Stream: Identity and Online Advocacy
Keywords: Adolescent, Identity, Community, Social Media, Misinformation
Abstract
Adolescent identity is in constant flux, with both their understanding and representation of self to the public being easily manipulated and reformed in their attempt to conform to the expectations of their peers and community. Although it is human nature to seek acceptance from others within more personal social spheres, social media forces developing youth to not only conform to the expectations of their peers, but rather the wider connected community of the internet; in effect hindering their growth from adolescent to adult. This article provides insight through the use of evidence to discuss the hinderances which afflict the growth of adolescent identity in terms of both their perception of reality and their own self-worth; such as the unrealistic portrayals of physical appearance, the implications of a lack of recognition and acknowledgement for those who are unable to conform to communal standards; often resulting in the victimisation of those deemed unique and social medias assistance in developing radical confirmation bias with youth.
Discussion
Social media is an online communication tool defined by the General Medical Council (GMC) as any web-based application that allows people to create and exchange content regardless of the physical distance present between recipients. However, although this has provided the opportunity for greater interpersonal connections and knowledge sharing, social media caters toward the views and moralities of the majority rather than the individual, more often than not inhibiting the growth of identity within adolescent users. One such hinderance that has become common place within the scope of social media sites (SMS) is the portrayal of unrealistic expectations, often in the form of the “digital alteration” of images in the pursuit of defining “cultural … beauty” standards (MacCallum & Widdows, 2016); invoking within the consumers of social media a sense of dissatisfaction towards their own body image, providing a platform for psychological unrest and the misrepresentation of their own self-worth. Moreover, although social media at its core is an online technology which allows individuals to collaborate with one another regardless of their respective intention; social media enables a platform in which harassment can be dealt in response to conflicting ideals, or even the uniqueness of one’s identity. Which in turn, especially for the youth of the internet poses the potential issue of challenging their growing and developing identity. Finally, social media’s reliance on participant contribution for the generation of content provides the opportunity for the mass dissemination of biased or even falsified information (Velichety & Shrivastava, 2022); enabling influential audiences such as adolescents to potentially cement their “pre-existing biases” (Alsaad et al., 2018) or even develop them in the pursuit of conformity to the communities they are surrounded by. Although social media sites provide the opportunity for collaboration between millions of users concurrently, the lack of control held by the platforms over the activity of their users can potentially hinder the development of adolescent identity.
False narratives in the scope of the internet are common place, with the unrealistic depictions of events, lifestyles or even personal image having the potential to be deemed as the ideal or the standard. Social media is one such aspect of the internet which enables the modification of the standard of beauty, in which content such as photos can be digitally altered to purvey unrealistic body types. While there is something to be said about the potential positive effects it may incur in a minority of viewers with respects to body positivity, the bombardment of more unreal and idealised body photography exacerbates the need within adolescents to adopt the notion that unrealistic beauty is a requirement to be seen as normal, good enough, or even perfect (MacCallum & Widdows, 2016). This desire for a false normalcy depicted on social media can incur within adolescents a sense of dysmorphia of self through constant comparison, in which continuous exposure to “unrealistic attractiveness” (MacCallum & Widdows, 2016) enforces, within their character, dissatisfaction over their inability to achieve an unobtainable figure. This heightened sense body dissatisfaction, often founded within adolescent users of social media due to the lack of prior understanding and exposure to such content, can promote negative coping mechanisms such as “disordered eating” (Fioravanti et al., 2022) habits, in which restrictive eating is employed to achieve the thinness and youth that is globally associated with beauty on the internet (MacCallum & Widdows, 2016). Unachievable beauty not only promotes within the youth a skewed perspective on beauty, in which drastic measure are deemed necessary in the pursuit of conformity, but it also compromises the psychological wellbeing of developing identities.
