Student Independent Projects Psychology 2015: How Many Likes Did You Get? – The Negative Effects of Facebook Through the Use of Social Comparison Opportunities

Abstract

It is well known that social media has a huge impact on self-esteem and that most often times, this impact turns out to be negative. Research often looks at social comparison with respect to social media and commonly finds self-esteem to be negatively impacted. As Facebook is a dominant outlet of social media, gestures such as liking, sharing, and commenting on photos may be a few of the ways in which social comparison opportunities are provided. Facebook also sets a fundamental foundation for self-discrepancy through the use of social comparison as it relates to reduced self-esteem. Gender differences exist in the nature of self-discrepancies. Both genders are affected in the same way, in that there is a discrepancy between the ideal self and the “ought” self; however, the nature of the discrepancy is fairly unique to each gender. It is important for Facebook users to be aware of the possible detriments to self-esteem since it may be in one’s best interest to try to reduce or eliminate negative effects.