Summary
This blog is to summarise my thoughts and reflections on the article for the OLJ task #1.
Theodore Roosevelt (n.d.), 26th president of the United States, famously once said that “comparison is the thief of joy”. This is a sentiment that has perpetually and exponentially increased through the social-media age. A big concern that seems to be omnipresent today, is the damage that is potentially being done to people who consume heavy amounts of social media.
“In modern society, social media has been a part of our daily lives and exerts a profound influence on individuals’ well-being” (Meier et al., 2020; Valkenburg, 2022; Valkenburg et al., 2022).
In the article I looked into, “Will Using Social Media Benefit or Harm User’s Self Esteem? It Depends on Perceived Relational-Closeness” by Yang Han & Feng Yang, there was an in-depth discussion about the definitions of social media, self esteem, and how the two are related.
It seems that there is an underlying acceptance on the fact that social media has absolute potential to be destructive to a persons’ self esteem, but with condition (Gruzd, 2017). Whilst some may question themselves due to the comparisons they are making of their own lives, with the lives of those who are posting on Instagram, I think it would be a little rude and assumptive to suggest that people aren’t at least 1% aware that people only post the highlights of their life, and it would be extremely unfortunate if someone was to lose concept and understanding of the fact that no one is posting the bad bits, everything on social media is cropped, photoshopped, filtered, and adulterated, similar to window shopping. The effort and time people put into making displays look amazing so you buy their product is astounding, and this is exactly how I feel social media works. Visual merchandising. Even if you’re not literally buying something, by consuming the content a person has created, you yourself are walking into the store.
It can be said, that whilst comparison can be harmful to our sense of happiness and contentment, we are in full control of who we are comparing ourselves to. Focusing your social media content on negative content, or content that makes you feel bad, for example, perhaps it’s someone you see as “thin and beautiful” and you have body image issues, that’s going to be destructive (Summerville, 2019).
However, body positive, friendly, warm, caring content creators will support you and make you feel good.
I think I agree, in part, with the authors of the article, because there is always personal choice involved, and whilst social media has the potential to be damaging, it is the social media a person chooses to consume that has the effect.
Less doom-scrolling, and more being the change you wish to see in the world!
Cyanide & Happiness Comic.
References:
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations (7) p.117-140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202
Gruzd, A., Jacobson, J., Wellman, B., & Mai, P. H. (2017). Social media and society: Introduction to the special issue. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(7), 647-652. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217717567
Han, Y., & Yang, F. (2023). Will Using Social Media Benefit or Harm Users’ Self-Esteem? It Depends on Perceived Relational-Closeness. Social Media + Society, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305123120368
Summerville, A. Ph. D. (2019). Is Comparison Really the Thief of Joy? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/multiple-choice/201903/is-comparison-really-the-thief-joy
Valkenburg, P. M. (2022). Social media use and well-being: What we know and what we need to know. Current Opinion in Psychology 45(101294). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copysc.2021.12.006
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I found your blog interesting and informative! You provided a balanced view for and against social media. You also constructed new insights I hadn’t thought about before. I completely agree with your point that everyone is aware on some level that social media is a collection mainly of the highlights. In addition, I also support that by scrolling content on social media, we are becoming consumers of advertised brands. Overall, I found your blog deeply linked to how society is ensnared by social media and how it is marketed to increase consumerism…the benefits for mental health, however, could easily be contested.
I completely agree with your post. I also think we as a society are becoming so consumed with social media it’s as if it controls our lives. We use it in every aspect of life such as work and study; however, adding to your comment, it is like choosing the lesser of the two evils — choose the social media platform that won’t consume you.
So good to put into perspective that it is the user, not always the platform that has the most influence on negative and positive outcomes of interacting with social media. Makes me feel hopeful for productive and fruitful interactions online.