Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA, DEPRESSION, AND SELF-ESTEEM 1

The Effects of Social Media Use on Self-esteem and Depression

Vart Zeitlian

Lebanese American University

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Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between social media use and the

depression and self-esteem levels of social media users. According to past research, spending

time on social networking sites increases depression and affects self-esteem negatively.

To test this effect, a group of 130 people aged between 16 to 30 (65 females, 65 males) were

asked to participate in an online survey which was anonymous, and a psychologist was

interviewed to give a detailed insight about the variables tackled. Taking into consideration

the fact that everyone experiences social media in a different way, the results section did not

come up with a definite conclusion.

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Introduction:

Social media has rocketed to a point where it has become an essential part of people’s daily

lives by capturing the attention of millions. Some people greet it with euphoria, whereas

others fear its consequences (Nie & Erbring, 2002). The remaining just go with the flow, lest

they will appear to be falling behind or not having fun. A lot of people like it because they

can manipulate it. Social media affects its users depending on their use, and this is why it

may sometimes be dangerous for people’s self-esteem and may have a snowball effect on

depression.

Literature Review:

Social media is the fastest growing tool of communication and like everything else, it has its

advantages and disadvantages. Freitas (2017) declared that through social media people can

spread the gospel, can spread love and share their dreams and hopes. Sometimes social media

can even look like a smoke screen, hiding the reality by just showing the enviable moments.

A social media user tries to appear a happy and a do-no-wrong person on any social platform

that is attached to his/her real name and he/she tries to portray a good life instead of actually

leading one. Sometimes people go to places and take photographs just for the sake of

people’s reactions, which is pathetic. Freitas (2017) continues by saying that before the boom

of social media, the reaction of people regarding a specific activity was the byproduct of the

activity, but now the whole idea has been changed; the same reaction of people is becoming

the sole reason of doing the activity in the first place. Moreover, the greatest irony is that

people like to access all the information that is around them, but also like to control their own

personal information, lest they offer bad impressions about themselves and become the topic

of other people’s malicious rumors. People post things that other users are going to respond

well to and try to avoid posts that could haunt them for the rest of their lives. Moreover,
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Tazghini & Siedlecki (2013) note that some people “un-tag” themselves from certain photos

in order to preserve their “virtual” image (as cited in Raymer, 2015), or involve themselves in

a social media cleanup by deleting embarrassing posts and pictures, fearing that others would

use that against them. This is why Gershon (2011) explains that people’s cyber-lives are

much more interesting than their real daily-lives. When you’re young and innocent, you post

anything that comes into your mind without having a second thought, but as you grow older

you start to worry about your “image” as if you were a celebrity; you learn what is

appropriate to post and what is not, fearing that people would pounce if they saw something

they don’t like (Freitas, 2017).

One of the most interesting things to look at is the increasing number of people using social

networking sites. What’s more interesting than that is the number of people caught up in

“comparison traps”. According to Freitas (2017), some people believe that social media

builds relationships while others think that it ruins them and gives a rise to drama. Gershon

(2011) notes that it is better when couples in a romantic relationship do not use Facebook

because Facebook can serve as an incentive to monitor people around you, especially your

lovers’ daily lives, which can make you more anxious and jealous (whereas this idea didn’t

concern people who didn’t want monogamy). Moreover, people find it difficult to decode

data that is posted on Facebook because they think that it’s either too much or something’s

missing. Wilson, Gosling & Graham (2012) report that people using Facebook upload 4

billion pieces of content daily (as cited in Raymer, 2015). Barker (2009) mentions that

extroverts use social media for social interaction, while introverts use it for social

compensation (as cited in Raymer, 2015). Ayas & Horzum (2010) elaborate this idea by

saying that people who are shy and have difficulties in face-to-face communications prefer to

share their thoughts and feelings online; so in other words, they engage in social

compensation. It is important to point out that the number of someone’s Facebook friends
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doesn’t determine the quality of his/her friendship since some people “pile” Facebook friends

just for the sake of having more “virtual” friends and increase their perception of popularity.

This can sometimes mean that being a friend with someone on Facebook is a virtually

meaningless relationship since there would have been no interaction between them had the

internet not existed (Gershon, 2011). Moreover, according to Lee, Moore, Park & Park

(2012), sometimes more friends can create more problems because you would therefore be

exposed to a larger audience (as cited in Raymer, 2015).

