Social Media and Self-esteem

Social media apps encourage unhealthy, negative social comparisons by encouraging their users to depict “perfect” versions of their lives. These comparisons can, in turn, lead adolescents to view their own body image negatively, which can cause their self-esteem to decline. 

Social media features, such as beauty filters or endless scrolling, encourage addiction to the products and expose children to a continuous stream of fake appearances and experiences. A 2019 study of American adolescents ages 12 – 14 found it’s possible to predict how satisfied a young person is with their body based on how often they use social media. The more they used social media apps like Instagram, the less satisfied they were.

Social media platforms harm self-esteem by encouraging negative social comparisons and self-doubt. These harms can commonly be categorized as: 

• Upward comparison involves people comparing themselves to someone they perceive as superior. 
• Downward comparison involves people comparing themselves to someone they perceive as inferior.  

Most often, adolescents experience upward comparisons in which they compare themselves, and their lives to those of celebrities, popular social media influencers and their own peers, whom they perceive to be more popular.  

What is self-esteem?

Self-esteem is more than just body image in that it is the totality of the way a person values and perceives themselves. Self-esteem affects our ability to make decisions, assert ourselves and try new things and is also important for good mental health. Conversely low self-esteem is associated with feelings of worthlessness and can even be considered a symptom of depression.  

Research has shown that good self-esteem is important for thriving relationships, work fulfillment and mental and physical health. The benefits are the same regardless of race, gender and ethnicity. People with healthy self-esteem feel good about themselves. They are proud of what they can do, can cope with mistakes and are more willing to try again when they fail.  Boosting the self-esteem of individuals benefits both individuals and all of society.  With respect to children, studies have even shown that adolescents who report having higher self-esteem helps function better at school, at home and with friends.  

Critically, a young person’s self-esteem is more vulnerable than an adult’s. In addition, research shows that humans are born with the tendency to compare themselves to others to determine their social standing and abilities.  Social media is a convenient way to measure these standings. Yet, many adolescents who struggle with social media use also struggle with low self-esteem.

Instagram is a free photo and video sharing app where people can upload photos or videos and share them with friends. Some Instagram features, such as photo editing and continuous scroll, affect self-esteem. Research has shown that spending large amounts of time on Instagram may negatively impact women and teen girls’ self-esteem. 

Users can also view, comment, and like posts shared by their friends.  When someone gets a like on an Instagram post, it serves as a “reward.” Our bodies produce dopamine when we receive rewards. Dopamine is a chemical related to pleasure.  Not receiving these expected rewards can cause obsession.

Internal Instagram research reveals harms

Some of Instagram’s own internal research studied the app’s effect on self-esteem and related outcomes. According to a publicly available internal Instagram report: 

• Young women often view and describe themselves differently after being on Instagram. Their self-perceptions changed from “multi-dimensional” and “centered” to “not in control,” “dark,” “boxed in,” “low esteem” and “anxious.”
• Mental health outcomes related to negative self-perceptions can cause eating disorders, body dysmorphia, body dissatisfaction, depression and loneliness. 
• The three main categories of harm from using Instagram were social comparison, social pressure and negative interactions with other people.

By providing all of these ways to compare themselves to others, combined with constant access, means boys and girls cannot escape social comparison on Instagram. 

Parents and others are filing lawsuits against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The Instagram lawsuits allege that these apps are connected to addictive behavior and serious mental health consequences among young people.

Snapchat, created in 2011 by three college students, is now one of the world’s most popular apps. Snapchat began as a disappearing-message chat application and new product features have since been added. All of these features can be dangerous and addictive and can specifically target youths. 

Charms

Snapchat includes user rewards called Charms. These rewards are similar to “Likes” on other apps and are used to reward users for reaching milestones in their relationships with others. They are highly addictive and intended to drive Snapchat use. Users unlock more Charms as they interact more with one another. Two Snapchat users may unlock a “Best Friends Forever” (BFF) charm if they reach the top of each other’s friends list. All this increases social comparison and undermines self-esteem. 

Augmented Reality Filters

Augmented Reality (AR) filters allow companies to give customers a more personalized user experience. They can do things like try on shoes virtually from their homes and see themselves in a new hairstyle before they get the cut.  Over 200 million people make daily use of Snapchat’s AR filters.  However, Snapchat’s AR filters may negatively affect self-esteem.

Snapchat includes custom-designed lenses and filters. These features enable users to edit and add AR special effects to their “Snaps.” 

Negative effects of Snapchat’s filters

AR features create unrealistic, idealized versions of users that may lead to dangerous body image issues in teenagers, particularly girls.  Snapchat’s AR overlays can be used to change a user’s appearance. Physical appearance is critical to an individual’s identity and affects their psychological well-being and self-esteem. 

A 2017 study revealed that, because of the lenses and filters, Snapchat was the second worst social media platform for harming the mental health of children and adolescents. Instagram took first place.  In another study, even users with higher self-esteem felt they looked 44% worse before they edited their image with a filter. 

In addition, virtually modifying one’s appearance can cause anxiety, promote shame and motivate people to seek cosmetic surgery.  In recent years, plastic surgeons have seen an increase in requests for alterations matching Snapchat’s filters.  As a result of this phenomenon, physicians have coined the phrase “Snapchat Dysmorphia” to describe a type of body dysmorphic disorder allegedly caused by Snapchat’s beauty filters.  Snapchat Dysmorphia may lead to a “sense of unattainable perfection,” which may result in self-alienation and damages a person’s self-esteem. 

If you or your child suffered self-esteem and mental health challenges because of the app, consider filing a Snapchat lawsuit to hold the responsible parties accountable.

Social media apps like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok may also impact self-esteem. 

• Current research found that Facebook’s News Feed encourages social comparison that leads to lower self-esteem and increased depression.
• YouTube and its autoplay feature may foster addiction and increase time spent on the site, which may warp users’ perceptions of their body image and satisfaction with their daily lives. 
• TikTok offers numerous features similar to Snapchat and Instagram, including filters and continuous scrolling all of which have been linked to memory impairment, difficulties retaining information and poor mental health.

Parents need to be aware of self-esteem issues in their children. A child may be suffering from low self-esteem If they:

• Seem unsure of themselves
• Hesitate to join in because they think others won’t accept them
• Allow others to treat them poorly 

Experts recommend several ways parents can boost a child’s self-esteem, such as:  

• Not minimizing or trivializing their experiences on (and reactions to) social media 
• Encouraging them to take a social media holiday (or taking one as a family)
• Modeling a healthy response to failure
• Praising their efforts no matter what the outcome

If your child has self-esteem issues or other challenges linked to their social media use, a pediatric psychologist or other mental health professional may be able to help. Some parents have chosen to file lawsuits on behalf of their children for experiencing similar harms.

Self-esteem issues are just one of many harms claimed in social media lawsuits. Social media addiction may foster low self-esteem, which can in turn lead to larger problems like mental health disorders, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and other injuries in young people, including:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depressive disorders
• Disruptive behavior, poor impulse control and other conduct disorders
• Eating disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
• Self-harm
• Sleep disorders
• Suicidal ideation
• Suicide
• Trauma and stressor-related disorders

Our attorneys can help you determine your eligibility for a social media addiction lawsuit. They understand state and federal laws and statutes of limitations and will help you gather relevant information, file a claim and will support you throughout the entire legal process.

For decades, Motley Rice attorneys have fought for families. Our experience includes representing people dealing with tech companies and the harm they’ve allegedly caused. If your child experienced severe self-esteem issues that you believe were brought on by social media and you need help filing a lawsuit for social media harm, our law firm wants to help.