Social Media and Self Perception

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Another study by Jen Comas Keck states that over half of the women that she interviewed said that looking at pictures and status updates on social networks sites made them more self-conscious about their body and their weight. In that same study Keck (2012), said that "the most avid female social media users were also more likely to be unhappier and less content with their lives than others." I think that even though social media sites undoubtedly serve an entertainment for us, it is an undeniable fact that it is also affecting us on some deeper level because our self-image can be greatly affected by what we see or hear about ourselves. Because self-esteem is related to self-consciousness, it explains the self-judgmental side of an individual which adds worthiness feelings, discouragement and closely related feelings.

In childhood and adolescence self-esteem takes a more abstract sense, and people have a noticeable concern about how they are perceived by others. To find a self becomes the priority for young people, because during this period their intelligence reaches a level of development, which allows them to think about what the outside world is and how it should be (Pfeiffer, 2002).

All together previous researches and the current studies suggest that social media use can impact self-perceptions and well-being in positive and negative ways through different routes. Which route is stronger likely depends on the individual user and the activities engaged. When engaging in social interaction, the positive effects through social capital and positive feedback are more likely. In contrast, looking at the posts of others may have negative effects on well-being through social comparison. Experimental evidence shows that looking at people who are doing well on social media can cause negative effects on self-perception (Haferkamp & Krämer, 2011). The correlational study builds on this work by showing that social media use goes hand in hand with such negative social comparisons in real life as well as that social media use is negatively related to self-perceptions through this negative social comparison also these negative relationships are strongest among people who are unhappy.

Addictive social media use related to lower age, not being in a relationship, lower education, being a student, lower income, having narcissistic traits, and negative self-esteem.

Although using social media is a normal in modern behavior, individuals with some of these characteristics could be targets for interventions with the aim of preventing addictive and destructive online participation.

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