Analyzing the Effects of Social Media on Teenagers' Self-Esteem

This essay examines the impact of social media on teenagers' self-esteem, highlighting both the benefits and drawbacks of social media use. It presents statistics on the prevalence of negative experiences such as online bullying and the correlation between social media usage and decreased self-esteem, stress, and depression. The essay discusses how platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can contribute to issues such as social anxiety, addiction, and fear of missing out (FOMO), ultimately leading to a reduction in self-worth. It emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues due to potential complications like eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. The essay concludes with recommendations and strategies for mitigating the negative impacts, including limiting social media exposure, engaging in physical activity, and avoiding social comparison. This resource is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of academic materials and study tools for students.

Running Head: SELF-ESTEEM
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What Effects Does Social Media Have On Teenagers Self Esteem?
Essay
student
5/31/2019

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Statistics of impacts of Social media sites on teenagers...........................................................................2
Impacts of social media on teenagers self-esteem....................................................................................3
Why it is important..................................................................................................................................5
Recommendation’s and strategies for addressing the issues....................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References.................................................................................................................................................10
References.................................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Social media has become an important part of people’s life these days. Social media
describes as the medium of interactions between people in which they generate, share and
exchange the information and notions in the virtual societies and networks (Uhls, Ellison, &
Subrahmanyam, 2017). Some of the examples of social media applications that are currently
used by people are Facebook, Instagram, snap chat, Tumblr, and WhatsApp. Social media assist
people in developing better social skills, feeling less isolated, having fun, being creative and
share their notions, learn new culture and education, learn about international events and present
affairs outside the local environment (Anderson, & Jiang, 2018). While it has many advantages,
it also results in different negative impacts on people. Some of the disadvantages of using social
media sites are spending too much time on these sites and disconnecting with the real world,
being a victim of online bullying, being harassed or annoyed by people, having decreased self-
esteem, and being a victim of online scams, stress, and depression. Mostly teenagers are affected
by the negative issues of social media sites. However social media usage affects people from
every age group, but it impacts teenagers more than any other age groups (Smith, Morgan, &
Monks, 2017). In this particular research essay, what effects does the social media have on
adolescent's self-esteem ? will be discussed.
Statistics of impacts of Social media sites on teenagers
There is the number of researches has been conducted on the negative impacts of social
media sites on teenagers, and most of the studies identified that using these platform can impacts
teenagers self-esteem and may enhance the chances of developing stress, and depression related
issues (Hawi, & Samaha, 2017). It has been identified that nearly 88 per cent of the adolescents

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views someone who means or cruel to other individuals on social networking sites (Anderson, &
Jiang, 2018). Nearly 12 per cent of teenagers reported being witnessed of unpleasant behavior
commonly on these sires. Around 15 per cent of the adolescents experienced cruelty once in a
lifespan. It has been recognized in different researches that nearly 91 per cent of people aged 16
to 24 years old use social media sites. It was also found that nearly 6 per cent of the adolescents
experienced trouble at school due to posting some content on the social media sites and faced
embarrassment (de Vries, Peter, de Graaf, & Nikken, 2016). In a study conducted on teenagers
identified that 60 per cent of the people using social media sites or applications reported that it
negatively affected their self-esteem, nearly 50 % of the individuals revealed that social media
sites have a negative impact on their relationship with other people. The investigators also
identify that nearly 80 per cent of teens stated that is it easier to be deceived by other people by
their sharing of posts on the social media platform (Hawi, & Samaha, 2017).
Impacts of social media on teenagers self-esteem
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are recognized as the
source of negative impacts on the user’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is described as a person’s
overall subjective expressive or emotional evaluation of their own worth. It is actually the
judgment of people in additions to an attitude towards themselves. The opportunity for the
teenagers to develop and manage the relationships within the boundaries of social media it has
also been increased in last few years and become a major source of reduced self-esteem among
them (Valkenburg, Koutamanis, & Vossen, 2017).
Some of the studies conducted on the physiological basis of reduced self-esteem due to
social media usage among teenagers identified that different types of the self-identified behaviors
on the social networking sites were linked with the subsequent alternations in the person's mood

