [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4BCBEoOY2k&t=3s

Murray, R. (2018). Where's the least body-positive state in America? You might be surprised. Retrieved June 20, 2019, from https://www.today.com/style/social-media-affecting-way-we-view-our-bodies-it-s-t128500

Vogel, E., Rose, J., Roberts, L., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social Comparison, Social Media, and Self-Esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206-222.