Abstract
In this generation, the emphasis on having both an online and offline identity is important in terms of maintaining connections with friends, and families and creating new networks to aid in career progress or for new relationships. However, social media has shaped and influenced our own realities by impacting our own mental health and physical well-being. Creating a norm for social comparison and changing our perceptions of the term “perfection”. This paper explores how everyone’s identities, created from TikTok, alter one’s self-worth and validation, consequently creating unrealistic expectations of one another.
Introduction
With the advancing integration of the digital world in today’s society, it has greatly influenced people’s everyday lives and lifestyles. Social media in particular has become a necessity in today’s society. With different platforms available, social media allows people on a social level to share information, connect, and be entertained, whilst, on a professional level, it enhances and broadens one’s knowledge (i.e. politics or news), aiding to build professional connections and relationships (USF, n.d.). In turn, social media enables a person to create a virtual identity that can differ from their own reality. TikTok is a short-form video-sharing app, that allows users to watch, create and share 15-second videos combined with music through their phones. Which grew in popularity after merging with Musical.ly in 2018, it has been recorded as of early 2021 that the app has more than 1.1 billion active users worldwide (D’Souza, 2021). In this paper, I will discuss the filtered identities often formed via TikTok, how the platform alters someone’s own self-perception of themselves, and furthermore, the fake realities that were consequently created.
Creating an Identity
Social media is a great platform to view, post, and share content online. It gives the opportunity for users to stay connected with friends, family, and people they know. In the digital world, there are many popular social media platforms available, in particular teenagers and young adults most commonly use Instagram and TikTok (however others also use Facebook, Snapchat, etc.). Upon downloading these apps to their phones, users have to create an account, with similar formats of a username, date of birth, and bio. Instantly, creating a base for their own online identity.
Identities are formed through our interactions with others (Goffman, 1959, as quoted by Armstrong, n.d.) and the personas we make. Without the presence of social media, individual identities are formed from the way they view themselves and their social behaviors in real life (Wang, 2020). Similar to the idea given by Goffman (1959, quoted by Wang, 2020) which is the role theory of front and backstages, whereby the front stage is how we interact with people in public or professional settings, whilst the backstage occurring in one’s own home environment or “true self”. For example, from a backstage perspective, a user who in real life is introverted and tends to keep to themselves can be perceived as outgoing and confident online from the things they may share or how they interact/or communicate with others behind a screen, which is the front stage (Wang, 2020).
TikTok is very filtered, people are able to choose which part of their lives they want to share with their followers. From the type of content, they choose to post or share, to how they edit or filter out this content. These decisions and the choices made offline influence what type of identity is being created online. Although TikTok users have these choices, as discussed by Zuo and Wang (2019) the app encourages users to create content anywhere, anytime, and express their “real” personalities. This is important to note as identities are also formed on the basis of a person’s persona. Dequan and Omar (2020) state that, a factor that predicts a person’s behavior is their personality trait, as it is a reflection of their own motives, needs, values, and preferences.
Online identities are not always completely different, like many people who are characterized as courteous and good-natured have a higher tendency to express their real selves on social media (Dequan & Omar, 2020). Hence, their persona online can be an exaggeration of who they are offline, as they are able to have the time to think of what they are willing to share, while others use social media to be able to share their own stories as they may be more confident sharing online than in real life. However, there are identities and profiles used that are created for malicious use, for example, a person pretending to be someone else by using their picture, as well as catfishing which is common in dating apps.
People create online identities on social media as they can freely present themselves in the way they want, but also aids in being able to explore their identity by experimenting with different personas online and some utilize social media as a means to escape reality (Huang et al. 2021). TikTok users utilize the content they share, engagement, and interactions with others to help build their identities online by consolidating their self-esteem and confidence (Zuo & Wang, 2019).
