How Does Social Media Affect an Individuals Self-Esteem - Case Study Example

How Does Social Media (I.E. Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Etc) Affect An Individual’s Self-Esteem? The prime intent of this particular research report is to determine the role of social media in building self-esteem of an individual. In order to conduct this study, valuable responses will be gathered from the participants and also reviewing various empirical evidences relevant to the subject matter of the study. It is anticipated that the responses and the data presented in varied empirical evidences may provide a brief understanding about the notion of social media along with its significance ad its role of building an individual self-esteem. Introduction In this modern era, social media became quite popular amid the people belonging to varied parts of the world. It has not only become quite renowned amid the teenagers, but also received much attention from the elderly people as well. It is anticipated that by using or accessing varied social networking sites (SNSs) like Twitter or Facebook, people can easily buildup and maintain contacts with their respective loved ones. It can be claimed that the gaining momentum of the use of social media in this present day context has certainly made the communication process much easier than before. However, the above discussed SNSs at certain times do not prove to be quite beneficial for all the users, as these often affect the studies mainly of the students at large. By considering this factor, it can be affirmed that the self-esteem of the individuals particularly of the students gets deteriorated or affected through increased usage of social media (Sharma & Sahu, 2013). With this concern, the prime intent of this research report is to determine how does social media i.e. Twitter, Whatsapp and Facebook affects the self-esteem of individuals in this present day context. Various significant aspects that encompass the design of a questionnaire, analyzing the responses of the participants of the study by presenting graphs along with tables and conducting hypothesis testing will also be taken into concern in this research report. Discussion The aspects like self-confidence or self-esteem seem to be quite important for overall development of individuals. It will be vital to mention that increased level of self-confidence and self-esteem eventually makes individuals to gain success in any respective field. In this modern day context, with the increased level of globalization, the usage of social media has gained its momentum at large. This particular notion has certainly enhanced the lives of the people in the form of making them quite modernized. Thus, it can be affirmed that social media impose considerable impact on the overall development of an individual in the form of raising self-esteem or self-confidence by a considerable extent. It is worth mentioning that social media plays an imperative role in building an individual’s self-esteem by various ways. These ways are identified as gaining positive feedbacks or feedbacks from varied users, gaining recognitions and most vitally acquiring detailed understanding about varied topics, concepts or ideas. However, apart from delivering positive results, the increased usage of social media also impose negative impact on the individuals, which can be apparent in the form of lessening the self-esteem level of the individuals at large. In this regard, it will be vital to mention that the self-esteem level of the individuals eventually gets affected due to the factors of investing much time on accessing varied SNSs, which hinders them to conduct other activities and limiting their potentiality of making effective decisions in critical situations (Neira & Barber 2014). Specially mentioning, a questionnaire has been developed and the responses of the participants have been analyzed in the following subsequent sections for the purpose of acquiring a brief idea about the role of social media in building an individual’s self-esteem. Results & Findings According to question number 1 (refer to Appendix), it can be ascertained that most of the respondents i.e. 83% of them are quite aware about social media and its importance. This can be better understood with the help of the following pictorial illustration. Fig.1: Awareness about the presence of social media In relation to question number 2 (refer to Appendix), a major portion of the respondents i.e. 34% of them mostly visits Facebook, 24% of them visits LinkedIn, 16% visits Orkut and the remaining 20% visits Twitter. A graphical representation has been provided in the following for better comprehension of the aforesaid subject matter. Fig.2: Frequent visit of the social media sites Based on the responses acquired from question number 3 (refer to Appendix) relating to the time spend on various SNSs, it can be found that maximum number of the respondents i.e. 33% of them spend nearly 10 hours in accessing various SNS. However, only 17% of the respondents are identified to spend only 1 hour daily in using social media. The following pictorial illustration provides a detailed understanding about the aforesaid subject matter. Fig.3: Time spend on using Social Media With regards to question number 4 (refer to Appendix), maximum number of respondents strongly supported the fact that the usage of social media has certain positive implications in the overall development of individuals. These implications can be apparently observed in the form of building individual self-esteem and rising self-confidence of the users at large. According to question number 5 (refer to Appendix), a majority of the respondents supported the fact that social media play a decisive role in building individual self-esteem through various ways. According to question no 6 (refer to Appendix), it can be found that maximum number of respondents i.e. 40% use social media daily. However, a few of the respondents i.e. only 16% are identified to use the same frequently. This can be better understood with the help of the following pictorial illustration. Fig.4: Frequency of using social media Data Analysis By taking into concern the responses of the participants, it has been quite apparent that social media is quite popular amid the people. This might be owing to the reason that in this modern era, people having busy work schedule and does not have adequate time to spend in traditional writing of messages or conducting paper works, for which they often use social media. The responses of the participants that mainly included the students of the University of Cape Town, individuals belonging to the mosque and street people ultimately reveal the popularity of one of the most visited SNSs i.e. Facebook. The prime reason behind the increased level of popularity of Facebook lay in its deliverance of interesting features to the users. Apart from Facebook, LinkedIn is also recognized as one of the most visited SNSs. This particular site is mainly used by those people who mainly seek for jobs and establish a greater connection with the companies (The Atlantic Monthly Group, 2014). It is worth mentioning that the individuals