Psychological Impacts of Social Media

Social media, which has become ubiquitous in recent decades, is defined by Merriam-Webster as “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)." Despite its popularity, social media has well-researched deleterious effects on mental health. Time spent on social media has been shown to be associated with increased levels of depression, higher risk of self-harm, and lower self-esteem, particularly in females. It is a platform that allows for a ‘perfect storm’ of creating feelings of vulnerability, a need for validation, and self-comparison, all of which are already present in adolescents in particular, even without the influence of social media. Self-exposure on social media has been associated with a term coined at Stanford University entitled ‘Duck Syndrome,’ which is the idea that one appears effortlessly ‘perfect’ on the surface, when in truth, they are paddling furious under the water, struggling to keep afloat. This is often the case on social media, where people can select the ‘perfect’ picture and add filters to make them appear more ‘visually appealing’. In fact, browsing social media for as little as 20-minutes compared to other types of internet sites has been found to have a significant effect on body dissatisfaction. Other findings relating self-esteem and social media include that online popularity has a negative association with self-esteem, suggesting that those who sustain high levels of engagement with others on social media are likely struggling with their own self-perceptions.

Self-comparison to others is not a recent development, but the ability to do so virtually through social media, is a more modern phenomenon. While the term ‘upward social comparison,’ defined as self-comparison to another person who they believe is superior, was originally developed by Wheeler (1966), it has taken on new import regarding its psychological impact through social media. Making upward comparisons on social media amongst adolescents worsens mood and also decreases self-esteem and life satisfaction, resulting in immediate and long-term impacts. Furthermore, adolescents who already experience decreased levels of self-esteem are more vulnerable to making upward comparisons and using social media more often. This is a vicious cycle which only exacerbates negative feelings about themselves. Because the amount of time spent on social media positively correlates with the number of self-comparisons made with other people, a straightforward intervention would be for users to decrease the amount of time spent on social media. Additionally, the number of connections with others on social media might intuitively be predicted to positively correlate with subjective well-being. However, research shows the opposite. High numbers of social media connections were shown to be negatively correlated with non-virtual social support and thus decreased subjective well-being.

### Psychological Motivations for Posting on Social Media

The general motivations for posting on social media includes physiological needs, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. To explain physiological needs, the author states that people sometimes post to benefit the health or well-being of their friends and family. To explain safety, the author states that physical, mental, and financial security are important for people when they choose to post some material on their social media. To explain love/belonging, the author states that users generally want to post to feel some kind of social acceptance from a group or particular individual. To explain esteem, the author states that people want to quell the rewards-oriented parts of their brains, which helps explain why people post "me-centric" content regularly. To explain self-actualization, the author states that social media posting manifests when people share their successes - getting a new job, completing an arduous project, graduating from school, etc.

### Narcissism and social media

According to Kim and Chock, narcissism has been proposed as a key motivation for certain types of social networking site behaviors. Narcissism refers to personality traits that reflect "a grandiose and inflated self-concept". Narcissists tend to engage in greater social media use, more often posting self-promoting content and uploading profile photos that emphasize attractiveness.

Research has indicated that there is a positive correlation between narcissism and using Facebook. In 2019, it was found that there was 2.45 billion people who actively use facebook in on month. Using social media can lead to addictive behaviors and problematic social media use. With the increase number of people using social media, researchers wanted to understand the type of personality that someone may have which then relates to problematic social media use. There are two types of narcissism that are seen with users who use Facebook. Grandiose narcissism consists of traits related to grandiosity, aggression, and dominance. On the other hand, vulnerable narcissism consists of traits of hypersensitivity to opinions of others, intense desire for approval, and defensiveness. There was a positive correlation between grandiose narcissism and facebook use. This may be because when you are using the Facebook app, you can promote yourself by updating your status, posting pictures, comment on others photos of yourself and receive feedback from others quickly. Additionally, global narcissism was correlated with frequently posting a selfie, how you feel about your specific photo and tagging yourself, liking and commenting on your own photos.

Research has shown that females narcissists tend to wear more make-up and show more cleavage in pictures on social media than other women who are not narcissists. On the other hand, male narcissist are more likely to wear clothes that enhances their social status, and less likely to wear sunglasses in photos. On Facebook, narcissistic users usually have more friends on their friend list, create more posts in general, and write longer in their "about" section on their profile. Additionally, these users tend to use statements containing "I" more often than using "we". When they do not use personal pronouns they tent to use other verbal tactics such as profane and antisocial terms such as swearing. They use this because it attracts people to their page and to their pictures.

## Social Media during COVID-19

Social media use increased during the pandemic, bringing many implications to mental health. In a study examining mental health problems and social media during COVID-19, 82% of individuals frequently exposed themselves to social media and had increased risk of anxiety (Gao et al., 2020). These results differed from that of previous research, suggesting the pandemic did play a role. Much of what was being consumed on social media during the pandemic was information on outbreaks, false information, and stories created to evoke fear in their audiences. It is probable that this misinformation during a global pandemic increased the anxiety and hopelessness that many individuals were feeling over the past few years.

