The Influence Social Media has on an Individuals Self-Esteem

docx

School

Utah Valley University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

4660

Subject

Psychology

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by DeanWombatPerson940

running head: THE INFLUENCE SOCIAL MEDIA HAS ON AN INDIVIDUAL’S SELF ESTEEM The Influence Social Media has on an Individuals Self-Esteem Meghan Nelson Utah Valley University

Abstract As social media usage has increased over the years and has become more popular and accessible it has become more of a topic of concern in social psychology. The cause for this concern is the risk it has to harm an individual's mental health and self-esteem. Social media is accessible and used by various age groups, making the potential for psychological harm very likely across all age groups. Researchers have taken more of an interest in this topic for those reasons. As we see the negative that can come from social media, there can also be positive that can come from it. This paper will go over previous research done of both the negatives and positives of social media, as well as present a research project that can help provide more insight on the influence of social media. The goal for the research project is to not only provide more insight, but to provide a potential solution to the problem. Introduction In the United States there are 302.35 million social media users, that is approximately 90% of the US population (Shewale, 2023). The average time users spend on social media every day is two hours and sixteen minutes (Guttmann, 2023) and in that time there is exposure to countless things that can impact an individual's mental health and self-esteem. Summer Allen (2019) explained that social media usage is impacting individuals' day to day life. She talks about social displacement which is the belief that social media replaces face to face interaction which in return reduces well-being. Limited face to face interaction can result in more feelings of loneliness, depression and anxiety. Social media is an attempt to feel the void of those type of interactions, but it does more damage than good. It’s a version of the real world that is glamorized and perfected. Exposure to that leaves individuals feeling negative about their life

and creates feelings of not being good enough. The feeling of being accepted is giving through “likes” and other reactions. The more likes you get the more relevant you are. As we look into research that has been done, we can take action and find a way to change the influence of social media to something more positive and less damaging. Literature Review Social media has shown to have the potential to do a lot of damage to an individual, one of those things bring damaging ones social identity. Walaa Elsayed (2021) did research on this exact topic and argued that if adolescents do not receive the proper guidance and help as they are developing their social identity then their mental health will suffer from that. The guidance he brings up is proving them with structure, giving them opportunities to get out and socialize, and encouragement. He hypothesized that specifically children and adolescents are not developing their social identity due to using all of their free time for social media usage. Self esteem can be heavily influenced by the things that are shown and advertised online. It is easy to compare and wish for more when there is constant exposure to what is deemed as perfection online. Ali Dayi (2023) talks about social media usage and how studies have shown that higher usage is linked to lower self esteem. He referred to this high usage as a social media addiction because of how much it is being used. He hypothesized that there is a relationship between low self esteem and social media and is damaging especially to adolescents as they are developing their own identity. It has only been recently that social media has become as popular and is used as much as it is. Nawaz Ahmad (2017) talks about how early 21 st century was when we started seeing judge growth in social media. Since then social media sites have had more of a heavy influence in

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

numerous ways. He discusses a study that was done where it was found that on Facebook 88% of people engage in making social comparisons, which shows the link between social media and the influence it has on self esteem. He is own research that he did it he found that social media had a very strong influence on self esteem, and that most people do make comparisons with others. His hypothesis was that there is a relationship between social media and self-esteem. Social comparison so something that naturally happens as people are looking at what others are posting on social media and comparing it to their life and what they do or don’t have. Stefano Tartaglia (2018) discussed that comparison can occur with not only comparing themselves to others online, but also comparing themselves with others based on the amount of likes and comments they get. In her own research she found that individuals with low self esteem and those that compare themselves to others spend more time on social media. Her hypothesis was that self-esteem is negatively associated with the amount of time spent on Facebook. Social media usage has also been linked to increased mental health problems. John Alder (2020) makes the point that humans are naturally social creatures, and have a need for social connections and interactions. Social media is taking away that connection, and that is cause for serious concern. He discusses a study that was done where it was found that prolonged usage of social media results in higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. It also creates a stereotype of the need to be popular and liked. In his own research he conducted it was found that 70% of individuals that participated and were exposed to social media had an increase in depressive symptoms. His hypothesis was that social media does negatively influence mental health. Hasan Beyari (2023) also talks about this topic and makes a point on how mental health is a very important part of human well-being and is often overlooked. As people have their own identities online, it is easy to forget that those we are following snd interacting with are real

people too. Negative comments can be damaging to one’s mental health, and so can the amount of likes or reactions they receive. He discusses how social media usage has been linked to things such as depression, poor sleep patterns and anxiety. In his own study he found that social media has a significant negative affect on mental health, and that excessive exposure to it has been linked to negative mental health outcomes. His hypothesis was that social media has a negative affect on mental health. There are believed to be some positive that can come from social media. Marc Rayes believed that social media can have both pros and cons. He discussed how social media can lead to increased self esteem and improved self of belonging. It also is a way where people can connect with friends and family members, creating the ability to maintain and create healthy relationships. On the opposite side he also talks about the stress and pressure to compare it can create. He found that social media can provide essential resources for psychological well being. He still advised that awareness needs to be raised for excessive social media usage, because that can every day functioning. His hypothesis was that social media has both pros and cons to the impact on mental health. Sarah Koehler (2020) focused on heavy social media usage and the increase in mental health disorders that have come from it. She makes the point about how accessible social media is, and how this has created a huge increase in bullying online. That can be extremely damaging to one’s mental health. For this reason, she encourages people to be educated on social media and the harm that it can do. In her study she found that social media was linked to more mental health problems. Her hypothesis was that heavy social media usage is linked to adverse mental health consequences.

