Six years ago, when I turned thirteen, I remember I had a touch-screen Samsung cell phone, an Aim account, and a desktop computer. These things are nearly taboo for today’s youth generation. Social media wasn’t really around yet, and I’m pretty sure the only thing that could have been around was Facebook, possibly Twitter. In these past six years, social media has infiltrated almost every generation. As if it wasn’t hard enough growing up and trying to keep up with peers, now social media platforms are opening the door to increased vulnerability, self-consciousness, and social comparisons. In today’s world, it’s hard to separate oneself from technology.
Obviously, by constantly looking at peers’ pictures on Instagram and stories on Snapchat, it’s more than likely that many youths’ self images are shifting toward what they see online versus what they see in reality. According to a published study titled “The Common Sense Consensus: Media Use by Tweens and Teens,” teenagers spend an average of nine hours a day using entertainment media. This includes TV, music, social media, internet, and reading; these are all things that are shaping self-concept and self-schemas of both youth and adults. With social media, images are becoming a dominating presence, thus adding to the increased morphing self-schema.
Based on the article “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers,” defining self-concept is becoming harder due to the accumulation of identities from social pressure. From this, self-esteem is taking an unfortunate hit. Both boys and girls are now judging their own popularity and self-worth on how many “likes” and comments they receive on a photo. It has even gotten to the point where people are posting stories asking others to “lmr,” which, for those of you like me who don’t know text lingo, stands for “like my recent.” The fact that this acronym exists shows the impact that one post can have on a user. Users are posting images of themselves primarily because they are seeking validation from likes.
This trend even continues heavily into the college generation. I’ve been witness to picture retakes because they don’t turn out to be “post-worthy” or they can’t come up with a clever caption to fit it. As it turns out, when posts receive a lot of likes, it makes us feel gratification. According to a CNN article titled, “Teens: This is how social media affects your brain,” these “likes” are stimulating the reward circuitry in the brain. Like with most biological reward systems, this keeps users coming back for more, similar to addicted behavior. So yes, in a way, youth is addicted to being perceived as popular, witty, and pretty. Conversely, if posts do not receive the sought-out attention, this can lead to feelings of rejection, isolation, and even animosity. This huge swing of emotions has led to high rates of anxiety, as reported by “How Social Media Affects Teenagers.” This range of feelings is even more prevalent when it comes to self-image.
As we all know, body image and appearance has always been a widespread issue with adolescents and adults. It has been psychologically proven that physical attractiveness does increase popularity, and this has become evident on social media. It has become so easy to use others’ pictures for self-comparisons, and this can increase dissatisfaction, regardless of one's accomplishment and happiness. Something as simple as looking at peers’ posts and thinking, “Wow, they are all so pretty and perfect,” can actually affect self-image and hinder self-confidence. It seems like the feeling of acceptance and belonging has begun to be determined by likes and views on different platforms.
With the world evolving and moving more towards technology, it has become evident that social media is playing a large role in shaping future generations. Some argue that as time moves forward, each generation is becoming more narcissistic and egotistical. Some question if parents play a role in keeping their child(ren) grounded. Experts cited in “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers” are indicating that, yes, they indeed play an important role. To try to lessen this problem, parents should try to set a good example and put the phone and computer away when they are around their kids. Setting this example might help their children follow suit and may even strengthen parent-child bonds. Even further, trying to unplug children and encourage different activities will improve self-worth and self-esteem, and more importantly, face-to-face interaction. How much will social media continue to morph our world? Only future generations will tell.