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and paranoia at the additional time point (Sampasa-Kanyinga, & Lewis, 2015). Particularly,
posting some content about the routine activities was linked to the subsequent enhancement in
the positive effects and self-esteem of the individual, on the other hand viewing some newsfeed
of the social media resulted in the significant reductions in the negative or unfavorable impacts
ad paranoia and conduct (Hawi, & Samaha, 2017). Watching negative content likewise
associated with the subsequent reduction in psychological health as it enhanced the release of
stress hormones in the body and the person feel sad. Equally, posting content related to the
feelings and expelling on social media sites like Facebook and integral are linked with following
declines in mood and self‐esteem of the teenagers and upsurges in paranoia and seeing profiles
of persons who were not ‘associates' on the social media sites or application and posting
comments on those posts/pictures of the people result in increased paranoia (Andreassen,
Pallesen, & Griffiths, 2017).
Social media impacts the mental health of teenagers in different ways including social
abundance, addiction, anxiety, and depression. Most of the teenagers who use social media
platforms check their cell phone at a frequent basis and this result in stimulations of the addiction
brain areas as the user face high usage. The diagnostic and the statistical data of the mental
disorder do not involve the addition of the internet, but the indications involve the emotional
shutdown, withdrawal symptoms and incapability to concentrate (Malik, & Khan, 2015).
Teenagers who use Social media sites may experience FOMO (fear of missing out). This is the
time when teenagers sense that other people are enjoying more without including them. The
teenagers may also experience anxiety as they do not sense smart enough, compare to others in
terms of interest and successfulness (Fox, & Vendemia, 2016). These issues ultimately result in a
reduction of self-esteem. Depression is another source of reduced self-esteem in a teenager who

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overuse social media sites. According to different psychologists on the surface to social media
site called Facebook, it delivers an invaluable resource for satisfying the basic humanoid
requirements for the social links. However, instead of improving the wellbeing, Facebook usage
predicts the negative outcomes; it undermines it. It has also been identified that the more
teenagers use Facebook the more they develop mood drop (Kuss, & Griffiths, 2017).
Why it is important
It is important to examine the impacts of social media on teenager’s self-esteem before it
becomes uncontrollable. Gallagher (2017) conducted a study among the teenagers identified that
resolving these issues is important is there are some main complications that teenagers
experiencing due to reduced self-esteem including eating disorder, abnormal eating, and high
exercise habits. They reported that dropped body image or dissatisfaction may encourage one to
involve in the eating disorder, it is also associated with using pills of diet, laxatives, and smoking
and may also cause suicidal thoughts. Women aged 13 to 19 are more likely to be concerned
about their body image such as body weight, and skin color. High school teenagers are highly
exaggerated by social media and how the images in different magazines increase body
unhappiness and a wish to reduce their weight (Błachnio, Przepiorka, & Rudnicka, 2016). Even
some athletes person who exercises frequently and is in good shape are stressed to be assured on
social media sites and look for approval or people on these platforms. And they do not receive
what they were looking for these results in low self-esteem and dissatisfaction form themselves
and may prevent them from making efforts in other areas of their life. Teenage Females who had
increased contingent self-esteem sensed negatively afterwards linking themselves to the actresses
or models and are more probable to involve in body embarrassing behavior (Malik, & Khan,
2015). The females with reduced self-perceptions of attractiveness face depressive moods in