How does Social Media Influence self-perception: Self-Worth and Validation
Most young teenagers and adults have altered self-perceptions about themselves through the form of social comparison. Social comparison is a theory on why humans compare themselves to others and how it influences their self-worth (Festinger, 1954, quoted, by Reding and Kretz 2020). As mentioned by Reding and Kretz (2020), there are three types of comparison, the upward comparison, whereby a person believes they are doing worse than someone they are comparing themselves with; The downward comparison, an individual identifies themselves as doing better than another and the lateral comparison, which is where the person who is comparing themselves to someone, perceives themselves as on the same level with the other.
Social media is a great medium for social comparison and therefore can influence a person’s perception about themselves and the lives they live. TikTok openly provides exposure to the lives of influencers and celebrities as they are able to continuously share their luxurious lifestyles and are able to embody the terms “pretty,” “beautiful” and “handsome,” with the content they share. Although comparison can be in any ideal form, whether that be from wealth or status, the social comparison has commonly resulted from a comparison of a person’s body and appearance. (Reding & Kretz, 2020). For example, seeing someone with the perfect “hourglass” body that fits in today’s beauty standards and seeing one’s own self not being able to meet those standards forms an upward comparison and therefore downgrades their own self-esteem. Creating undesirable expectations towards one another and implicating such expectations in themselves, confusing their own realities and identities that they have created in the digital world.
Likewise, social media platforms like TikTok have features such as “likes,” “followers” and “views,” enabling a form of competition with others and validation for their self-worth. For example, receiving fewer “likes” in comparison to someone else, the person may feel bad about themselves, causing them to feel worse about who they are (Gallinari, 2017). These “like” and “comment” features provide feedback and judgment on an individual’s profile. Compliments, likes, views, and followers are ways people seek validation and approval on social media. Validation has been becoming an addiction to many young teens and young adults. According to Blanchar (2020), in order to achieve a positive self-image, individuals establish positive social identities, therefore obtaining positive self-concepts about themselves. In other words, how others react to an individual’s social media identity (how they perceived them), can determine an evaluation of their identity.
Similarly, people turn to social media to build their self-confidence and self-esteem to build their self-worth. This is because as quoted from Batool and Iqbal (n.d.), “individuals require both ‘esteem from others’ in the form of recognition and admiration; as well as ‘inner self-respect; such as self-love and self-confidence.” This is important as it not only shows how a person perceives themselves but it contributes to determining their passion and motivations, which help in shaping a person’s identity (Batool and Iqbal, n.d.). It is significant to note that, “self-approval and identity formation [contributes] to extended self-esteem,” (Batool and Iqbal, n.d.).
Fake reality: Unrealistic Beauty Standards
With the integration of social media in our everyday lives, it is difficult to not compare ourselves with others but in turn, we create idealistic expectations of ourselves. Yang (2021) addresses the ritual view of communication proposed by James W. Carey in suggesting that “users join TikTok for engagement, sharing and socializing instead of merely receiving information and content.” Whereby users engage in following certain trends and creating a desire to freely express themselves and gain recognition within the TikTok online community. (Yang, 2020). One of the most popularized TikTok trends stems from the unrealistic beauty standards of men and women. For example, as quoted by Liu (2021) from Feldman’s article states that videos and content with the hashtag #KarmaisaBitch and alternatively #KarmaisaBitch challenge have attracted 145 million and 4 million followers respectively. These videos are mainly about a change in appearance, wherein in the beginning, a user showcases their “unattractive” appearance and then changes into a more “attractive” person with trendy makeup, fashionable style, and hair (Liu, 2021). Furthermore, behavioral changes from being soft and shy to a more confident and sexy persona.