The development of one’s identity can often be attributed to the recognition and acknowledgment received from others in both an online and offline context, for their conveyed experimental identity (Reyero et al., 2021). However, the fragility of adolescent development provides the opportunity for psychological dissatisfaction if they do not receive the necessary reinforcement from their peers. This lack of recognition from social communities can affect the stability of their psychological wellbeing (MacCallum & Widdows, 2016); enforcing a sense of social isolation or ostracism from their community. In most cases ostracism has been found to “directly threaten the psychological need to belong” (Allen et al., 2014), in effect devaluing both their commitment within communal engagement, and their own perceived self-worth due to the lack of bidirectional communication with their social groups. In a research paper written by Holte et al. (2022), it provides statistical information regarding social exclusion within the online context of a ball game; in which young adults were split into groups and were predetermined as to how many passes they would receive. And while this study aimed to infer from its results the correlation between ostracism, the fear of missing out (FOMO) and attachment anxiety; the study still demonstrates that social exclusion regardless of the methods invoked is a primary factor in the repression of one’s health derived from social connectedness (Holte et al., 2022). While a lack of recognition within society can devalue the sense of belonging experienced by individuals within a community, peer victimisation in the form of bullying has the potential to devalue personal wellbeing, enforcing, especially within the youth of social media dangerous ideologies.
While social media at its core is a tool for the self-expressionism of individuality, ideologies and personal inclinations to the wider audience of the internet, the opportunity for un-regulated content sharing comes with the potential for cyber discourse incurred through conflicting opinions. The general term associated with this concept is bullying, which as defined by Carvalho et al, (2020) is the “pattern of aggressive and intentional behaviour repeated over time” against the victimised individual, often with the intent of assault either physically or mentally. While physical violence cannot be dealt over the medium of social media, bullying within the online social sphere comes with the intent of attacking or demeaning one’s character. These cyber-attacks can range from attempts at embarrassment over personal vices or decisions, to severe forms of harassment such as prolonged targeting, sexual harassment or even physical threats (Duggan, 2017). These severe forms of harassment are particularly detrimental to both the mental development and well-being of adolescent users on social media, as biased inference from their peers are highly impactful on their personal growth; limiting their self-worth to the words and comments used to attack them. Moreover, cyberbullying does not only incur with it a lowered perception of self, rather the most detrimental effect that can be induced by its repetitive use against a victimised individual is the heighted “risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in children and adolescents” (Poon & Sudano, 2020). Within a collection of 34 studies focused on defining the relationship between bullying and suicidal thoughts, a research paper written by van Geel et al (2014) collated their results to clearly demonstrate the association between mental health and bullying. The results demonstrated that within a sample size of 284,375 for suicidal ideation and 70,102 and suicide attempts within victimised youth that “there was a significant relationship between peer victimisation” and the aforementioned variables, both achieving a “95% CI (confidence interval)” that severe forms of bullying are a risk factor in the mental stability of youth (van Geel et al., 2014). Social media and the internet provide a platform in which harassment can be dealt continuously without the impediment of distance, enabling the opportunity for greater repression of self-worth and mental development, especially within adolescents.
Individuality and identity, especially within adolescents is often developed based on an individual’s pre-conceived biases of events, informed by their immediate influences. While most conceptions of personal bias assists in the development of positive, community orientated values such as kindness, respect and equality; social media enables adolescents to take a dogmatic approach in the formation of their values, providing the opportunity to cement their negative intransigent ideals. The notion of reinforcing negative core values is often referred to as confirmation bias, denoted by an individual’s “unconscious propensity to search for … and interpret information in a way that confirms their previous beliefs” (Alsaad et al., 2018), often at the cost of the complete disregard for opposing alternatives. While confirmation bias is an innately human mechanism, enabling a reformation of personal understanding through the interaction and confliction of ideals within an offline context; social media hinders the development of personal inclination through debate, as algorithms are employed to personalise the unique content displayed to the user based on what the website deems appropriate for their online activity (Alsaad et al., 2018). An algorithms inability to understand negative bias and abstract concepts has the potential to impede the development of adolescent identity, as providing personalised content that conforms with their misconceptions can promote within the youth “ideological isolation”, from their peers and community who may not hold identical or similar values to them. This is further exacerbated by the notion of extremism, in which individuals may act in a violent manner as a means to enforce their ingrained misconceptions unto the public. a well-known example of this extremist behaviour was demonstrated in 1999 by an individual by the name of Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, who through his ingrained racism toward minorities, gunned down ethnic groups upon learning through social media their literature and beliefs (Alsaad et al., 2018, Dedman, 1999). The lack of control held by social media platforms and the inability for algorithms to procure an unbiased, personalised feed promotes the cementation of potentially prejudice or harmful beliefs within adolescent users.