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addition to decreased positivity. It is important to address the self-esteem caused by social media
networking as it is not only affecting the mental health of teenagers by also affecting their
physical health. Some of the physical issues that may be caused along with reduced self-esteem
include sleeplessness, promotes inactivity, and increased obesity. It also exacerbates the
relationships contingents to self-esteem. The self-esteem of teenagers in this particular condition
is based on their relationship status or their partners. Due to this, they desire to show their friends
on social sites that they are in a healthy relationship by arrogant about their associates. They
might also post content publically on their partner's account such as a Facebook wall that might
be shared privately (Fox, & Vendemia, 2016).
Other causes of reduced self-esteem due to social media usage include selfies. Teenagers
commonly post their selfies on different social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and snap
chat to attain social desirability, in addition, to improve their self-confidence and self-esteem,
which takes place by the number likes that receives on their selfie (Wang, Yang, & Haigh, 2017).
When Adolescents boys and girls have great self-esteem, they are very less likely to let the lower
like or comments impacts their self-confidence or bother them in any way. By using
smartphones these days teenagers are capable to post some pictures or videos that were thought
to be liked by others but become embarrassing for them. When the post an embarrassing picture
on their social media sites, it is open for the entire world to view if not hide from others. This
might results in harassment and bullying by others. It might be difficult for them to erase the post
as it was already downloaded or viewed by others and shared furthermore after it published.
These particular situations become an embarrassing moment and can cause the adolescents to
sense lost, abundant, low self-esteem and even suicidal thoughts (Valkenburg, Koutamanis, &
Vossen, 2017).

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Recommendation’s and strategies for addressing the issues
There are different researches conducted on the strategies that can be used to address the
low self-esteem related in issues that cause by social media usage. Limiting the exposure to
social media can be an effective method for solving problems of low self-esteem form its root.
Here the parent can take place. In today's world children are also exposed to the increased usage
of social site, the parent should keep an eye on their child or teenagers and limits their usage for
the specific time period (Chassiakos, Radesky, Christakis, Moreno, & Cross, 2016). Teenagers
must take breaks for social media usage, and give themselves time to explore other things so that
they are not exposed constantly to the contents that a social media site spreads about the body
image. Another scientifically proven strategy to deal with reduced self-esteem is physical
activity. Exercises and other physical activities are favorable for both physical and mental
health. When the teenagers exercise, endorphins hormone released in the brain that makes the
person feel happy. And being happy can ultimately increase self-esteem. Occasionally the reason
the social media and body perception hurt individual self-esteem increasingly as someone in the
past posted a negative comment on the picture or videos uploaded by teenagers (Dimofte,
Goodstein, & Brumbaugh, 2015). The teenagers need to let it go and forgive the person and must
think that he or she is not the last person in the world, and their opinion does not matter. The
teenagers should not read the comments that impact their self-esteem; the identifications can be
done after reading the first sentence of the comment. If they find anything negative about their
self-image they should not read it or if possible block the person from the friend list. Teenagers
must avoid making a comparison; they should not look at how people represent themselves on
social media and makes a judgment related to you on their Facebook wall. They must remind
themselves that there is plenty of happiness to go around rather than viewing pictures of

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someone and feel jealous. Teenagers who are facing issues of reduced self-esteem due to social
media can also take help from professionals. Psychologists and counselors can help the
adolescents to pinpoint the issues, view the effects that social media has on teen’s body image
and assist them in recovering using different behavioral models or therapies (Brummelman,
Thomaes, & Sedikides, 2016).
Conclusion
Social media sites are commonly used communicating and sharing information between
friends and families. Nowadays social media has become an essential part of teenager's and the
spend most of their time on some social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snap
chat, others. The increasing use of these sites increasing mental and physical issues among those
adolescents. One of the main issues Social media posing on teenagers is reduced self-esteem, and
nearly 60 per cent of social media user teenager experience low self-esteem issues and felt
embarrassment to the content posted in past by them. Reduced self-esteem caused by social
media usage also causing other issues like depression, anxiety and stress among children and
teenagers. It is important to talk about the negative impacts of these sites on teenagers as it
impacts their education and future goals and to reduce to risk of developing suicidal thoughts.
Some of the recommendations and strategies that can be helpful for teens and their parents to
address low self-esteem related issues include ignoring the negative comments posted on
teenager’s wall or pictures, and limiting the use of social media sites. The teenager must also be
recommended for blocking people who post their pictures and compared with them. They should
ignore newsfeeds posted by different magazines and other sources that make them feel low and
disappoint with their color, weight and shape. The parent should restrict the usage of smartphone

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and tablets in different parts of the house and for a limited time period. Teenagers can also take
help from psychologists and counselors who can help them by using behaviors and therapies.

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References