Similarly, content created with the hashtag #DontJudgeMeChallenge comprised videos about the user having facial blemishes like acne, and being excessively drawn on top of their makeup. As the video transitions, corresponding to the beat of the music chosen, the user transforms to reveal a clear face with no blemishes and imperfections (Liu, 2021). These popularized trends are subjected to deceptions, negative talk, and stereotypes of beauty and body image. Videos created under these hashtags mentioned previously reinforce a judgment that people project themselves to be unattractive only to change their appearance to be more accepted in the community, to receive support, and to gain attraction in the content they share (Khattab, 2019). According to Khattab (2019), such judgment is formed from binary representations of “ugly and beautiful,” clearly shown in the content created from #KarmaisaBitch and #DontJudgeMeChallenge, reflecting the need for approval that has been characterized by the user’s online self-representation as their “performance” (or the content they share) can be continuously changed depending on the type of feedback given from their audience.
The contents formed from TikTok are exaggerated and distorted versions of the real world, to create humorous and dramatic content for others to view and engage in (Yang, 2020). For example, with the aid of beauty filters available on TikTok such as making a user’s lips plumper and bigger, thinner nose and creating better skin complexion by blurring blemishes that are present on the face distorts certain features of a user’s face (Khattab, 2019). This enables certain norms to form and in creating new standards of beauty, that many follow in order to be accepted. With new technologies and new apps created the online world will always cross the borders of our realities, “blurring the lines between what is authentic and what is performance.” (Joho, 2019).
Conclusion
The majority of young teens and adults have access to creating an online identity and it’s often used on social media. Although integrating today’s society with the digital world has created many positive impacts such as the sharing of information, having a support network that many may not have behind the screen, and staying connected with friends and family, it has had many negative implications on a person’s personal reality and mental health. The confusion of the “fake” reality created by social media and the online world, has led to young teens being exposed to the expectations to be able to fit in and be accepted. Social comparison has been the reality given, constantly comparing oneself to the lives and images of others, has controlled a person’s own confidence, and self-worth and turning to create personas that are validated by the society and community online. The identity we have created has become an obsession with perfection, losing our own real identity by confusing our minds to be that perfect person we see online.
Who Are We in the Presence of Social Media (PDF)
References
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This was a very interesting paper, Shaira. With the widespread of social media, the ideal body/personality type has been collectively accepted as a single type. Self comparison is something that comes with seeing all these “ideal types” flaunting their perfect selves on social media platforms like TikTok. It is only natural that this causes other individuals to doubt themselves and change themselves in hopes of being accepted more. I think the self comparison rates are much higher when the online identities are similar in age or younger than us. It causes us to become even more self conscious about ourselves.
I also noticed that you mentioned briefly about catfishing. I have written a paper in detail on the effects of catfishing, so if you ate interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you could check it out. https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/445/the-dark-side-of-online-anonymity/
Thank you for reading, Senera. I agree that self-comparison is higher when online identities are of similar age but I also think the comparison also stems from someone “idolizing” another from their appearances to lifestyles. For example, seeing influencers and celebrities with glamorized and luxurious lifestyles and flawless appearances, with their followers being a fan/idolizing them, sets expectations for them to follow or you can say more prone for their fans to follow and compare themselves to.
I also recently read your paper, very eye-opening and informative, thank you Shaira.
Very good paper. I’d argue this is true, visual culture has become almost a necessity especially on phone apps. The only thing I would argue which is not related to this paper directly is that this idea of body shapes and looks has been present for all time, but even 25 years ago when people began creating websites to promote themselves, body fascism became the standard for society. It has been harmful. Maybe the way is to teach people not to compare themselves to others on platforms such as TikTok, but it is very powerful to not be drawn in, especially for children and youth. You raise good points well-done.
Thank you for reading Michael.
Yes, body fascism has been present for generations and with technology present and like you said when people began creating websites, it became a platform for people to promote themselves either to openly express themselves (to escape reality) or if other people were also promoting themselves online (follow up on the “trend” or being influenced by what others are doing as well). This idea to look a certain way can affect a person’s mental and physical well-being, although yes teaching others to not compare themselves may be the way, I also think it’s hard not to find yourself comparing or not being drawn to it. For example, TikTok and its algorithm, pick up on the content you interact with the most and videos that may suit your interests, thus similar content will be shown. So with regards to appearances, a person can find themselves comparing for hours.
