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Jessica Haines

Professor Padgett

ENGL 1102

April 2
nd
, 2014
Title?
Social media is used for many reasons and is used by a majority of people with the
availability of computers. It is an interaction among people through networks or virtual
communities. Most social-networking sites let you make a profile about yourself to connect with
others that use the site as well. Studies have shown that adolescents and college students use
social media the most. On profiles, it gives the ability to share personal information like what
school you attend, where you work, where you live, and some of your interests. Social media
gives people around the world the ability to learn about different cultures and what people do on
a daily basis. Some people use it as a place to vent or share their feelings. People use it to share
information about their life. It can be used to advertise or sell something. Social media has many
positive effects but it also has resulted in affecting self-esteem and ultimately has more negative
effects.
It has been researched that people with low self-esteem gain more social capital through
Facebook than people with high self-esteem. Tazghini says a social network site that makes it
easier for lower self-esteem students to engage with others outside of their close personal
networks can therefore be expected to have a larger effect for them than for higher self-esteem
students. On Facebook, the number of friends a user has is displayed. Therefore, someone with
low self-esteem would seek more friends to increase their sense of belonging or create a
perception of popularity. A sense of belonging is a motivation to maintain relationships. Seidman
Comment [AP1]: Okay, can you be more
specific?
Comment [AP2]: Okay, this sounds like a
good thing.
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states Facebook allows users to fulfill belonging needs through communicating with and
learning about others. They use it to cope with social disconnection. Social media gives a
feeling of never being alone. With hundreds of friends online, able to communicate with you at
any time of the day, are you ever truly alone? Smartphones are so common, all of your friends
could be at your fingertips if you choose.
In a study, users with low self-esteem would check Facebook more often and spend more
time on it than those with high self-esteem. So therefore spending more time on it, helps them
gain social capital. Tazghini states individuals with low-esteem gained more social capital
through increased use of Facebook than those individuals with high self-esteem. It is found that
it has a positive effect. It makes it possible to only show the positive things about ones self and
to hide anything else. Tucker states social-networking sites might ultimately be found to have
positive effects when used by people with low self-esteem or depression. Its a different kind of
communication online and it can help some people. It can also hurt some people too. If someone
isnt happy with their friend count or how many likes their photos receive, it could end up
upsetting them. Yes, it could help people with hundreds or thousands of friends but what about
the people with twenty or even five. They dont get the same kind of attention and when they
compare themselves with others, it could affect their self-esteem in the wrong way. For example,
someone posts a picture of a flower and gets three likes while someone else posts a picture of a
flower and gets thirty likes. The person with three likes might reason with it and blame it on their
popularity. That could make some upset and could lower their self-image.
Its easy to hide behind the internet. Social media gives people an opportunity to express
an alternate self. If someone doesnt feel comfortable with something in their life they can
change it or mend it online. In a way, this can help someone with low self-esteem to talk to
Comment [AP3]: okay, but what about
selfies (or just other pictures with them in it).
Dont those kind of things matter more than
pictures of flowers because of the nature of
the picture?
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people without feeling self-conscious. It could get them get the attention they have always
wanted but is being someone else going to help that persons own self esteem?
Talking to someone online is much easier than going up and starting a conversation face
to face. It has helped many people meet new friends or companions. It certainly takes out the
need of courage to walk up to someone and introduce yourself. Now it only takes a click of a
button. Some would say that is a wonderful thing. But others, including myself, sees the
negative in it as well. If you meet someone online and get to know them only through text
showing up on a screen, is that really getting to know them? What about when you finally meet
them in person, how awkward could that be? If youre used to being able to think about your
next statement before you push send, how different is that compared to when someone asks you
a question in real life? If you hesitate or if you do sit there and think for a few seconds before
you talk, the conversation could get awkward really fast.
Another thing that is actually very common among social media users, is posting
something for attention. Carpenter states recent experiments found when individuals are feeling
distressed, they turn to Facebook to feel better. Which in my experiences, I find that very
believable. When I scroll down my wall and read peoples statuses, I typically see many different
things. I see someone showing off something new in their life or someone sharing exciting or
upsetting news. But the one that is truly for attention is when someone is commenting negative
things about themselves. Either it could be about their body or just something going on in their
life. Some say they do this to vent or use Facebook as a diary but in the back of their mind, are
they doing it to get comments to cheer them up? When I see a comment like this, normally there
are a few comments from their friends saying things to cheer them up. Maybe its a good thing to
have somewhere you can go to boost your confidence a little but I dont think its going to make
Comment [AP4]: I would think the bigger
issue would be whether or not this person
would be who they said they would be, but I
take your point.
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someone feel one hundred percent better. Theyve probably heard the same thing before from
many others, its just not clicking in their head. A friend in high school who committed suicide
because of depression went to social media many times for help. But for her case, it never made
her feel better. People would joke about her and call her names because she was so depressed
and expressed it online. They would say it was for attention and laugh at it. Obviously attention
was what she needed. Expressing heartache through Facebook or any other site, wont help
because most people see it as an attention grabber and ignore it or talk about it with other people
in a negative way.
Instagram, another social media site, is connected with Facebook. You post pictures and
can write a caption underneath. For some people its a way to show off your work or advertise
something. But now its main purpose for users is to show whats going on in your life through
pictures. Its just like Facebook, but with only the pictures. Its another site that is about how
many friends or followers you have and how many likes your pictures get. Its a constant
competition for teens and adolescents to out-do each other. Users post selfies to get likes to
feel good about themselves. They posts to brag about how great their life is going through a
picture. If youre getting enough likes to satisfy your liking, then yes it could help your self-
esteem. But what if you dont? What if all of your friends get over a hundred likes but you only
get six? That could damage your ego.
For some people, social media can boost their self-esteem. For the most part, I believe it
makes people feel self-conscious and ultimately effects self-esteem negatively. Its way of
communication effects communication outside of the internet and is changing the way people
meet and talk. Looking at social media as a whole, it affects self-esteem in a negative way.

Comment [AP5]: Sounds awfully vindictive.
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Jessica,
I think you have an interesting topic here. this seems to largely be about how social
media affects the way we socialize, in general, negatively. You are, largely, effective in this
regard, but I am trying to figure out what you, ultimately, want to prove with this essay. Who is
your ideal audience here? and why are you writing on the topic (other than because I am making
you). When I read your conclusion, I am expecting to get that greater sense of purpose and then
it seems to end abruptly. If your conclusion is the last thing your professor will read before
assigning you a grade, then you need to make it count. Really drive your point home and punch
your audience in the gut.



Works cited
Tazghini, S, and K.L Siedlecki. "A Mixed Method Approach to Examining Facebook Use and Its
Relationship to Self-Esteem." Computers in Human Behavior. 29.3 (2013): 827-832.
Print.
Skues, J.L, B Williams, and L Wise. "The Effects of Personality Traits, Self-Esteem, Loneliness,
and Narcissism on Facebook Use Among University Students." Computers in Human
Behavior. 28.6 (2012): 2414-2419. Print.
Seidman, G. "Self-presentation and Belonging on Facebook: How Personality Influences Social
Media Use and Motivations." Personality and Individual Differences. 54.3 (2013): 402-
407. Print.
Carpenter, C.J. "Narcissism on Facebook: Self-Promotional and Anti-Social Behavior."
Personality and Individual Differences. 52.4 (2012): 482-486. Print.
Tucker, JH. "Status Update: "i'm so Glamorous". a Study of Facebook Users Shows How
Narcissism and Low Self-Esteem Can Be Interrelated." Scientific American. 303.5
(2010). Print.
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