Ultimately, while social media is advocated as, and in most cases provides a platform for communication and collaboration with the wider community of the connected world; it also somewhat fails to procure an environment that assists and promotes the development of adolescent identity during their transition to adulthood. Be it through the unmonitored portrayal of unrealistic body types, which are often unachievable unless approached through unhealthy means; or even the lack of recognition provided to adolescents during the sensitive formation of their persona, which comes at the cost of their self-esteem, perceived social standing and psychological well-being. Moreover, even if individuals find a unique form of self-expressionism, the unmonitored and repeat harassment of youthful character in forces within themselves a heightened sense of inferiority, potentially leading to drastic ideologies or even actions in the form of suicide. Furthermore, while social media enables the free sharing of opinions and views from all its users, this comes with the cost of potentially cementing radical ideologies within both mature and adolescent audiences; due to the personalisation algorithms used to feed individuals content that aligns with their online activity. While this paper attempts to convey the potential pitfalls present within social media sites in terms of the negative effects it may have on the identity formation of youth, the arguments made within this piece generalises the experience of all social media sites to be the same; to better develop the position of this article, specific points could be made pertaining to the unique hinderances that are present within specific social media platforms, as a means to better express the effect social media can have on the formation of identity online.
References
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Alsaad, A., Taamneh, A., & Al-Jedaiah, M. (2018). Does social media increase racist behavior? An examination of confirmation bias theory. Technology In Society, 55, 41-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2018.06.002
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Hi Stephen, I really enjoyed reading your paper, a very well-written piece. I wrote a paper for another unit on the addition of warning labels that are attached to unrealistic body images in the media, arguing that prohibiting the use of idealised images is a more viable solution. Unfortunately, when teens see these filtered and doctored images it is hard for them to reason with the reality of manipulation. Your paper made me think of how TikTok’s algorithm’s were called out for feeding dieting and cosmetic procedure content to people the algorithm deemed as unattractive. I believe this was due to facial structure analytics (!!) as well as what kind of content the user was engaging with. Did you come across this example? I don’t know what the stats are but I believe it contributed greatly to eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Do you think that the platforms themselves can also be considered ‘online bullies’?
Your point about Social Media distributing biased and falsified information, impacting teens pre-exisiting biases and conforming to the communities is a really interesting point too.
kids can’t escape bullying
Hi Andrea,
thank you for reading my piece, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I did not come across the TikTok example of algorithms “feeding dieting and cosmetic procedure content to people the algorithm deemed as unattractive … due to facial structure analytics”; but with that being said I think that your TikTok example aligns with my final argument within my piece which discusses the notion of algorithms within social media sites, feeding both personalised content to users based on their digital activity on the site, and ‘viral trends’ posted on said sites; such as the weight loss TikTok’s which became popular videos during the early stages of lockdown. I feel as if the constant influx of ‘body transformation’ videos and their unprecedented popularity; as well as the potential for TikTok’s algorithms to disseminate popular content regardless of the users interests and prior activity, promoted mass dysmorphia for physiques that were presented to change within the course of a 30 second video.
Also for your second question, I do not think social media platforms themselves can be considered bullies. As the platform is produced and construed by both the developers and users of said sites for their own unique expression of self; and it is often the unmonitored and unmoderated use of the sites functionality by it’s users which promote conflict in the form of harassment of differing ideals.
Hi Stephen,
I did a quick search and came up with this article that outlines TikTok’s beauty algorithm if you are interested in the read: https://medium.com/encode-justice/tiktoks-beautiful-algorithm-d1fdb6d6c4be.
I think I would have to disagree with you on whether a platform can be considered a bully. If the platform is assessing your beauty and feeding you content based on that outcome then I believe that is bullying. The developers have programmed it in this way and the user has no control over this. It is true that assumptions are made in digital marketing all the time, and it is essential for advertising, however altering to a perpetuated feed based on that bias could result in self-harm and is deeply concerning. I do believe, however, TikTok did make changes following this being exposed.
Hi Stephen, thank you for your paper. I thought it was really interesting read around the way that social media gears toward the portrayal of unrealistic expectations of what “beauty” is, and the role of platforms (which leads me in thinking about the role of human-rights by design.. which is sadly missing in many platforms). What do you think about the role of social media influencers in this context?