Thanks, Shaira.
Hey Sharia,
Great paper, it is a very interesting read filled with a lot of great points. Social media certainly opens up more doors for comparision but I would agree with Michael that body facism is an issue that predates social media and not just a direct result of these platforms. I definitely agree that the constant comsumption of Tiktok videos highlighting a lifestyle of luxury and glamour can lead to exaggerated and distorted versions of the real world by young people but I would also say that for some marginilized individuals (people with disabilities, those that identify as LGBTQ) it also provides a plaform for them to take control of their own narratives and to create a space in which they can express themselves more authentically outside of a ‘reality’ filled with harmful perceptions, stereotypes ect. I guess there is always going to be pros and cons to this technology depending on how/why it is being used?
Hey Robyn,
Yes, I definitely agree that TikTok provides a platform for marginalized individuals to freely express themselves. I also think it’s a platform to provide awareness and education as well, but as social media evolves throughout the generation there are always going to be two sides.
Thank you for reading, Shaira!
Hi Shaira,
Thank you for your paper. I recently did an assignment for another unit in which the team uses TikTok as one of our nodes. I find TikTok interested but mostly not for good reasons in my short 5 week journey. Goffman did come to mind when I was scrolling through TikTok. I also like how you connect self-worth and validation in your paper. Users look up or compare to someone as one way to validate for self worth. Gaining likes, followers, views and reshares within a timeframe become how users measure success and popularity.
As an observation, I find that I can’t add a clickable URL on our TikTok profile. This is a function reserved for people who have many followers. In turn, I think this creates the ‘need’ for creating more visually appealing videos to attract followers and interaction. Adding a clickable link (which should be a super basic function) becomes somewhat a game.
In looking at your paper more, I also came across this article – could be helpful as a further reading. https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/insight/from-the-magazine/a-virtual-life/
Cheers… thanks for paper. It was really good.
Mags
Hi Mags thank you for reading my paper,
I didn’t realize that we can’t add a clickable URL until you mentioned it. But yes, that being said this function can form competition to have more followers and interaction, which I think would create a need for validation and self-comparison, raising questions such as why do they have more followers than me? why aren’t my videos attracting more people the same way this person’s video did? how did they get more views when I did the same content?
It makes a person feel that they aren’t good enough or have the “skills” or “humor” etc.
Thanks, Shaira.
Hi Shaira,
I really enjoyed your paper. It demonstrates that issues such as social comparison, an individuals self worth and their personal expectations; while not a product of social media such as TikTok, are heavily influenced by the personalised content provided within the users feed. I wrote a piece that discusses how social media has the potential to negatively impact the formation of adolescent identity; and how recognition of a youths experimental persona is paramount in both their sense of self worth, and the development of their identity. Do you think mature or adult users of social media sites seek the same sense of validity for their online persona as developing adolescents do (through the approval of others)? Or do adults derive their validity more so through their own self approval and defined self worth?
Again, this was a really good piece!
Thanks Stephen
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for engaging with my paper. I think generally developing adolescents are more likely to seek the validity from others because I think as we explore who we are at a young age, those who we surround ourselves with matter and their input on us, but as we grow (figuring out who we are and the relationships we go through, etc.) we learn our own self-worth meaning deriving our own validity through our own self-approval. We learn to value ourselves, setting our own expectations for ourselves, not for someone else to approve of, etc.
Thank you, Shaira.
Hi Shaira,
I enjoyed reading your paper.
TikTok is interesting because a user’s success seems to be because of their unusualness or relatability rather than flawlessness, unlike other social media sites like Instagram. I agree that the competitions held by the site encourage unhealthy comparisons of each other, especially with the live battles feature and virtual gifts and cakes are delivered to winners by TikTok https://businessmirror.com.ph/2021/03/01/what-you-need-to-know-about-tiktoks-live-feature/
It is concerning how viral beauty trends on the site inspire perfection. This article shows just how damaging they can be https://brignews.com/2022/04/25/tiktoks-unrealistic-beauty-standards-and-how-they-damage-us/
Do you think TikTok is more toxic to vulnerable teenagers than other social media platforms?
