Addressing the Effects of Social Media on Self Perception
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Introduction
People have always lived their lives based on societal norms and expectations, which are agreeably quite strenuous. We are expected to go out of our ways to make sacrifices that contribute to our acceptance within society. Society judges people based on their achievements and accomplishments in the family setup. While some people have accomplished some of these requirements, most people have not been fortunate in these accomplishments. In the past, people could be criticized and ridiculed by members of society for failure to achieve these accomplishments. Social media has provided a solution that allows people to escape prejudice from the community by creating false identities that enable them to present themselves in the way that society expects them to be. Through the use of fake identification, people have been able to cope with societal pressure and attain respect from members of society through the creation of social media identities that represent their ideal selves. While there are people who provide a genuine representation of themselves in their social media profiles, several reasons compel people to use fake identities in their social media profiles, which make it impossible to create and maintain an authentic online identity. Despite the multipleascribedbenefits of social media as a communication tool that defies geographical boundaries, its impact on identity and self-perception has become an issue of significant concern over the last decade due to the pressure it imposes on most women in the society to alter their physical appearance.
Research Question
Is it possible for a person to overcome his/her obsession with physical beauty?
Argument
Why does social media affect how people view themselves and others in society today?
Justification
The objectification of women in popular culture is one of the significant subjects dominating mainstream media. Objectification is the portrayal of women as sexual objects that are aimed at gratifying the sexual needs of a man. The role of social media in propagating female objectification is portrayed in some of the images thatwomen have postedon social media platforms. In the TED video by Renee Engeln, she reiterates how the modern woman has internalized the concept of beauty as the true definition of her strength. This perception has been developed through their interaction with social media and their exposure to the ideal representation of images of various women (TEDx Talks, 2013). They acethese images of their standard of beauty and work relentlessly towards achieving these appearances. In the video, she talks about the increase in cosmetic surgery within the U.S as women try to modify their appearances to meet certain standards of beauty that are only seen on social media platforms. The perception of beauty as a disease is deeply embedded in the effect of how various images on the social media platform determine how most women can perceive themselves(TEDx Talks, 2013). This perceptionhas been the basis of various psychological healthcare conditions such as anxiety and depression, as most women are worried about their appearance, which seems to be a determinant of their level of success.
The perception of beauty as one of the significant determinants of success is one of the reasons for the increasingidealrepresentation in oval media platforms. Some of the widely used platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have attracted many people who use their online presence to gain recognition and acknowledgment from society(TEDx Talks, 2013). One of the significant issues that stand out on these platforms is the large number of pictures that have been posted on the sites. The primary reason for posting these images is to gain approval from the online community through “Likes, Shares, and Comments.” Pictures that attract more attention from online communities are perceived to be more appealing in beauty. However, in a situation where one cannotreceive the anticipated reaction to their pictures from the online community, their ego is likely to be crushed due to the perception that they do not meet the standards of appeal associated with the online community(TEDx Talks, 2013). As such, most people go through various trouble modifying these images to meet the required level of appeal for the online community. This creates an ideal representation of their images that do not resemble their normal appearances. Most people who have been able to attain online beauty approvals through modified images have a hard time embracing social interactions due to the fear of being branded frauds(TEDx Talks, 2013). Moreover, some of the social media users who view some of the modified pictures posted on social media platforms are subjected to the pressure of meeting such beauty standards. This lowers their self-esteem as they perceive themselves to be less attractive.
Society has always demanded a lot from us as our relatives keep comparing us to our peers in terms of successful marriages, good jobs, and high social status. This has led to most people being intimidated by the success of their peers. While most people are not lucky enough to achieve the kind of success that their peers do, they create fake identities that allow them to present themselves as useful people within society (Silver, 2017). This allows for the creation of ideal representations of their professional livesand marital status and even gives a false representation of their lifestyles. This strategy allows them to gain respect within society as community members end up being fooled by these details(Silver, 2017). They also benefit from gaining personal fulfillment from representing their ideal selves. However, this strategy also has its downsides, which significantly impact the person. While they can succeed in fooling society, it makes their lives miserably difficult as the community members expect a lot from them due to how they represent their lifestyle in their profiles. It also disconnects them from society as they cannot match the ideal identity they use in their social media profiles; hence they resort to staying away from their friends and relatives to avoid getting discovered(Silver, 2017). It also makes it difficult for them to be able to get help as they have to suffer in silence or risk exposing their failures to the members of the societies.
Every person has an ideal representation of themselves that looks more fun and exciting than their real selves. Most of the people we meet on the online apps are strangers who do not know anything about our lives. From personal experience, people are more likely to show interest in a person who appears to be more fun in terms of personality. Various people have a hard time connecting with other people due to their weak personalities. Social media gives them a chance to create new identities that allows them to establish effective virtual connections with the rest of the world, who perceive them based on the ideal personalities that they create within their social media profiles(Silver, 2017). This scenario can be witnessed in most dating sites where people use false information that makes them appeal to and attract matches. However, this is a temporary solution to the problem as it only enables them to establish a virtual connection. The people who meet through these social platforms cannot create physical relationships due to the fear that they are bound to be discovered as fraudsters as they cannot live up to the information they present on the social media ups.