Cheers
Mags
Hi Mags,
thank you for your comment. I think that the role of influencers would be hard to discern, as their influence within their respective communities can be interpreted in either a negative or positive light depending on the viewers of the influencers content. Popularity and influence within this day and age I believe can be a double edge sword. For example, promoting more obscure or unobtainable body images; or even attempting to lower the expectation of beauty by presenting more natural imagery; can both garner positive and negative reception depending on the thoughts, feeling and preconceived notion of the viewers. However, I believe that influencers should take an active role if they hold a large following, as their input within unique issues such as beauty and body image can be used to promote positive change within the forever changing standard of beauty.
Hi Stephen,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading you paper as this is a topic that I am very interested in, and often find myself discussing with people.
I appreciate that you recognised that social media is positive, in terms of allowing us to communicate, while also making reference to that fact that it “fails to procure an environment that assists and promotes the development of adolescent identity during their transition to adulthood.” I agree with this and often find myself saddened or concerned with the struggles that younger generations (particularly during their developmental ages) may face as they are being bombarded with so much contexts and unrealistic expectations.
However, I think that society has always found a way to promote unrealistic standards, regardless of what platform it is on. Do you think that it might be us as humans who always end up promoting certain standards, or social media platforms specifically? ie. are we the problem and not the platforms?
Thanks,
Ike
Hi Ike,
Thanks for reading my paper. Yes I agree with notion that unrealistic standards are conveyed regardless of the mode of transmission, be it social media, newspapers or even word of mouth, I believe that it is human nature to do as such; as conveying a surreal recount is synonymous with the development of individual status. With that being said, I strongly believe that the nature of human beings to convey themselves in an unbelievable light has influenced both the development and use of social media sites. Meaning that the very unmoderated state of social media is not be be blamed as the problem, but rather the users of the site.
Hi Stephen
Really enjoyed reading your paper and note that others have commented the same. You are correct that social media is important in todays society as a way of communication and our youth or younger generations are falling into the societal change of using social media. There is nothing wrong with this but how do we protect them from the bullying and this way of learning how to mature into a reasonable adult? Algorithims seem to be the way out but as noted they are not able to pull out all the parts that may cause harm.
How do we ensure that this societal change does not harm our younger generations and future generations from how we understand society and the flow of it, to the much wider group of people on social media out there?
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry it took so long to reply, and thank you for leaving a comment on my paper!
In terms of how we can enable the youth to grow into reasonable adults through online interaction, there is one strategy that is currently in use within the confines of schools; that being the teaching of the cybersafe use of digital technologies. In this article titled Schools and cybersafety by the Victorian state government, it outlines policies in which schools should follow in an attempt to denote to youth and young adults safe practices within the scope of the internet. Moreover, it has links to eSafety in which users who feel as if someone they know or they themselves are being targeted by harassment have the opportunity to report these behaviours as a way to potentially stop the victimisation before it gets out of hand. And while this is a step in the right direction, the visibility of these services such as eSafety, or even the report function within many social media platforms in my opinion are somewhat lacking. One thing that I believe can be employed to a greater degree within both the online and offline context of social media is greater transparency of both the report services and cybersafe practices for the youth; as greater dissemination of safe use of the internet can have the potential to influence both adolescent and adult use of the internet.
thanks again for the comment!
Stephen
I enjoyed reading your paper, Stephen. I particularly like your point that algorithms can’t have a social-psychological eye on the greater good! At least not yet. Made me think about AI and the coming revolution in big data and computer learning. As this evolves, we will STILL need humans to make decisions about which values, morals, ideals matter and need to be “encouraged”. What do you think? You might find my paper on identity provocative: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/300/me-2-0-the-ability-for-individuals-to-perform-multiple-selves-online-allows-greater-freedom-than-ever-to-explore-their-identity-at-a-cost/ I look forward to your comments.
Hi Brendan, thank you for the comment!
