Jacara Goodmond

Professor Lynn Pifer

Comp I Eng

29 November 2020

Social Media Having an Effect on Adolescent Girls Self Esteem/Worth

When I was around the age of 15 to 17 I used to always value everyone's opinion of what

they thought of me. I felt that I had to keep up with the latest trend of clothes, shoes,hairstyles,

makeup,etc. When I was 16 I was struggling a little bit with finding and adjusting to my own

identity, while doing that my self worth and esteem had a vast effect in finding it. Self esteem is a

person's evaluation of what they consider to be their own worth. Low self esteem in adolescent

girls has excessively increased, one of the major factors that contribute to young teen girls

esteem is social media, social media “are interactive computer-mediated technologies that

facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of

expression via virtual communities and networks” (Dollarhide 1). Social Media can have a huge

effect on young teen girls' self-esteem. Young teen girls' self-image/worth is very valuable in

today's society, everyone cares about how they look physically from what they hair, clothes,

shoes, and the shape of their body. Social Media can become a big role on how people view

themselves. Even from outside sources such as television and magazines they all tend to portray

a self- image that is sometimes impossible to look like. While trying to achieve these images that
social media portray can cause consequences, These consequences can be from people with low

self-esteem, being depressed, or even unhealthy eating disorders.

Therefore, posting an image of yourself on instagram can have you so anxious and wondering

how many people liked your post. Having a certain amount of likes can determine how likeable

you are or how cute you look on the post you posted. According to the article Hurry Up and

"Like" Me: Immediate Feedback on Social Networking Sites and the Impact on Adolescent Girls

by Jong, Stephanie T; Drummond, Murray J.N. is an article that interviewed 28 middle school

girls from the South Australian schools. As a result in this article it says that “ Results indicated

that feedback from other SNS users was central in the construction of identity and had an impact

on self-esteem. It was found that immediate feedback was highly desired in response to images

and comments posted on SNSs. It was also found that the immediacy of the feedback directly

influenced the emotional state of the study participants. Understanding the impact of SNS

communication, specifically pertaining to feedback, can be directly linked to the Australian

Curriculum Health and Physical Education key ideas. Furthermore, “ it is relevant to educational

practices where schools are sites for technological advancements and positive reinforcement of

identity and appearance” (Drummond, Jong, Murray J.,Stephanie.T). Showing how the media

influences young women or adolescent teen girls will help people to learn as a society what

needs to be done to change these unrealistic and impossible appearances that are portrayed in the

media. Young teen girls are constantly exposed to seeing this “perfect image” of who they should

be. If they feel as though they can't become that “perfect image” then they may not be good

enough for themselves or others. According to a study by Chang, Leanne,et al Singapore

adolescent girls' selfie practices peer appearance comparisons and body esteem on Instagram, is a

Journal article that surveyed 300 adolescent girls from three secondary schools in Singapore and
were examining the association between adolescent girls various types of instagram selfies

practices and their body esteem. In the journal article it states “Contrarily, selfie posting had a

direct and positive association with body esteem that was not mediated by peer appearance

comparisons”. The findings suggested that “objectifying standards of beauty may permeate

adolescent girls' value systems through frequent appearance comparisons on social media. When

peer influence was presented in the form of appearance comparisons, it had a strong negative

association with body esteem, regardless of the direction of the comparisons involved” (Body

Image,2019). Meaning, when there was a selfie posting ( showing just only your face ) had an

increasingly positive effect on adolescent girls as opposed to a post of a full body image which

increasingly had a negative effect.

In addition, when I was at the age of 17 my self worth continued to decrease, social media has

always been an outlet for me especially when I wanted to express myself or show others what

was going on in my life. At that age I didn't pay attention to the negative impact I allowed social

media to have on my body, I would constantly scroll past many different model posts, while

looking at those posts I would compare and contrast my body to there's. According to the article

by Scully, M., Swords,L., and Nixon E, they did a study on self report measures of online

apparence-related activity to 210 girls from the ages of 15-16 on body dissatisfaction and the

effects or impact social media has on it. The results that came from this article was “Body

dissatisfaction was significantly related to (i) time spent engaged in social comparisons and (ii)

upward social comparisons with various female targets while online. Evaluating oneself less

favorably than the target group of close friends was most strongly associated with poorer body

image appraisals. Serial multiple mediation analysis revealed that even after controlling for age
and self-esteem, time spent engaged in social comparisons significantly mediated the relationship

between online appearance-related activity and body dissatisfaction. Association was then

further partially mediated by internalization of the thin ideal, which significantly mediated the

relationship between time engaged in social comparisons and body dissatisfaction” (Nixon,

