In Han and Yang’s (2023) article, they surveyed and examined relational closeness for social media use and self-esteem. They concluded that individuals who have a high intensity of social media usage, in which content can be shared and comments with online friends, resulted in higher self-esteem due to higher social support perception, and the effects are vice versa to produce an individual with lower self-esteem. The survey also reported that lower self-esteem is compounded by social media platforms which allow users to share content with those who are not their online friends. I concur with the article because many reports found that users with weak relational closeness in real life cannot self-regulate their emotions well, and it may lead them into a depressive state, as they encounter further social difficulties in building relationships online. This may include depression derived from increased use of social media platforms like Facebook (Dhir et al., 2018).
The more time an individual spends on social media platforms, the more social comparison there will be, which contributes to unrealistic ideas and compounds lower self-esteem in individuals without social support networks. In more severe cases, a person might question their own self-worth (Jan et al., 2017). Individuals might seek validation through likes and comments, which could make them vulnerable to cyberbullying and expose them to feelings of inadequacy and increased anxiety, resulting in lower self-esteem (Giumetti & Kowalski, 2022).
However, there are limitations to this article, due to the range of participants being mainly college students and social media platforms being limited to WeChat, TikTok, QQ and Bilibili (Han & Yang, 2023). The report limitation is constrained by the number of participants (550) compared to user numbers such as WeChat, which now has around 1.268 billion users in 2021 (Tencent, 2022). There are also cultural differences between Western society and Asian countries, and the larger social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, were not included in this survey (Han & Yang, 2023). Nevertheless, findings from the article were consistent with other reports.
In the 21st century, accessing the internet has become necessary, either for work, education, leisure or seeking information. As a future librarian, I believe my role is to support students to become resilient and understand how to evaluate online resources to support their learning and build healthier social networks.
References:
Dhir, A., Yossatorn, Y., Kaur, P., & Chen, S. (2018). Online social media fatigue and psychological wellbeing—A study of compulsive use, fear of missing out, fatigue, anxiety and depression. International Journal of Information Management, 40, 141-152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.01.012
Giumetti, G. W., & Kowalski, R. M. (2022). Cyberbullying via social media and well-being. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101314. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1669059
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/10.1177/20563051231203680
Jan, M., Soomro, S., & Ahmad, N. (2017). Impact of social media on self-esteem. European Scientific Journal, 13(23), 329-341. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2017.v13n23p329
Tencent. (2022). In 2021, the number of monthly active users of WeChat has reached 1.268.2 billion. https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20211112A00MG400
Wallup. (n.d.). [Photograph of social, medial, computer wallpaper]. https://wallup.net/social-media-computer-internet-typography-text-poster-16/
This sounds like a very interesting article! I agree with you that the focus of the article on platforms available in China (mainland) would probably limit its external validity in other settings. I remember reading an article in The Conversation last year about social media and self-esteem (https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-can-crush-your-self-esteem-174009), and they found that Twitter was associated with greater self-esteem compared to Facebook and Instagram. I’m curious as to whether there would be similar differences across the platforms available in China.
I agree that librarians should not only monitor the content on social media platforms but also pay attention to the social media use and self-esteem of users. While the mentioned article has its limitations, librarians can still utilize the concepts discussed to actively identify potential negative impacts of social media, such as cyberbullying, and be prepared to address subtle cases that may arise.