Social networks are closely intertwined with the lives of modern people of different educational levels and social strata. Most young people spend a lot of time on social networks, chatting with friends, commenting on the news, and posting their photos for everyone to see. In such a dynamic and eventful and eventful environment, psychological problems can arise. Social media and its principle of evaluation and approval in the form of likes harm the body’s self-esteem and self-image. This topic is relevant and essential for society and researchers, as problems with self-esteem can be the beginning of long depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and can also seriously affect the quality of life and even lead to a suicide attempt.
By constantly comparing selfies with others, self-esteem can erode and seriously reduce the quality of life. Self-esteem is an individual’s subjective assessment of himself: appearance, academic or work success, talents, and skills. The factors that reduce users’ self-esteem are:
- Constant rating and commenting by others.
- Approval mechanisms that users can set with one click.
- Self-comparison with other users.
Commenting and rating by other users are built into the essence of social networks based on discussion. Often, this can be effusive praise or negative assessments, which severely impact self-esteem, especially in young people and adolescents. Social media endorsement is elementary, making a person depend on the number of likes for a post or photo (Coulthard & Ogden, 2018). Through preferences, a person is reified, becoming a product advertised on a social network. The previous factors are directly related to what does not lie on the surface, namely, the constant comparison born in the user’s psyche (Kavaklı, Ünal, 2021). People compare their achievements in life with those of others, seeing how someone buys a car, or an apartment or arranges a grand wedding ceremony (Vogel et al., 2014). People compare their appearance by noticing other people’s appearance, and modern social media politics have tried to find a way out of this situation. The well-known ban on posting photoshopped photos without specifying filters is a consequence of problems with self-esteem among young people who fall under the influence of social networks.
References
Coulthard, N., & Ogden, J. (2018). The impact of posting selfies and gaining feedback (‘likes’) on the psychological wellbeing of 16-25 year olds: An experimental study. Cyberpsychology, 12(2), 14–24. Web.
Kavaklı, M., & Ünal, G. (2021). The effects of social comparison on the relationships among social media addiction, self-esteem, and general belongingness levels. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 9(2), 114-124. Web.
Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. Web.