The negative effects of Social Media on the formation of identities among adolescents

Abstract

Twelve and a half years old.

The average age when a child activates his/her own personal social media account. It is also during this time that the child is making sense of his identity and navigating through the various questions taking up his curious mind. Picture a road with only one car that is being driven by a 12-year-old with a developing cognitive conscious, when faced with shiny obstacles will definitely have difficulty steering around it. In this case, the shiny obstacles are a depiction of the many different kinds of social media platforms, and a 12-year-old, having an overtly inquisitive mind will be enticed by the shine enough to jam into it not being aware of the dangerous risks it holds. Through this conference paper, there will be a clean argument made in favor of the unhealthy consequences caused by the presence of social media on adolescent users. Additionally, this notion will be explained by diving into three prominent subjects: Self-esteem issues, Body image concerns, and multiple identities. The conference paper you are about to journey into will be integrating statistical evidence, research studies, and scholarly quotes by renowned psychologists and professors to provide reliable evidence for the argument made.

Introduction

A world where your brain activity changes depending on the number of likes, comments, or views it received.

A study conducted by examining a baby’s adolescent brain through the process of analyzing their fMRI ( blood flow) revealed that there was an increased brain activity and a prominent activation of their reward centre illustrated when shown pictures with more likes and positive affirmations (Sherman et al., 2016). Humanity has reached a point where the ideal of positive feedback from its peer allows them to positive navigate through their social world and the opposite of this would lead them into a spiral of negative and intrusive thoughts (Elsesser, 2021). The purpose of this conference paper is to primarily investigate the negative relationship associated between social media use in adolescents and the formation of their personal identities. Moreover, through this paper, there will also be thorough research carried out into the myriad of subjects like mental health, body dysmorphia and the ideation of a false identity that social media adversely affects which eventually leads up to the failed formation of one’s identity.

The journey to mental health issues

Should I post this picture? Is it making me look fat? Can they see that I have gained weight? Does this outfit make me look cool? Should I tag my friends or will they not like it? Can I post a selfie or is that going to make me look lonely? Will my followers like this content or is it not trendy anymore?

These questions and many more are the epicenter of a teenager’s entire existence in the current digitalized world. On average, 75% of adolescents reported to have at least one active social media presence whilst two-thirds of the teenage population around the world is currently having their own mobile devices with internet capabilities (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2018). The instances of self-doubt and the statistics shared above raise a prominent question concerning the grave dangers brought about by the use of social media in adolescents during the formation of their personal identities. Internet, when launched back in 1991 was merely a static network developed to facilitate the exchange of bite-sized messages between two parties. However, fast forward to the evolution of web 2.0 in the 21^st century, which laid down the revolutionary foundation of networking we know as Social media today (Perry, 2021). The same progression also cultivated the invention of a widespread network that allows user-generated content like pictures, videos, or text to be the premises of its functionality (Perry, 2021).

However, it is important to understand the impact of social media from the perspective of an adolescent to reflect on the harm it causes. The identity crisis of an adolescent revolves around questions like Who am I? What defines my purpose or worth? What is my significant role in society? Therefore, when faced with multiple questions of such heavy magnitude and conflict, children often find the understanding of their identity to be blurred by the messages disseminated on social media channels (Albano, 2021). One of NYU’s finest psychologists, Jonathan Haidth, revealed alarming statistics that provide sufficient evidence in favor of the argument discussed. The first one being that there is a steady decline reflected in teenage mental health since 2010, the same year when social media was introduced (Travers, 2022). The same study also revealed that teenagers using their phones for an average of 4-5 hours are significantly more depressed than the teens who are only on their devices for less than an hour (Travers, 2022).

In addition to this, another research investigation carried out in England on 13-16-year-olds concluded that active use of social media more than three times a day predicted poor mental health and well-being (Mayo Clinic, 2022). On the other hand, research investigations conducted in Ontario demonstrate how there has been a steep increase from 24% in 2013 to 34% in 2015 in the number of teenagers reporting serious mental distress (Abi-Jaoude et al., 2020). To further add to this, more than 70% of the teenagers based in Ontario use social media multiple times per day, a number that has only increased from 3% in 2012 (Abi-Jaoude et al., 2020). This ultimately raises the question of why have suicide attempts, mental illnesses like depression, and anxiety shown a steady increase during the same era where social media use has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled around the world. Despite the numerous investigations carried out on the topic, it is imperative to step back, look at these unsettling statistics, and think to ourselves, are these two factors not related?

The Journey to Body image issues

“I felt like my body was not good enough, because even though I did go to the gym a lot, my body still never looked like the bodies of these influencers.”

Emily, a teenager that joined Instagram on the fundamentals of trying to be part of the social media community, was soon engulfed in this world of fitness instructors and their routines along with pictures depicting their progress. What started as constructive learning from these fitness influencers soon spiraled into a dangerous crisis centered around body image issues. Several years into this depressive situation, Emily, unfortunately, succumbed to an eating disorder (Milmo & Skopeliti, 2021).