The usage of social media can affect one’s psychological standing and result in loneliness,

depression, and lower self-esteem. This is why there’s a considerable uncertainty and debate

over how to best use them. Remaining rational while scrolling through a bunch of “happy”

posts in your lonely hours is not that easy; this would eventually get to a person after a time

(Freitas, 2017). The users of social media should be aware of their usage and try not to

compare their “behind-the-scenes” with other people’s highlight reel that has been edited to

the very glorious detail. People have to know that the grass is not always greener on the other

side. They should trust people and not pictures. They should not give power to social media

to affect their self-esteem or worse, increase their depression levels. Whether we like it or

not, social media is here to stay. People usually get scrutinized more easily if they use social

media regularly; this is why we should try our best to manage our feelings and not let social

media govern us instead. It is human nature to compare ourselves to others. The very same

comparison can sometimes inspire us but more often it depresses us. Some students, for

example, believe that Facebook transforms them into another person where jealousy rules and

that eventually leads them to feel depressed (Gershon, 2011). By giving an impression that

everyone is having fun except you, social media is becoming one of the greatest reasons for

depression. Others feel depressed by seeing the gap between their idealized online personas

and who they really are. According to Freitas (2017), being one way in private and acting
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another way in public is very tiring. A person, for example, can be on antidepressants but her

posts can tell a whole another story by showing only her “happy phases”. Moreover, in order

to say something online, social media users are getting anxious by wondering if their viewers

are going to “like” it or not, if it is going to sound offensive, show a positive vibe or worry

anyone (Freitas, 2017). Furthermore, by putting a spotlight on the importance of being

“liked”, people are getting more nervous. Another thing that is also considered stressful and

frustrating is that people now are always “on call” just like doctors are. People expect that

others should be available 24/7, so if someone doesn’t respond immediately, he/she has to

explain it later. Freitas (2017) notes that cyberbullying too, can lead people to depression

because people are more loose with their tongues on social media and have more freedom in

doing “sinful things” by being anonymous and faking their profiles. Moreover, Raymer

(2015) implies that low self-esteem is related to more time spent on social media, and since

spending time online decreases face-to-face communications, the use of social media is

leading people to depression. In that case, loss of contact with one’s social environment is

positively correlated with the time spent using the internet, which can be noticeable even by

just using 2hours of internet per week (Nie & Erbring, 2002). Furthermore, users that

message their friends on Facebook usually report a lower feeling of loneliness than those that

only stalk other people’s profiles (Raymer, 2015). Gonzales & Hancock (2011) comment that

the data posted on one’s profile makes people aware of their own shortcomings, which leads

to low self-esteem levels, but if that same data is “manicured” and the information posted is

best-selected, self-esteem levels can increase. They continue by reporting that “previous work

examining self-esteem suggests that consistency between the actual and the ideal self is an

important factor in understanding how information can affect self-esteem” (p.82). Moreover,

constant self-evaluation and competition with other users can lower self-esteem (Raymer,

2015). Another thing to take into consideration is that people who view their own profiles
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report higher self-esteem levels than people who only stalk other people’s profiles. The

information that people post online is always over-interpreted, which leads to exaggerations

and stereotypes (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011). People form opinions based on social media

platforms and therefore fit people into “boxes” by hanging nicknames on each other such as

“the jersey girl”, “the party animal”, and so on… which are very general; people can’t really

fit a person in a checkbox kind of form (Freitas, 2017). Another thing related to social media

is the “selfie” trend which has gotten “out of control”. I believe that there will come a time

that the word “millennial” will be replaced by the phrase “selfie generation”. Since selfies are

all about having the best looks and faces, it is kind of related to the “contest” of appearing

happy and to the creation of unrealistic expectations on what beauty is supposed to be, which

is making people feel insecure about themselves (Freitas, 2017). We see everyone’s nice

photos but not the millions of selfies that it took to finally get to that one. But there are other

drawbacks in having photographs too (Gershon, 2011). “Pics or it didn’t happen”, people say.

But photographs offer just the tip of the iceberg. You can never be sure about what was

happening at that exact time by simply looking at a photograph. Furthermore, by trying to

find the perfect angle, selfies are carrying people away from reality, belittling the intimacy of

the moment, and replacing the real experiences.

In order to escape from all the drama, some people are deactivating their accounts and others

are trying to minimize their activities that are engaged with social media. For example, they

are creating “don’t touch” folders on their smartphones and putting the social media apps in

them. Finally, it is important to know to what extent social media is benefiting you or

becoming a burden in order to have an insight on what to do. If necessary, people can also go

and see psychological consultants that can provide some assistance.

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Key terms:

- Cyberbullying: cyberbullying includes name calling, spreading rumors, distributing

pictures without consent, and making threats.

- Facebook: one of the most popular social networking sites that is filled with

unanticipated audience members. It was launched in 2004 at Harvard, and originally

was designed for university students, but now it is accessible to anyone with an email

address.

- Self-esteem: One’s appraisal of the value or worth of the self.

- Social networking: an activity of creating relationships (be it personal or business)

with other people by sharing personal information and messages via the internet

including hobbies, likes, dislikes and so on.

