The Impact of Social Media on an Individual’s Personal Development
Social media impacts people differently based on their existing circumstances and personalities. The society has tried to shape social media as a universally bad influence on individuals and as a platform causing harm to the mental well-being of people. However, as an emerging social aspect, it is prone to confusing reactions. Still, research contacted about the effects of social media on individual reports that it brings countless benefits to people’s lives. Digital life has made people happier and healthier.
Social media helps an individual to feel less socially isolated. Now, almost half of the world’s population uses social media and shares posts from one platform to another. For people with social anxiety and difficulties in making a face to face interactions, social media offers a place where they feel connected to millions of people without having to experience the feeling of rejection. Thus, the platform has presented people with a wide range of options through the extensive opportunity of networking (Naslund, J. A., et al. 117). The fear of being unwanted by people around has reduced due to the option of having social media. Individuals now can relate to people on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, among others, and build friendships with more supportive strangers. Sharing emotions and opinions with strangers online is helping people to vent and relieve themselves of stressful thoughts. Depressed individuals are getting help through watching funny clips and sharing memes with people on Instagram or even connecting therapists. Therefore, social media has provided people with a feeling of social engagement, identity, and reduced loneliness.
With social media filters, clever angles, and lighting, individuals can now adjust their appearance, which elevates self-esteem. Most people, especially women, are in denial of their actual physical appearance, and the lack of contentment has caused them to love themselves less (Hinsch et al. 501). With the emergence of social media options of photoshopping and remaking themselves to match their liking, now people have gained self-confidence through media acceptance. Another way social media helps people stir their ego is through the attention individuals are getting on their posts. The likes and comments on these media platforms somehow make one feel loved and valued and contributes to one feeling better about how they look.
Social media has assisted an individual in developing life interests by connecting with like-minded people. For instance, if an individual is passionate about dancing, sharing their videos, dancing helps them receive validation and positive criticism, which allows them to improve. Also, the sharing of people connect with people doing the same things, and they exchange ideas and opinions which consequently results in gaining a wide range of information on how to improve the skills related to what you do.
However, the existing reports on the benefits of social media are mainly based on self –reporting, which can be flawed. As much as people are getting benefits from social media, the platform is also watering down an individual’s happiness and causing harm to the overall well- being (Brooks and Stoney 29). For one, social media networking has resulted in people feeling lonelier than it’s reported. People have millions of friends following them on these platforms, but the moment they put their phones down, they have no one to talk to, and it leads back to individuals getting more depressed. The networking has also damaged an individual’s ability to build face to face relationships, and people no longer have a conversation on social gatherings. Thus, the real social engagement is reducing and leading to some lacking social contentment.
The effort of people to change their appearance on social media has caused unhealthy pressure. The jealousy and envy that social media is causing to people have been reported to be harmful to one’s mental health. Social media has led to people comparing their looks, life achievements, and lifestyle, which mostly end up with some feeling like failures (De Vries and Kühne 220). Some people are going through so much trouble of filtering their photos before posting them on social media, others feeling depressed for not getting enough attention through likes and comments. The pressure to live up to a certain level on social media is negatively affecting individual’s mental welfare. The digital life happiness is often short livened and requires so much “faking” and effort, which can disturb a person’s personal growth. Internet addiction has also been associated with sleep disturbance. People stay in the dark, regularly checking feeds and stalking friends who often interfere with sleeping patterns and negatively impact individuals.
People are oversharing on social media, which has increased the possibility of one being stressed and depressed if he/she does not receive the expected attention. With the growing social media users, internet attention has turned out to be an area of competition. Negative feedback from social platforms is causing people to have lower self -esteem and think less of themselves.
In conclusion, the impact of social media on individuals depends on how the person is using the internet and what one hopes to achieve from using social media. The emergence of digital has received mixed reactions from the users. Some people believe that the media is damaging the personal growth of an individual, and others have reported several benefits to an individual’s lives. People feel less socially isolated from social media interaction; the fake lifestyle on social media makes media have higher self-esteem and helps people develop their interests with like-minded people. However, the benefits come with too much sacrificing, which is harmful to an individual’s health, primarily mental. Internet networking has destroyed face to face interactions and made people feel lonely, the pressure to change looks has caused unhealthy envy, and negative feedback is causing depression.
Works Cited
Brooks, Stoney. “Does personal social media usage affect efficiency and well -being?.” Computers in Human Behavior 46 (2015): 26-37.
De Vries, Dian A., and Rinaldo Kühne. “Facebook and self-perception: Individual susceptibility to negative social comparison on Facebook.” Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015): 212-221.
Hinsch, Christian, and Kennon M. Sheldon. “The impact of frequent social Internet consumption: Increased procrastination and lower life satisfaction.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour 12.6 (2013): 496-505.
Naslund, J. A., et al. “The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media.” Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences 25.2 (2016): 113-122.
Vogel, Erin A., et al. “Who compares and despairs? The effect of social comparison orientation on social media use and its outcomes.” Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015): 249-256.
Zhan, Liuhan, et al. “Understanding the influence of social media on people’s life satisfaction through two competing explanatory mechanisms.” Aslib Journal of Information Management 68.3 (2016): 347-361.