Ashley Scott
Professor Coats
Univ 112
29 April 2015
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine are all words that had
absolutely no meaning just a few years ago. Nevertheless, these words nowadays are
recognized as household names by virtually anyone involved with technology. These
sites are all considered forms of online social media or social networking sites. Byod and
Ellison (2007) p.2 defined social network sites as web-based services that allow
individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,
articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse
their list of connections and those made by others within the system. Social media lets
your interact and connect with people in an online cyber world. These networking sites
can have both positive and negative psychological effects on today’s society. Although
there are some psychological benefits to society using social media, these sites are
ultimately generating an immense negative affect on society. It is almost impossible to go
through life without ever comparing yourself to others. However, in today’s Internet
based world social comparison is completely inescapable due to the reality that social
media is essentially social comparison on steroids.
In American culture we are taught at a young age that it is typical or normal for
individuals to compare themselves to others. Humans have a natural tendency to compare
ones self to others and then make judgments about it. It is nearly impossible for an
individual to go through life without makings comparisons about oneself. Due to human
nature it has become rather habitual that we take our comparative behavior in the real
world to the online cyber world. In today’s society it is quite common for people to scroll
through these social media sites comparing their bodies, income, and relationships to
their peers or celebrities through pictures, status updates, and online posts. All human
beings suffer from insecurities, whether they’re concerning personality, appearance, or
skills. Insecurities and anxieties are just part of being human. Yet, social media
encourages us even more so to focus in and dwell on our insecurities. All day long we are
refreshing and reloading our timelines that are filled with pictures and posts of beautiful
photo shopped women, extravagant homes that we could never afford, or luxurious
million dollar cars. We only get a small glimpse of what other people’s lives are like with
social media. Yet, we compare our whole lives to this little picture we see. If we keep
telling ourselves that we need to have a better body because the model on instagram
has that type body, or we should be able to afford a purse because the women we
work with can, or how come she is in a happy relationship but we cant find someone.
If we are constantly reminding ourselves of what we don’t have we really start to
devaluate ourselves in the process. In a recent study Chou and Edge (2012) found that
the more time users spend on Facebook each week, the more likely they are to think that
others were happier and having better lives than they themselves. The term for this kind
of comparison is called “relative deprivation”. Fiske (2011) defined this sociological term
as the dissatisfaction that people feel when they compare their lives to others. Social
media has increased the influence of peer pressure and comparison of our lives to others
because now not only do we evaluate ourselves to others in the real world we are now
taking our judgment to the cyber world.
Another negative effect social media comparison has on society is the increased
motivation to social media shame and cyber bully. Because society is always comparing
and contrasting each other in the cyber world an increase of harassment and victimization
is compelled to arise online. It is human nature to bully or shame someone when we feel
insecure about ourselves. Although bullying and shaming isn’t something new, it has
definitely changed over the years. For centuries now shaming and bullying has been a
huge worry for schools, work places, or in neighborhoods. Now with the increase of
social media sites it has also become an enormous concern for the online world as well.
In previous years bullying or shaming could only occur in the real world because social
media sites and technology were not yet invented. However, in todays culture it is normal
for kids as young as eight to have access to social media. They have the ability to shame
or bully online everywhere at all times without worrying about a teacher or adult being
close by to put a stop to it. The increase in bullying and shaming through social media
might be due to the fact that it is quicker and simpler to bully someone through a social
media site than in person because the bully can hind behind a computer, phone, or tablet
screen. Social media sites give bullies a type of power they didn’t have before. When
children or adult aggressors aren’t talking to someone face-to-face they are less likely to
feel the implications of what they are actually saying. People are more likely to say
hurtful things about someone if they aren’t right in front of them. Cyber bullying and
social media shaming includes but is not limited to uploading online hurtful pictures,
writing negative comments about an individual, or posting unnecessary drama. Social
media shaming or cyber bullying can be done anonymously or identified because the user
is online. Also, if someone chooses to social media shame or bully they should be very
careful because things on the Internet never really go away. Like author Rosen (2010)
said in “The Web Means the End of Forgetting,” things on the web really never just go
away. Something you posted now could be brought back up in later years to haunt you
even if you thought you deleted it. Not only does cyber bullying or social media shaming
have many repercussions to the bully but to the victim as well. It causes short-term
effects to the victim as well as lasting long-term effects. Some of these negative longterm effects include poor academic performance at school, anxiety and loss of interest in
socializing, aggression or violence towards others who they feel they can bully, and
depression or suicidal thoughts Caudle (2010) p. 561.
Finally, social media comparison has lead to a rise in narcissism in today’s
society. Oxford dictionary gives the psychology definition of narcissism as an extreme
selfishness, with a grandiose view of one's own talents and a craving for admiration, as
characterizing a personality type. Current culture has taught us to base our self-esteem,
self-worth, or self-confidence off of how many likes we get on an instagram picture, how
many friends we have on facebook, or how many people re-tweeted our tweets on twitter.
I believe social networks have emphasized our self-obsessive tendencies that were
already present before social media but now are being publicized on the Internet. With
the increase of comparison in society due to social media it is normal for us to feel like
we have to have big full lips like the celebrities post in their pictures, have a better house
than one of our friends that we went to high school with, or just plain out be better than
the next person. Social media comparison has made most of us narcissist because we are
always so caught up in being better than someone else all we can focus on is making
ourselves look better online. Having self-love or self-respect is not a bad thing at all but
when it gets to the point where all you care about is how people view you then you have
become narcissist. However, the big dilemma with the rise of digital narcissism is that it
puts enormous pressure on people to achieve unattainable goals, without making them
more ambitious to accomplish these goals. Aspiring to have money, cars, and houses like
Kim Kardashian or Kayne West is alright to do so, but when you are not prepared to
work hard to achieve these goals is when you are better off just lowering your ambitions.
June (2011) discovered that narcissistic personality traits rose just as fast as obesity from
the 19080s to present. The comparison of narcissism to obesity suggests that narcissism is
another epidemic in America. Another study by Rosen (2011) at California State
University showed how teens that spend too much time on Facebook are more likely to
show narcissistic tendencies and display signs of other behavioral problems. These two
studies indicate that upcoming generations will only know how to be egotistic.
With the creation of social media, the way people interact and live with each other
in our day-to-day lives has changed significantly. We are being programmed to believe
that it is normal for us to always be comparing ourselves to each other not only in the real
world but also in the cyber world. Contemplating about how someone else is better
looking, has more friends, or is more successful than you is both meaningless and
ineffective and is instigating negative consequences to our society. Humanity is spending
more time worrying about looking on social media to see who has the next best thing
rather than spending time helping and bettering mankind. We are so wrapped up in social
compassion I’m not sure if we will ever be able to pull ourselves back out of the reality
world we indulge ourselves in. Although there are some psychological benefits to society
using social media, these sites are ultimately generating an immense negative affect on
society due to the reality that social media is essentially social comparison on steroids. It
is almost impossible to go through life without ever comparing yourself to others
however; in today’s Internet based world social comparison is completely inescapable.
Reference

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
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
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