Welcome back to my page!
This week’s topic is going to be more of a rant then a research based blog post. This week’s topic is on the affects social media has on our self esteem and how it can affect our work ethics in the long run.
I think this is honestly such a broad topic and so many aspects can be looked at when talking about social media and the affects it has on us as people. Starting off, I would like to address the issues of body image in the media. The media is constantly telling us we need to look perfect, look airbrushed, put a filter on our pictures, and cover up our imperfections. If we do these things, we will get more likes on our photos and in turn get more attention. We are in a social media generation where everyone strives to look perfect. What happened to embracing our flaws and accepting everyone’s differences?
Almost everything has a filter on it these days. What happened to the raw, natural state of things? Everything must be perfect with no flaws. We are obsessed with making our “online selves” look flawless, but not remembering that we do not look like that in real life. This is a constant ongoing problem in social media users these days. I think especially in women it is a constant battle to look a certain way because of how the media tells us we should look. I think this does happen with men too. The pressures of having a toned, nice looking body is definitely there. If you do not have one you are not considered to be “attractive.” According to canadiansinternet.com, “Social media usage among women is growing steadily across all networks. Growth among Canadian men is slower by comparison.”
With the pressure of the media, it causes a decrease in our self confidence. I think it is such a battle too with all these new trends constantly evolving. It’s like we have to keep up with all these trends in order to look “cool” or to fit in with everyone else. When are we ever going to be satisfied with what God blessed us with? A woman with curly hair wants straight hair, a woman with straight hair wants curly hair. It is a constant battle within ourselves that we will never be satisfied with because of the pressure of the media to look a certain way.
We also constantly strive for approval from society on likes for our pictures. If we don’t get that range of likes we want we question ourselves like, “did I look good enough?” “Am I good enough?” It is kind of sickening the world we live in now. We need likes on a picture to validate our self esteem and keep our esteem going steady? I think that is absolutely disturbing.
While I was scrolling through Facebook, I came across a very insightful article that has the same theme of what I am talking about in this post. Highlights from this article include that, social media platforms contain a mass of individuals competing against each other just for followers, likes, retweets, and favorites. This is why we cannot get along with others these days as it is a competition for everything. We are constantly comparing ourselves to others and seeing if we will get more likes on our pictures compared to others around us. The article was also saying that social media causes self obsession as people yearn for validation from the likes, retweets and shares they get. The article can be found here: http://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/03/14/social-media-narcissism/
With all of this being said, I think with social media bringing individuals self esteem down, it can later affect the way people perform on the job or even with communication. They are going to be so focused on the way they look that they cannot be confident in their work and do the tasks that is suppose to be completed for the day. I think this is absolutely horrifying because we should not be letting our self esteem get in the way of our daily lives. I think social media is what you make of it and it can be a great thing whereas it can be a bad thing. I think it is really what you make of it and take from it. We should strive not to let social media consume us and control our happiness.
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