Wishing you all the best with the conference
Veronica
Hi Veronica,
Thank you for reading. In regards to TikTok being more toxic than other social media platforms, I think it is to some extent because when looking at it from an algorithm based, the content people interact with matters for example beauty-wise like content created from #Don’tJudgeMeChallenge the more a person interacts with those videos and hashtags, the more likely similar content will pop up to the person’s feed and which subjects to comparison (which is also similar to Instagram).
But personally, for me, TikTok is highly more addictive compared to other social media platforms (like Instagram) because I could scroll endlessly and I could find myself comparing to others for hours. As well as the realism of filters TikTok provides and the article you shared it highlights how certain filters/hashtags like #symmtricalface and #sideprofilecheck how may “[feed] on other people’s insecurities,” which can further impact a person’s self-esteem greatly affecting their mental and physical well-being. In addition, hateful comments can also come into play.
On the other hand, TikTok does encourage its users to be their real selves and so viewers may relate to the content they share. I’d also like to point out a comment made previously by Robyn, that TikTok does provide a platform for marginalized individuals to freely express themselves. But overall, I think there are always two sides to every social media platform (pros and cons; toxic and non-toxic)
Thanks, Shaira.
Hie Shaira, a very interesting topic there, and yes I agree with the idea that people are becoming puppets of social media. Their everyday lives are directed by social media, people seeking approval on social which cause most people to live lie. There is a huge different between the lives that people portray on social media and their reality. People go extra miles to seek that approval which even affect their mental health. People are so obsessed to followers, likes and comments they get whenever they post something on TikTok and any other social media platforms. Moreover, the idea of people using filters when taking pictures and videos really shows that they are obsessed the social media’s definition of beauty and I agree that these people end up having low self esteem in real life because they would be depicting a false identity online. Thank you for such a very informative paper.
Hi Martha, thank you for reading my paper. And yes as people seek approval and validation it heavily impacts their mental health negatively and often I do believe that in the process of doing so people might lose their “offline/real” identity (questioning their own self if the persona they made online is really them), similarly on how realistic filters are becoming as technology and the digital world in itself evolves, how close are we (or if we haven’t already) crossed the lines that distinguish between what is real and what is not.
Thanks again, Shaira.
Hi Shaira,
It is interesting to read your paper as TikTok’s rapid popularity was marked in the recent past. As people were isolated during COVID lockdowns, this app has helped most reach their target audience. Some organizations use this app for entertainment, brand awareness, and marketing purposes. In your paper, you have discussed the most interesting topics related to social media, such as “How does Social Media Influence self-perception: Self-Worth and Validation.” Even though my article is not under this stream, I read your article. I have recently read another article about TikTok and trust that you might be interested in this one, “Mapping Internet Celebrity on TikTok: Exploring Attention Economies and Visibility by LaboursCrystal Abidin.”
Please feel free to read and comment on my article: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/csm/695/e-commerce-sustainability-and-business-the-emergence-of-food-delivery-apps-and-their-impact-on-restaurant-profitability/
Hi Shaira,
I found some really interesting points in your paper, mostly young people are really becoming addicted to tiktok and this is somehow doing more harm than good to themselves and this one about how most teenagers have a different perceptions of themelves in the form of social comparison is really sad as they are just comparing themselves to others and seeking validation from others which may lead in having mental health issues. Also these young people may also end up having low self esteems of themselves if the receives more negative comment from their followers than positive ones. I would say that tiktok may be helping people portraying themselves who they are online but it also causing more harm for themselves in real life at the end.
Hi Shaira，
I really enjoyed your article. Social media has now influenced people’s lives to a great extent. I spend no less than five hours a day on social media.
