Social Comparisons Over Social Media
By Will Kessler
Have you ever scrolled through your Instagram, Facebook, or whatever your social media of choice is and thought to yourself, “wow, all these people lead such rich and fulfilling lives?” Have you ever posted a photo of yourself on one of these sites and then felt great seeing your friends “like” your post? Chances are you have done one of those things or something similar. After all, social media sites are a part of daily life for most of us. However, these platforms come with some risks.
We humans are social creatures. For this reason, we can’t help but compare ourselves to others around us. If you’ve ever been the only one of your friends not going somewhere on spring break, you’ll know what I mean. Similarly, we can’t help but compare ourselves to those we see online, especially friends of ours we follow and keep up to date with. However, this (sometimes subconscious) comparison can leave us feeling “less-than" and upset. In short, it can hurt our self-esteem. In one study, it was found that the frequency of using Instagram was correlated with many depressive feelings, including anxiety about physical appearance and self-esteem in general (Sherlock, 2019). Basically, looking at beautiful people all day made these participants feel worse about their own looks. While this study mainly looked at women and their relationship with the beauty side of Instagram, their findings show just how susceptible the human mind is to feeling inferior thanks to seeing others doing “better.” This doesn’t need to apply only to beauty content though. Lifestyle vloggers can make us worry about our life, home improvement gurus can make us sad to come home to our one bedroom apartment, and seeing our old high school acquaintances with a spouse and kids can get us feeling behind the 8-ball.
However, it’s not all sad and gloomy. While social media can be bad for our mental health in many different ways, it’s not all bad. While looking at those we don’t know or barely know can make us feel jealous and depressed, keeping up with our close friends and family can actually have the opposite effect, according to another study (Liu, 2016). However, be wary if you want to browse your pals’ latest few stories; while close friends’ social medias can make us feel happy, this was only found to be the case in those with already higher self-esteem.
At the end of the day, we can only do so much. The internet is a daily part of life and social aspects of life creep into it just as much as they do anywhere else, on top of platforms being created with the sole purpose of socialization. Though that doesn’t mean you can’t use social media well. Here are a few tips for healthy social media use that doesn’t make you feel like you’re comparing yourself to someone prettier, richer, and smarter than you.
Focus on people you know and spend time with in real-life: Social media can be useful when you want to keep up with your aunt’s friend’s dog, but keeping your scrolling centered on those you actually know and care about can help keep you grounded.
Use with intention: Scrolling mindlessly can be a good way to waste some time, but keeping your social media use with a goal or at least direction in mind may save you pain in the long run.
Remember to go outside: It’s easy to get sucked into the infinite black hole that is the internet, but if you ever start feeling bored or depressed after your third hour of Facebook today, maybe it’s a signal you could use some time making memories for yourself, instead of seeing other people’s fun times.
Social media was never designed to make us hate our lives or be jealous of each other, but that can easily be how they turn out. Figuring out how social media impacts you and what you can do about it are important steps to balance yourself in the age of information. Just know the risks, know it’s pretty much all fake to some extent, and have a good scroll!
References
Liu, J., Li, C., Carcioppolo, N., & North, M. (2016). Do our facebook friends make us feel worse? A study of social comparison and emotion. Human Communication Research, 42(4), 619-640. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/10.1111/hcre.12090
Rutledge, P. B. (2016, July 19). The Pressures of Social Media: Should I Disconnect? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/positively-media/201607/the-pressures-social-media-should-i-disconnect [This article by Dr. Pamela Rutledge discusses the positives and negatives of social media usage, the types of people who should consider avoiding social media, and how we can build a healthy relationship with social media.]
Sherlock, M., & Wagstaff, D. L. (2019). Exploring the relationship between frequency of instagram use, exposure to idealized images, and psychological well-being in women. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 482-490. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/10.1037/ppm0000182