Another reason why people are most likely to use fake identities on social media because it allows them to engage in fraudulent and malicious activities without getting traced. People have used fake identities in social media apps to scam other people and have been able to get away with their crimes scot-free as it becomes difficult to trace a person if you do not have his exact details. In most cases, a person creates fake profiles that they use to create a connection with other people (Yarosh, 2019). Through this connection, they feed them false information about their lifestyle and professional background, backed up by photos that portray lavish lifestyles making people believe their fake identities. Eventually, they come up with a reasonable offer that these people they have already gained their trust find irresistible, and before they realize they have been duped off their hard-earned money. Other people, however, create these profiles, which they use to stalk other users and carry out cyberbullying activities(Yarosh, 2019). Such people are categorized as psychopaths who get their satisfaction from other people’s suffering. They stalk these people by getting their details from their accounts, which they use to make the lives of those users miserable. However, the other group of people resorts to the use of fake identities as a spying tool. Through these identities, they can spy on their friends, enemies, and relatives without being detected, regardless of their reasons. Female obsession with beauty is evident in the of pictures that most women post online. The prevalence of nude images in sovial media platforms is relatively high. While most women who post these pictures perceive it as a show of their feminity and ability to control the male gender. This level of objectification has been perceived as one fo the sigbificantbarrers to gender equality.
Though most people have fake details in their social media accounts, some people have genuine information in their actual accounts. These are people who have risen above societal prejudices and do not concern themselves with what society thinks about them in terms of their achievements. These are a group of people who are contented with how they live their lives and do not need any person’s approval on how they go about their activities (Silver, 2017). However, while most of the details represented in a person’s online identity may be true, there is usually some element of false representation as every person has insecurities that they cannot deal with hence making it impossible to create and maintain an authentic online identity.Self-acceptance is key to living a more fulfilling life (Silver, 2017). It is thus crucial that members of societycan break free from the toxic influence of social media as a tool for determining one’s perception of themselves and society in general. Breaking free from this toxicity is likely to solve the various psychological healthcare challenges that most people face due to the pressure of living their lives as portrayed on social media platforms.
In the TED video, Engeln describes the obsession with beauty as a disease that has pushed most women to do the unimaginable. While he identifies the scope of the social challenge as an issue that affects both genders, the effect on men is relatively low compared to women. This is because most women perceive beauty as a form of power that can enable them to have control over men in society(TEDx Talks, 2013). She, however, challenges this perception by pointing out that beauty is likely to fade as one grows older. As such, it cannot be used as a tool to control as itsscope of effect is likely to diminish as one progresses in age. Moreover, the perception of beauty as abstract implies that the perception of beauty is likely to vary from one individual to another. She summarizes her talk by addressing the need to change the narrative about beauty in society(TEDx Talks, 2013). While beauty is important, its importance should not be attached to issues such as attaining success within society. This is because it has promoted a culture of laziness where women believe that they deserve certain specialized treatment due to their appearances. The role of socialmedia in propagating this ideology also depicts the role of women in execrating the ideology of objectification which has been a dominant theme in the fen-mint movement over the last decades.
Conclusion
In digital connectivity, people are perceived by how they portray themselves in the information provided on their online profiles. The obsession that most women have with beauty has been the basis for which they have succumbed to various psychological healthcare conditions due to societal pressure that they experience in online platforms. Most people publish fake information in these online profiles, which provides an ideal representation. The use of false online identities can be attributed to various significant reasons. These reasons include bowing down to societal pressure, intimidation of peers with a false representation of success, and fear that using their real information on these platforms may compromise them and expose them to cyber-attacks and fraudsters. Most women who use fake pictures and identity are driven by the fear that they may not be attractive enough to meet the standards of the online community. This may therefore expose them to social media bullying. Others, however, use fake identities to carry out malicious activities such as cyberbullying and theft. One of the downsides of using fake identification on online apps is that it restricts the level of connection between users due to the fear of getting exposed based on the false information they use on their profiles. However, some people provide their real identities on online sites. Even though most people try to give an actual representation of them, there is usually some element of falsehood in some of the information they present hence making it impossible to create and maintain an authentic identity.
References
Silver, K. (2017). When Obsession with Beauty Becomes a Disease. Retrieved 11 April 2022, from https://psmag.com/news/when-obsession-with-beauty-becomes-a-disease
TEDx Talks. An epidemic of beauty sickness | Renee Engeln | TEDxUconn. October 21, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63XsokRPV_Y
Yarosh, D. (2019). Perception and Deception: Human Beauty and the Brain. Behavioral Sciences, 9(4), 34. doi: 10.3390/bs9040034