Outline:

The first section of the paper will discuss the method used which is a questionnaire designed

to gather evidence regarding the thesis statement, followed by its results. The second section

will give a detailed discussion by comparing the results found to the literature review of the

first section. Finally, the third section will conclude the paper by summarizing the points of

the study (the effects of social media on depression and self-esteem levels) and evaluate the

validity of the thesis statement.

Thesis Statement:

Social media can be dangerous for people’s self-esteem and can have a snowball effect on

depression. (Usually, low self-esteem is directly linked with depression.)

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Methods:

The current study will focus on investigating the effects of using social media on self-esteem

and depression. The study will examine a group of 130 people aged between 16 to 30 (65

females, 65 males). The measures will be administered online and respondents who

participate will remain anonymous. The method of data collection will be a survey, a

quantitative approach, consisting of 28 questions that will be used to examine the relationship

between the paper’s variables. Data would be in the form of statistical results, the measures

will be scored accordingly, and used to determine if there is a correlation between social

media use, self-esteem, and depression. In addition to the survey, a psychologist (Nairy

Lakissian, BA in psychology from Haigazian University) is going to be interviewed, a

qualitative approach, to give a deeper understanding and a more detailed insight about the

variables tackled. The questions of the interview will be drawn from the pool of questions

used for the survey in order to compare them later on.

Although the research was carefully prepared, there were some unavoidable limitations.

One limitation of using an online survey is that it is impossible to probe the participants in the

moment of their responses. Moreover, because of the time limit, the research targeted a small

number. To generalize the results for larger groups, the study should have involved more

participants at different levels. Finally, the questionnaire relied on the honesty of the

respondents, which is limited by the fact that they self-report.

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Results:

The major questions of interest are shown in Appendix A and the frequency of responses are

shown in Appendix B. The survey had 113 responses overall, out of which 111 answered the

questions and the remaining two left the survey site without answering. On the other hand,

the interviewee answered all of the questions regarding social media’s effect on self-esteem

and depression.

The thesis for the current study was that social media can be dangerous for people’s self-

esteem and can have a snowball effect on depression.

Figure.1- Effect of

social media on face-

to-face

communications.

Figure 1 emphasized the effects of social media on face-to-face communication; half of the

respondents agreed that social media somewhat has an effect on face-to-face communication,

11 percent reported that social media completely replaces it and another 38 percent reported

that it does not affect affect face-to-face communication. A small number chose “other” by

stating that social media is a waste of time.

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Figure.2-Comparing yourself to
others.

Figure 2 shows that 57 percent of the respondents reported that they do not compare

themselves to others on social media, while the other 43 percent reported that they do, which

is exactly what the interviewee claimed. Quoting the interviewee: “People definitely

compare themselves to others on social media, which leads to disappointment and self-

loathing. Since everyone seems to be doing really well when you are looking at their

highlight reel as opposed to their daily log and people only see other’s successes but not the

hard work or even the failures that led up to that success.”

Figure.3-

Information

people post.
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Most social media users state their real names, another great number post pictures/videos,

almost half of them include their date of birth, some state where their town is, mention their

status, interests, and hobbies. However, a very small number of respondents post their

religion or mobile number (see figure 3).

Moreover, 10 percent of the respondents reported that they have experienced online bullying

and the other 90 percent reported that they have not. Furthermore, the interviewee believes

that every one is a target when it comes to cyberbullying but some are just more vulnerable

and sensitive to it than others. 78 percent of the respondents feel the need to use social media

but the other 22 percent do not. 65 percent of the respondents reported that they feel happier

when they get more likes and the remaining responded that they do not.

60 percent of the respondents reported that they do not regret posting something personal but

the other 40 percent reported that they do. On the other hand, the interviewee said: “There’s a

higher chance that someone will regret posting something personal because it is more

valuable to them than anything else they post. And if the post gets bad reviews or comments

the person posting gets offended and devastated, especially when the public’s opinion and

approval matters to him/her.”

Regarding drama, 14 percent disagreed that social media gives rise to it, while the other 86

percent agreed. The interviewee agreed with the latter by saying “Social media gives rise to

drama and can be described as the anonymous pandemonium where chaos, confusion, anger

and excitement play the main roles. People can pretend to be who they are not in real life,

without making a lot of effort.”

Most of the respondents reported that they are the same in real life and online, while a small

number reported that their real life is different from their online personas. On the contrary,

the interviewee said that a person chooses to be someone that is considered to be acceptable

by the public, which means that people can be totally different in real life versus online.
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At last, more than half of the respondents reported that they would like to deactivate their

social media networking sites some day, while only 35 percent reported that they do not think

of it.