Theoretical Justification and Hypothesis They way we see ourselves and how we manage our mental health influences many aspects of our lives, such as our relationships, appearance, the way we interact socially and how we function in our day to day lives. Having a positive self-esteem and having good mental health not only benefits us individually but influences the way we interact with those around us. Self- esteem and mental health are things that can be easily influenced by outside sources, a big one being social media. As previously mentioned, social media can create unrealistic standards, and create the desire and need to be perfect. Individuals only post what they want others to see, and companies promote ideas by making someone feel the need the product in order to meet the standard they are setting. Individuals will create their own idea of who they should be based off these standards that have been set. Which creates the hypothesis that individuals will have more of a negative self-concept after being exposed to social media. Experimental Design For our experimental design, the independent variable will be social media forums, and the dependent variable will be the participants own self-esteem and mental health. This experiment will use a control group, so we are able to observe the expected negative outcome to the exposure of social media. The participants will take two tests, one before the experiment and one after the experiment. After the first test is completed, the participants will be split into two groups. One group with have access to social media, and the other group will be not have access to social media and will be encouraged to interact with each other. After each group has had

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

adequate time to be exposed to the stimulus, they will take the second test to see if their self- esteem and mental health has changed at all. Data Collection For this experimental design we believe that the more people we can get to participate, the more accurate results we can get. To avoid any bias, we will collect individuals living in Utah information that is already available online and send out invitations to 1,000 individuals to participate via email, mail or phone. A potential bias’s we may face is more of one gender, and not a variety of ethnicity due to the high number of caucasian’s in Utah. The age of individuals can also be a concern due to adults contact information being more accessible than younger individuals. A restriction we may face is the funding of this project for a large amount of people to participate. Being able to provide accommodations and compensation for a large number of people may not be achievable. There also is a change for error in the tests we collect to due to individuals not being honest in their answers. This could potentially skew the accuracy of the results and make this experiment not as reliable. We have confidence that even with all of these potential issues that we will still get information that is beneficial in addressing the problem we have discussed. Research Ethics This research should not cause individuals to feel pressured to answer the tests in a specific way, and we will not do anything to make them feel that way. Participants will also not be at risk to get hurt and will be provided a safe environment. They will be exposed to normal social media forums that they are familiar with, and nothing they don’t know how to use or are

uncomfortable using. Due to the influence social media can have it is a possibility that this experiment can change the way someone views themselves, so we provide a mental health screening beforehand to make sure they are mentally able to participant. We will provide participants with a consent form that goes over everything in detail so they will understand the experiment. We will also keep participants identities confidential for privacy reasons. Conclusion Based on our research we have come to the conclusion that media does have a negative effect on an individual's self-esteem and mental health. This issue is something that needs to be addressed and is something that should be continued to be research about in order to find a solution that can help with this problem. We believe that this experiment design will be able to prove our hypothesis and provide more understanding on the issue we are seeing with the negative effects social media is having on the population. References

Allen, S. (2019, September 20). Social media’s growing impact on our lives. https://www.apa.org . https://www.apa.org/members/content/social-media-research Bergagna, E., & Tartaglia, S. (2018). Self-esteem, social comparison, and Facebook use. Europe’s Journal of Psychology , 14 (4), 831– 845. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v14i4.1592 Beyari, H. (2023). The Relationship between Social Media and the Increase in Mental Health Problems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 20 (3), 2383. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032383 Çolak, M., Bingöl, Ö., & Dayı, A. (n.d.). Self-esteem and social media addiction level in adolescents: The mediating role of body image. Indian Journal of Psychiatry , 65 (5), 595– 600. https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_306_22 Elsayed, W. (2021). The negative effects of social media on the social identity of adolescents from the perspective of social work. Heliyon , 7 (2), e06327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06327 Jan, M., Soomro, S. A., & Ahmad, N. (2017a). Impact of social media on Self-Esteem. European Scientific Journal, ESJ , 13 (23), 329. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2017.v13n23p329 Karim, F., Oyewande, A. A., Abdalla, L. F., Ehsanullah, R. C., & Khan, S. (2020). Social media Use and its Connection to Mental Health: A Systematic review. Cureus . https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.8627 Shewale, R. (2023, September 12). Social media users — Global demographics (2023) . https://www.demandsage.com/social-media-users/#:~:text=The%20USA%20has %20302.35%20million,74.2%25%20of%20adults%20using%20it. Statista. (2023, March 20). Average daily media use in the U.S. 2022, by medium . https://www.statista.com/statistics/1289938/daily-media-usage-us/ Zsila, Á., & Reyes, M. E. S. (2023). Pros & cons: impacts of social media on mental health. BMC Psychology , 11 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01243-x

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

The Influence Social Media has on an Individuals Self-Esteem

Related Documents