How Does Social Media Affect Self-Esteem?

Social Media has been widely used around the world, most especially teenagers. Social media is the collective of online communication channels dedicated to community-based interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. (2016 September). Retrieved from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media. Social media has been widely used among people, especially the teenagers. The most popular social networking websites for teenagers are Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. Social media has been widely used by teenagers around the world, spreading their personal information which could affect their self-esteem. Social media affects the self-esteem of teenagers through online bullying, posts of friends or people they follow (including celebrities), and reactions of their friends or followers to their posts. Social media is a major factor of online bullying, because this involves the …show more content…
Since online profiles of registered social media users are publicised, there is a higher chance of receiving these feedbacks. According to University of Georgia, social media plays on our self esteem, giving teenagers narcissistic tendencies. “Despite the name ‘social networks,’ much user activity on networking sites is self-focused,” according to Brittany Gentile, a UGA doctoral candidate who observed the effects of social networks on self-esteem and narcissism. “Through online profiles, teenagers can post pictures, making them feel attractive, quotes from their favourite movies or songs making them look ‘cool’ or ‘awesome,’ or post other statuses which could provoke and attract feedbacks and attention from others. However, if a teenager solely relies on social media for improving self-esteem, it would be intimidating and embarrassing for them to receive negative feedback or criticisms on their profiles or posts.” Livingstone, S. New Media &