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**Further Reading:**

1. Twenge, J.M. (2013). Does online social media lead to social connection or social disconnection? *Journal of College and Character, 14*(1), 11-20, https://doi.org/10.1515/jcc-2013-0003.
2. Appel, H., Gerlach, A. L., & Crusius, J. (2016). The interplay between Facebook use, social comparison, envy, and depression. Current Opinion in Psychology, 9, 44–49.
3. https://online.king.edu/news/psychology-of-social-media/. (2019, September 19). *The Psychology of Social Media*. King University Online. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
4. Kim, J. W., & Chock, T. M. (2017). Personality traits and psychological motivations predicting selfie posting behaviors on social networking sites. *Telematics and Informatics*, *34*(5), 560–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.11.006
5. Allen, S. (2019, September 20). *Social Media's growing impact on our lives*. American Psychological Association. Retrieved December 4, 2021, from https://www.apa.org/members/content/social-media-research.
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X19301423?casa\_token=Z259HjD2XMYAAAAA:GF2INPocsrh-tnx1ufzM8ebFUckMQkOmkPXgC8cUEOWB4OKbGAujv3dK3DwO48hjYSRzcyQfJ78
7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10696679.2015.1002336?casa\_token=e\_tKqu4VLNEAAAAA%3A5qACSnkWE5Thm3\_kUk9zhm6jlPpt-wSVtG08Rpf2gZbUWaaLcGTn1zxiBQMFQe6PoX2b\_NG1yzJeFDU
8. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/30944/

**References**

1. ↑ Merriam-Webster (n.d.). *Social media*. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media
2. ↑ Barthorpe, A., Winstone, L., Mars, B., & Moran, P. (2020). Is social media screen time really associated with poor adolescent mental health? A time use diary study. *Journal of Affective Disorders*, *274*, 864-870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.106
3. ↑ Jacobson, R. (n.d.). *Social media and self-doubt*. Child Mind Institute. https://childmind.org/article/social-media-and-self-doubt/
4. ↑ Ulusoy, Ş. G., & Atar, Ö. G. (2020). Reflection of Social Media Addiction on Family Communication Processes. *Adam Akademi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi*, *10*(2), 425-445. https://doi.org/10.31679/adamakademi.701858
5. ↑ Beaton, C. (2016, March 16). *Millennial duck syndrome: The faked-success cycle that hurts everyone*. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinebeaton/2016/03/16/millennial-duck-syndrome-the-faked-success-cycle-that-hurts-everyone/?sh=67d60eb25c14
6. ↑ Mills, J. S., Shannon, A., & Hogue, J. (2017). Beauty, body image, and the media. In M. P. Levine (Ed.), *Perception of beauty* (pp. 145-157). IntechOpen.
7. ↑ Mabe, A. G., Forney, K. J., & Keel, P. K. (2014). Do you “like” my photo? Facebook use maintains eating disorder risk. *International Journal of Eating Disorders*, *47*(5), 516-523. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22254
8. ↑ Meeus, A., Beullens, K., & Eggermont, S. (2019). Like me (please?): Connecting online self-presentation to pre-and early adolescents’ self-esteem. *New Media & Society*, *21*(11-12), 2386-2403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819847447
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Wang, J. L., Wang, H. Z., Gaskin, J., & Hawk, S. (2017). The mediating roles of upward social comparison and self-esteem and the moderating role of social comparison orientation in the association between social networking site usage and subjective well-being. *Frontiers in Psychology*, *8*, 771. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00771
10. ↑ Midgley, C., Thai, S., Lockwood, P., Kovacheff, C., & Page-Gould, E. (2021). When every day is a high school reunion: Social media comparisons and self-esteem. *Journal of Personality and Social Psychology*, *121*(2), 285-307. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000336
11. ↑ Kim, J., & Lee, J. E. R. (2011). The Facebook paths to happiness: Effects of the number of Facebook friends and self-presentation on subjective well-being. *CyberPsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking*, *14*(6), 359-364. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2010.0374
12. ↑ Gomez, M., Klare, D., Ceballos, N., Dailey, S., Kaiser, S., & Howard, K. (2021). Do You Dare to Compare?: The Key Characteristics of Social Media Users Who Frequently Make Online Upward Social Comparisons. *International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction*, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2021.1976510
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 https://www-sciencedirect-com.williamjames.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S2352853219302391?via%3Dihub
14. ↑ https://www-sciencedirect-com.williamjames.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0191886918303714
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 https://www.socialmediatoday.com/social-networks/how-spot-narcissist-social-media
16. Gao, J., Zheng, P., Jia, Y., Chen, H., Mao, Y., Chen, S., Wany, Y., Fu, H., & Dai, J. (2020). Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak. *Plos One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231924*