Scully, and Swords, 2020, p.1 ). Frome the age of 16 to 17 I did have a body image disorder. A

body image disorder also known as DDD is “disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive

preoccupations with an imagined or slight defect in one's appearance. People with BDD can

dislike any part of their body, although they often find fault with their hair, skin, nose, chest, or

stomach” ( Anonymous (n.d.) Anxiety and Depression Association Of America). My body image

disorder was my stomach. I always had to have my stomach to be as thin as possible. I had that

way of thinking because I also wanted to be a contestant on America's Next Top Model. While

watching her shows I noticed that most of the girls were tall and thin like me, because they were

tall and thin they were known to be beautiful and were always noticed. By seeing that I felt the

need that I had to be a model, in order for me to be that perfect model I had to look up to those

girls who were models. While watching America's Next Top Model I noticed the girls would be

careful of what they eat and how much they ate; I even remembered one episode where one of

the models said you are what you eat.

On the other hand, Social media can play a role in teen girls having an eating disorder.

An eating disorder is “ any of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or

disturbed eating habits (such as anorexia nervosa)” ( TEAM. (n.d.) Eating Disorders). I did have

a bestfriend who was anexoria, anorexia is a “loss of appetite especially when prolonged”

(Merriam-Webster,1828).
for food (as a medical condition).” She was also Bulimia, is a “serious eating disorder that

occurs chiefly in females, is characterized by compulsive overeating usually followed by

self-induced vomiting or laxative or diuretic abuse, and is often accompanied by guilt and

depression” ( Merriam-Webster,1828). She became anorexic because she wanted to be on

America's Next Top Model as well. The way she kept her weight off was by not eating, between

every meal she had she would make sure she went to the bathroom and force herself to throw up.

I have tried to do what my bestfriend did once but didn't like the outcome of the effect

afterwards.

In Addition, Social Media Having an Effect on Adolescent Girls' Self Esteem/Worth, being at

that age I felt like I wasn't good enough. In my adolescent years I wasn't completely comfortable

in my skin, my mom, family members, and people I didn't know would always tell me how

beautiful I was but I couldn't realize it because I've always had the mentality that there were girls

who were prettier than me. As I've gotten older to the age I am now I realized that I have no

choice but to be comfortable in my own skin and that I am very beautiful, not only that but to

always keep in mind that having self worth is a good value because it can not only boost up your

confidence but it can help you in so many ways, such as having a good positive attitude about

myself. I do believe that the media is both a positive and a negative thing that exists in our

culture today. You can get caught up in so many negative things such as cyber bullying,
comparing yourself to that “imperfect” but “ perfect” picture which can later on lead to health

problems ( depression, eating disorders,etc ). Being able to have access to the media for almost

twenty-four hours a day, does not have a good impact on what the reality of Society is and the

concept of someone's self image/worth. While trying to have self worth and get a sense of who

you are, social media can have an effect and slow down your progress on your self-concept,

self-identities and self-evaluations.

In conclusion, In today's world since social media is always right there in our face, young teen

girls and women can become easily under pressure to look "perfect" or up to date with how the

body image of today's world should look. As young women we should all boost up one another

confidence and have that support or teaching to accept ourselves for who we are. We are all

unique in our own kind of way and we should learn how to accept our flaws because they are

beautiful as well.
Work Cited

Alfoukha, Marwa M., et al. “Social and Psychological Factors Related to Risk of Eating Disorders
Among High School Girls.” The Journal of School Nursing, vol. 35, no. 3,2017, pp.169-77.

Betts, Lucy.et al. “Adolescents’ Involvement in Cyberbullying and Perceptions of School: The
Importance of Perceived Peer Acceptance for Female Adolescents.” Sex Roles; Vol. 77 Issue 7-8,
p471-481, 11p, Oct. 2017

Chang, Leanne,et al. “A Study of Singapore Adolescent Girls’ Selfie Practices, Peer Appearance
Comparisons, and Body Esteem on Instagram.” Body Image, Vol. 29, 2019, pp.90-99.

Jong, Stephanie T., and Murray J.N.Drummond. “Hurry up and like me: Immediate Feedback on Social
Networking Sites and the Impact on Adolescent Girls.” Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical
Education, vol 7, no. 3,2016, pp.251-67

Rubenstein, Andrea. “The Influence of Social Media on Adolescent Girls Development.” Alliant
International University, Psychology, USDissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences
and Engineering, vol.79,no. 8,2018.

Scully, M., et al. “Social Comparisons on Social Media: Online Appearance-Related Activity and Body
Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Girls.” 11 Sept 2020