Adolescence is an age where children are walking on tight ropes of understanding who they are and transitioning into what they want to become, from several identity crises to the pressure of making the right choice, they are already juggling through a myriad of issues (Penn State, 2012). Enter the world of social media, which offers them a list of societal do’s and dont’s at the touch of their fingertips making their situation more conflicted and complicated (Hughes, 2022). Imagine being a 13-year-old, navigating questions like your identity through the number of likes, views, comments, and followers you have on social networking sites and it is exactly this hypothetical picture that is now a reality in many lives worldwide (Monroe, 2021). This notion is further proven by a recent study published in Psychology Research and Behaviour Management investigating the relationship between selfie-taking and posting this on (SNS) on a teenager’s body confidence and mental well-being (Travers, 2022). The results of this investigation revealed that the process of taking selfies followed by a series of editing stages had a negative effect on the mood as well as their understanding of positive body confidence in adolescents (Travers, 2022).

With over 3.6 billion active users worldwide, social media has become an integral part of everyone’s lives and at some point in their lives, 90% of teenagers have had access to one or several different kinds of social networking sites allowing them to be exposed to its harmful effects (Mendez, 2022). Mindless and constant scrolling through these applications has evoked negative and self-tormenting thoughts as a result of comparing oneself to the ideal body image illustrated on these platforms (Mendez, 2022). A study carried out on the same topic revealed that there was a significant correlation between the time spent on social media and negative body image ultimately leading up to disordered eating (Mendez, 2022). Another research study conducted in 2021, identified that the more an individual compared themselves to others viewed on their social media, the more likely they were to be unsatisfied and unhappy with their bodies (Suciu, 2021).

In a generation controlled by Instagram and Snapchat facial filters, editing softwares like facetune offers a gateway into the world of altering your appearances enough to accommodate the ~immaculate and flawless~ image published on social media networking sites (Haines, 2021). More than 40% of Instagram users have validated this theory by stating that they have felt significantly “less attractive” since they have had an active presence on the application. According to research led by Girlguiding, two in five girls have reported feeling less confident and having a heightened sense of insecurity as a result of viewing images online (Milmo & Skopeliti, 2021).

The ~ picture-perfect ~ images of public figures like celebrities and influencers on social media advocate and promote the idea of hiding behind a facade, of concealing one’s flaws to have all blemishes, pores, and cellulite\ hidden far away from the naked eye. This triggers a vicious cycle of negative feelings among adolescents because they feel the need to be just like them. However, the revelation that one’s identity is their own and not defined by what they view online is an understanding that they receive far later in life causing them to be stuck in this hurricane of unsatisfied and unhappy feelings eventually fostering an insecure identity.

A virtual life: The curation of a false identity

In Kenneth Gergen’s book, The Saturated Self, he uses his expertise in psychology to warn of an Orwellian world where technology would saturate human beings and eventually lead them into a state of “multiphrenia” which is a fragmented version of one’s self that is distributed in a myriad of directions causing the user to feel lost (Gergen, 1991).

One of Gergen’s quotes that have fostered itself into our realities is “I think, therefore I am”. This is demonstrated in the fact that 22 years later, society has found itself sitting in front of the blue light glow of the various devices governing our life, from mobile devices and tablets to laptops, humanity has never been more connected and reliant on the idea of virtual reality (Thomas, 2016). The premises of a virtual world is dependent on creating an identity however one wants it to be, it can be the complete opposite of the identity that is existent in the real world or exactly the same. However, the latter is the case for most users as the option of curating an alternate self that ticks all the boxes of an ideal perfect individual is the more appealing prospect. With softening and beautifying features on TikTok and face-shaping filters integrated into applications like Instagram and Snapchat, the concept of the real self has been split into these edited profile pictures and online avatars altering the sense of reality (Haines, 2021).

Dr. Ali Jazayeri, an associate professor of clinical psychology, provides evidence of this approach by stating that social media sites are not the real world, but rather a collection of desires exhibited by its users eventually creating this artificial environment that fosters at the expense of toxic comparison between oneself and the others  (Thomas, 2016). In a clinical report studying the impact of social media on adolescents, there was a significant observation indicating that Facebook depression exists and was an effect of users not garnering enough friends or likes as a response to their status updates. Along with this, Dr. Ali also stressed the fact that he fears for the human race before it blurs the line between their real and virtual identity completely losing a sense of real life, real self, and real priorities  (Thomas, 2016).

According to Goffman, “individuals develop a sense of self from creating an impression they wish to give others” and it is this ideology that social media uses to thrive amongst users (Penn State, 2012). It is crucial to understand that the adolescent years are a critical period for identity formation and with 75% of teenagers being on social media, they are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects posed by the virtual world. Research carried out on teenagers in 2015, found that acts of social comparison and looking for positive affirmation from their peers had a positive correlation with depressive symptoms (Nesi & Prinstein, 2015). Within the same context, a 2013 study demonstrated how the passive usage of social media like viewing posts and stories by adolescents caused a decline in happiness and satisfaction in their own lives (Elsesser, 2021). Therefore, children find the need to construct these multiple identities across various social media platforms to accommodate the superficial needs of each, making it increasingly difficult for them to feel happy in their own skin (Ehmke, 2016).

Conclusion

It is crucial to understand and amplify the radical effects brought about by the presence of social media. There have been countless studies and numerous research investigations carried out in finding out the ultimate truth of this argument. However, despite these studies, there seems to be a vast majority of people that need to break the blurred barrier that is obstructing their vision of reality and give these individuals a chance to truly understand the depth of this situation. Targeting children at their prime age of adolescence is lethal as it not only affects their minds for that particular time being, but the adverse effects of social media manage to leave prominent impacts that are then carried forward for a long time, ultimately  affecting the formation of their identities.

References

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The negative effects of social media on the formation of identities among adolescents.