belonging to this modern day context often hold a strong belief that social media imposes favorable impact on their overall development. This might be regarded as one of the prime reasons for the users to use varied SNSs frequently i.e. on a daily and hourly basis. This positive impact of social media can be ascertained as building individual self-esteem as well as confidence at large. From the perspective of various empirical evidences, it can be apparently observed that the usage of social media plays a decisive role in building individual self-esteem through varied ways. These ways entail better group identification due to the formation of effective communication with diverse peers, enhanced level of social presence, superior endorsement of different societal as well as group norms and developed maintenance of interpersonal connectivity among others. The misconception related with the usage of various SNSs lay in distracting most of the individuals from their respective works and studies. Apart from the above discussed aspect, another positive impact of using social media can be apparently noted in socializing the individuals by a considerable level. This can be justified with reference to the fact that people especially the youths who access dissimilar SNSs regularly often display more basic appreciation to their friends. This eventually aids in developing self-esteem of the individuals at large (Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd, 2014). There exist numerous controversies that are found to be associated with the positive impacts of using social media extensively. By taking into concern various empirical evidences, it can be affirmed that the detrimental effects of using social media is seen to be affecting the students, resulting in lessening their respective self-esteem by a considerable extent. This can be justified with reference to the fact that the teenagers or the youths often get diverted from their studies by spending enormous time in accessing distinct SNSs. The another disadvantageous factor of using social media lay in taking the youths far away from the real world of interaction, which eventually hinders them to materilaise their respective thoughts or opinions. In precise, these factors eventually affect the procedure of building self-esteem of the individuals (Salon Media Group, 2014). Hypothesis Testing The hypotheses designed for this particular study have been framed in the following: H0 (Null Hypothesis): Social media play an imperative role in building an individual’s self-esteem H1 (Alternative Hypothesis): Social media does not play a decisive role in building an individual’s self-esteem, rather it affects the same. From the above analysis and discussion concerning the responses obtained from the participants and the data retrieved from varied empirical sources, it has been quite apparent that social media plays an imperative role in building as well as developing self-esteem of individuals by various ways. These ways are identified as developed maintenance of interpersonal connectivity and formation of effective communication with diverse peers among others. Thus, in this regard, the above framed null hypothesis can be accepted, as evidences claim that social meda actually builds an individual self-esteem rather affecting the same. The notion of qualitative approach can be duly considered as the procedure based on which the above stated hypotheses have been conducted. In this regard, the dependent as well as independent variables considered for this particular research study has been depicted in the form of the following tabular representation: Independent Variables Dependent Variable Use of social networking sites Measurement of individual stress and happiness level Number of hours spend in using Facebook or WhatsApp in weekly basis By taking into concern the above identified dependent as well as independent variables, it can be affirmed that certain confounding variables emerged while conducting the procedure of hypothesis testing. One of such crucial confounding variables was observed to be availability of huge figure of data relating to the subject matter of the research study. However, this confounding variable has been addressed and mitigated by selecting appropriate and relevant concerns amid the huge data that deemed to be fit for conducting the procedure effectively. Conclusion From the above study, it can be ascertained that the notion of social media is internally related with every individual. People belonging to diverse communities or age groups have their respective profile in various SNSs. It is worth mentioning that social media impose considerable impact particularly on the performance of the students in the form of raising their respective self-esteem level at large. Students of this modern day context are smart enough to use various SNSs as their study materials. However, certain controversies depict that the usage of social media has adverse effects on the entire performance of the individuals. Specially mentioning, looking into the various facets of social media and its gaining momentum of acceptance level amid the people in recent times, it can be affirmed that it will play an imperative role in developing an individual self-esteem in future at large. References Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (2014). Positive impacts of social networking websites. Retrieved from http://news.oneindia.in/2011/08/09/tech-negative-positive-effects-of-facebook-part-2.html Neira, C.J. B., & Barber, B.L. (2014). Social networking site use: Linked to adolescents’ social self-concept, self-esteem, and depressed mood. Australian Journal of Psychology: 56-64. Sharma, S., & Sahu, D. (2013). Effect of social networking sites on self confidence. International Journal of Information and Computation Technology, 3(11):1211-1216. Salon Media Group. (2014). 7 telltale signs social media is killing your self-esteem. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2014/03/11/7_telltale_signs_social_media_is_killing_your_self_esteem_partner/ The Atlantic Monthly Group. (2014). The most popular social network for young people? Texting. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/facebook-texting-teens-instagram-snapchat-most-popular-social-network/373043/ Bibliography Review My Thing. (2013). Positive and negative effects of social networking. Retrieved from http://reviewmything.com/positive-and-negative-effects-of-social-networking The Australian Psychological Society Ltd. (2010). The social and psychological impact of online social networking. APS National Psychology Week Survey:1-10 Appendix: Questionniare 1. Are you aware about the presence of social networking sites? Yes No 2. What are the sites of social media do you mostly visit? Facebook LinkedIN Orkut Twitter 3. How much time you spent daily on using social media? 10 hours 5 hours 2 hours 1 hour 4. What do you think about the positive effects of using socil media? 5. Do you support the fact that the social media play a major role in building individual self esteem? 6. How frequent you use social media? Once in a week Twice in a week Daily Once in a Month Read More