Discussion:

This study was designed to test the effects of social media use on self-esteem and depression.

Based on the data, there is no conclusive result; some of them believe that social media

affects self-esteem negatively and leads to depression, while others believe that social media

affects self-esteem positively and has no effect on depression.

Based on previous research, some people “un-tag” themselves from certain photos or involve

themselves in a social media cleanup to preserve their “virtual” image, which is consistent

with the data obtained, which also shows that people take time to decide before posting a

picture. This may suggest that the process of selective self-presentation can cause someone to

feel pressured and eventually make them feel depressed, either by having an impression that

everyone is having fun except them or by seeing the gap between their idealized online

personas and who they really are. This may imply that social media use can lead to

depression and may have a negative effect on self-esteem.

Both, the previous research and the results suggest that people feel the need to use social

media and that social media gives rise to drama which eventually leads people to feel anxious

and jealous.

Previous research suggests that people get nervous by putting a spotlight on the importance

of being liked. The results demonstrate this idea since the respondents reported that they feel

happier when they get more likes. This means, that less likes may lead to un-happiness which

can eventually lead to depression.

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Previous research shows that people get caught up in comparison traps all the time and that

acting one way in private and another way in public makes them feel depressed. Instead, the

results demonstrate that social media users do not compare themselves to each other and they

believe that they are the same person, be it online or in real life. Having this inconsistency, a

connection cannot be made between the use of social media and depression.

The previous research shows that low self-esteem is related to more time spent on social

media, and since spending time online decreases face-to-face communications, the use of

social media is leading people to depression. While it is true that the study supports that

people spend a lot of time on social media which may decrease self-esteem, it does not

support the idea that spending time online decreases face-to-face communication.

Unfortunately, the previous research and the results are incompatible.

Previous research suggests that social media ruins relationships, which contradicts the results

of the study. Quoting the interviewee: “People eventually feel “left-out”, there is even a

made-up word proper for this kind of feeling which is FOMO (fear of missing out), it

perpetuates the fear of having made the wrong decision on how to spend time, that others

might be having rewarding experiences from which you are absent. It causes awkwardness

and stress among friendships especially if one of the friends is not as forthcoming as the

other.” Instead, the survey’s results show that social media users do not feel “left-out” when

they see friends posting pictures without them. Thus, this evidence shows that the effect of

social media on relationships is not negative, after all.

Limitations:

Within the limitations of the responses found in the research is that all of them relied on the

honesty of the participants rather than monitoring their activities on social media and their

corresponding feelings. Another limitation is that the perceptions between the actual self and
SOCIAL MEDIA, DEPRESSION, AND SELF-ESTEEM 15

the ideal “virtual” self were not measured. Moreover, more attention was not been focused on

the diversity of the participants, so the results cannot be generalized. This makes the reader

wonder if it is really true that social media triggers depression and affects people’s self-

esteem.

Conclusion:

The whole study’s purpose was to test the effects of social media use on self-esteem and

depression. Unfortunately, the study did not lead to a solid conclusion because not everyone

of the respondents experienced social media in the same way and the contradiction was not

only within the respondents themselves, but also with the previous researches and the

interview.

At last, for future research it would be interesting to see if there are any differences in social

media use between genders and it would be more effective to observe people’s posts rather

than to rely on their self-evaluation.

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References:

Ayas, T., & Horzum, M. B. (2010). Relation between depression, loneliness, self-esteem and

internet addiction. Education, 133(3), 283-290.

Freitas, D. (2017). The happiness effect: How social media is driving a generation to appear

perfect at any cost. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Gershon, I. (2011). Un-friend my heart: Facebook, promiscuity, and heartbreak in a

neoliberal age. Anthropological Quarterly, 84(4), 865-894.

Gonzales, A., M.A., & Hancock, J. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of

exposure to Facebook on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social

networking, 14(1-2), 79-83.

Nie, N., & Erbring, L. (2002). Internet and society: A preliminary report. [Electronic

version]. Journal of IT & Society, 1(1), 275-283.

Raymer, K. (2015, May). The effects of social media sites on self-esteem. Theses and

Dissertations. Retrieved from Rowan University, Department of Psychology site:

http://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/284
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Appendix A
Social Media Survey
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Interview Questions:

1- How do social networking sites affect people’s social life?

2- Do people feel “left-out” when their friends post pictures without them? Does this

create problems?

3- Tell me about online bullying.

4- What is the correlation between the usage of social media, depression and self-

esteem?

5- Do people regret after posting something personal? Why?

6- Do people always receive positive comments on social media? What are the

consequences?

7- Do people compare themselves to others. What does this comparison lead to?

8- Does social media give rise to drama? In what sense? What are the consequences?

9- Do you believe people are the same in real life and online?
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Appendix B