I believe that AI will be the way of the future in terms of controlling and disseminating information within all facets of the internet, but until that future is realised algorithms will continue to be dynamically modified by the decisions of the owners of the platforms and algorithm. And although dynamic updates to what should be encouraged within social media is not a bad thing, developers and designers of social media often attempt to modify the flow of content for the majority rather than the minority, as the focal point of social media as a business is to monetise user information. Moreover, I feel as while AI controlled social media platforms will be beneficial in terms of enabling greater control of the UX with relation to content flow for unique users, it would have to also come at the cost of even less privacy within an online scope.
thanks,
Stephen
Yes they are great thoughts, Stephen. I find myself thinking recently about AI and what I see as a growing shared or networked consciousness. I have been pretty stunned by the speed and unity and effectiveness of a kind of global consciousness with regard to the Ukrainian invasion! Is this a glimpse of the future? for better AND for worse? What will AI bring to this evolution? There are SciFi writers who have already explored some of this. I have a feeling we will watch this evolve in our lifetime.
Hey Stephen and Brendan
have two questions for both of you. who do you believe should be in charge of the development of AI and the implementation of it in social media governments or private businesses that run these social media? and what ethical dilemmas could come from having AI further integrated with social media
Hi Matthew, great question!
I believe that their should be a cooperative effort by both the SM governments and private owners for the implementation and regulation of AI technology; as its implementation (in theory) has the potential to more accurately understand and act on the copious amounts of data flow that is present within social media interactions. However, what if the AI technology draws its own narrative based on the information that is being processed, and begins the mass dissemination of false media, or content that is violent/generally unacceptable? So in terms of who should be in charge, I think that governments should procure policies detailing the extent at which the AI tech can be involved within mass media platforms, and private owners should be held accountable for both following the defined parameters and training of the AI within their specific platform (eg. human intervention within the AI to ensure that the AI continues to monitor and act as is intended).
In terms of ethical dilemmas its hard to say what they could potentially be. But, something I think that could be deemed an issue is related to privacy, as AI implementation within social media would allow the AI to monitor users and their interactions more effectively; providing the opportunity for social media sites to store user information at a more in-depth level, which could be sold.
thanks for your question Matthew!
Stephen
Hi Stephen,
This was a great paper to read!
Growing up a teenage girl who idolised people I followed on Instagram I can definitely agree with how damaging it can be to ones self confidence and body image. Do you feel as if times are changing on that now? There has been so many introduction for plus size influencers and celebrities who are promoting body confidence at all sizes, I feel as if todays society is getting better, but I haven’t done the research myself, did you find any evidence to support or debunk this?
Thank you,
Aimee
Hi Aimee,
I’m glad you enjoyed my paper and thank you for the comment. During my research for this paper I did not find anything in relation to plus size modelling in the confines of social media; but it got me curious if something like this has made an impact so I did some quick research and found this article. While the article does not denote any significant strides in terms of beauty diversification within social media (although there is significant support through social media posts and comments on influencers and celebrities like you mentioned), This article above denotes major strides in other areas such as online marketing, catalogues, etc. where plus sized models are being better represented as a means to allow marketing and fashion to identify with the wider world of unique body types.
Times have definitely changed, and I think it is better than what it was!
thank you,
Stephen
Test comment
Hi Stephen,
Great topic! I really enjoyed reading your paper. Well done!
Affected by engagement bias, algorithms are virtually impossible to moderate as they manipulate what people see online to keep them addicted to liking and scrolling through nonstop ads and content. The problem with manipulative algorithms and addictive design is that they can encourage a lot of outrageous, flawed content. As long as we lack personal privacy and data protection online, we have let manipulative algorithms monitor our online behavior, collect our private data, and determine what we see (and cannot see) on the Internet. There is no individual control over technology if it’s addictive by design, so my question is, if we have managed to create algorithms by design which is dependent on social media interaction of the user, what solution would you suggest to counteract manipulative algorithm designs that can mitigate misconceptions and falsified information on the development of adolescent identity?
Hi Stephen,
A great topic of discussion giving the current landscape of social media and widely it is used by adolescents. The discussion of cyberbullying is one that needs to continuously be addressing with young people to ensure they understand the impacts of what they say online and how it can always follow you no matter what. I was curious on your thoughts about when it should be an appropriate time to introduce young people to social media and to what extent should parents be able to view their child’s activities online. Do you think kids are being exposed to social media too young and is there right age in which they should have free range online?
Cheers, Ella.