I can well understand your point of view because whenever I use TikTok, I can find many beautiful and handsome people with perfect images, which makes me want to learn from them and change towards the perfect image and make me feel unconfident to a certain extent.
I think it’s important for young people to have the correct values and learn to distinguish between good and bad content on social media.
My essay is also a study of the impact of social media on young people’s appearance anxiety. Please feel free to read and comment on my article: https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/889/social-medias-propagation-of-the-perfect-image-of-womens-appearance-can-cause-womens-appearance-anxiety-and-lack-of-confidence/
Hi Shaira,
Great paper, it was really interesting to read about the issues of social media and identity, specifically looking at TikTok! As someone who does not have TikTok, I’m interested to know why you chose this app and if you feel as though it is having a larger impact on one’s identity than other social networking sites such as Instagram?
– Kyla
Hi Kyla,
Thanks for taking the time to read my paper. I chose TikTok as my specific social media platform because the platform recently became popular in 2019-2020 and I think that more teens/young adolescents use TikTok more so than Instagram as it is a short video sharing app, that the content shown can tailor to its users. And depending on the content they interact with, for example, videos that highlight stereotypes of certain beauty/body standards can impact a person’s perception of themselves if they see that they don’t meet that expectation on the platform, resulting in comparison, in turn influencing their self-esteem.
– Shaira.
Hi Shaira, this was such an interesting paper! I think Tik Tok definitely perpetuates the fake reality of social media. I often watch a Tik Tok and am left questioning whether what I just watched was genuine or real or if it was the result of someone creating a fake reality. I think Tik Tok’s algorithm is very interesting in terms of how it categorises users into genres and ‘sides of Tok Tok’. On one hand I think that these categories are great as you can find like minded people on content but on the other hand I think some times it can trap the user and almost feed them the same ideas over and over again without letting them explore other points of view.
Hi Shaira,
A great article on how social media, in particular TikTok, shapes identities. I would agree and say that with younger audiences joining social media, it seems viewing and consuming content is not value-free. It seems inevitable that the identity and shapes of people view society through beauty standards, comedy and what is considered cool and “cringe”. With the rise of Tiktok influencers and trends, I wonder how impactful this can be on our youth; negative and positive impacts.
Thank you for the paper, it was a good read.
Hi Shaira,
Your paper is really interesting and well written.Nowadays, people are becoming puppets of social media and they are using it during their spare time at any time of the day which may become an addiction. The way people represent them in social media platform is completely different from who they are in real life. People use filters in order to represent themselves online, thus in real wold, they may develop low self esteem as they are projecting someone who they are not in reality.
Hi Shaira!
Absolutely loved your paper! I agree with everything you said and especially the way that social media has become a weapon and the only type of validation that seems to matter to young teens now. This reminded me of the toxic culture that took a rise during the lockdown period over the pandemic where people would have weight loss journeys posted and take part in “Chloe Ting” workouts. At first, it seems like a normal healthy thing which then grew into a toxic culture of ‘if you didn’t use the pandemic to lose weight then what’re you doing” on social media.
I personally have faced this where friends of mine would question what I would do and push me to do these workouts with them on social media and share progress stories however I did not want to do so as I was very secure- however, because of this, I started doubting myself and feeling like I wasn’t enough because I didn’t take part in the weight lose journey that everyone else seems to hype up about. And on the other end of the spectrum, there was a rise in toxic body-positive culture, taking away from the real intention (which I think is beautifully illustrated in Kat’s journey on Euphoria if you’ve watched it) which would only leave young teens and old alike to be confused and be pressured into feeling a certain way about themselves. What’re your thoughts on the toxic body positivity culture? Do you think it does more harm than good through social media?
I had also touched on the impacts of social media on young teens and their growth if you’d like to check out my paper- https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2022/ioa/901/influencer-culture-has-impacted-the-social-growth-of-young-teens/
– Neha