In the past decade, the use of social media has exponentially grown; millions of people are on Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram on a daily basis wasting multiple hours scrolling. In the United States alone, 65% of the population uses some form of social media (Perrin, Social Media Usage 2005-2015). Social media has impacted the world as a whole but has also impacted individuals in the ways they view themselves and how they portray themselves to others. The idea of self-image, how one thinks of themselves, is an issue and is becoming even more of one based off of peoples' extensive use of social media. The urge to change how one looks, and trying to be someone they're not has become a major issue due to the increased use in social media.

When a person logs online to any social media site they are immediately bombarded with pictures, videos, and statuses intended to grab their attention. With a click of a button, one can find themselves scrolling through an entire album of pictures of their co-worker vacationing in the Bahamas. With another click, one can pull up a video of their friend in a front seat at one of the best shows in town. The idea of social media is to share aspects of your life to the entire world through pictures, videos, and statuses. However, the things that are posted regularly have created an atmosphere of who's life is better. This has formed a negative spin on social media because it has formed a competition between people and for those who don't necessarily live the most exuberant lifestyle are left feeling rather pathetic in comparison to their friends. Those same people also feel the need to change what they are doing in their own lives to be more like the people they see online. A new hypothesis had been discovered that, "profiles are used to create and communicate idealized selves." (Back 372). This hypothesis is known as the idealized virtual-identity hypothesis and goes on to say "profile owners display idealized characteristics that do not reflect their actual personalities." (Back 372). True identities are masked because of social media; therefore, no one necessarily knows anyone's true self unless they have met that person face-to-face. The concept of being someone you are not and trying to portray yourself as someone different has become a huge issue on social media. Not only is there the safety aspect of not knowing necessarily who you could be talking to, but the aspect of losing your own identity, trying to be someone else. A person should be content with who they are and the type of person they are but with the tools to compare themselves to others this concept has been lost. The idea of being your own person and being happy with what you have is absent when social media is involved. 

One person's own posts can negatively affect their own self-image, not just the posts of other people. What some people do not realize is that the things posted on social media and the internet are there forever. You can delete it off of your specific page but somewhere in the world of the internet it still exists. There are ways to make this information hard to find but regardless it is still available to the public eye if it is on the internet. That being said, individuals hurt their own self-image based off of what they post. Posts that include profanity and sharing inappropriate images create a negative opinion about a person. Not only do these posts represent the individual in a negative manner but they also can influence their potential to get into college and getting a job in the future. This is more of a problem with younger people and the idea that they are growing up, the belief that they can say and do whatever they want without repercussions is present. Social media has become their safe haven in sharing their opinions on certain situations without there being an adult there to criticize or regulate what say. However, majority of teenagers do not keep in mind that anyone has access to what they post and it can hurt them in the long run if worded poorly or construed in a negative way. Adults, as well, still have to worry about this because a majority of companies monitor their employees' profiles. When interviewing potential employees, they tend to view their profiles, as well, to assess their character.  Because social media has become so popular in the past ten years, profiles have become a huge way to judge a person's morals and beliefs. One wrong thing on a profile can create a negative image for the person, as a whole. 

Social media, in short, has become a platform for everyone to express themselves. Not only do everyday people use social media, but celebrities, athletes, and models use it, as well. In fact, many of these "non-average" human beings are instructed by agents and managers to create an image of themselves on these platforms; an image that millions and millions of people easily see regularly. Their profiles are often used to promote certain products from various companies that advertise a "better" life or even a life similar to the celebrity. Profiles like these have become a huge factor in the negative vibe that the general public has about social media because these profiles display unrealistic images of how life should be. Profiles of models, in particular, are filled with photo shopped images of themselves that supposedly give the public the ideal way to look. Majority of these posts are inaccurate and almost impossible to reach without causing major damage to the body. Eating disorders have become an even bigger issue in society, nowadays, because of photo shopped images on social media profiles because social media is so easily accessible. A study conducted about the use of photo shop and the act of taking "selfies", showed that "higher levels of body-related and eating concerns were found for participants engaging in more social media-related self-photo activities." (McClean 1137). Many of those participating in this are influenced by the profiles of celebrities.  However, the average person views these and gains the mentality that that is what they need to look like and be like and will go to extremes to make it happen. Social norms have formed and the "ideal" way to be has been influential to the point that different people all express "themselves" in the same way by taking extreme measures to reach the "ideal" self. 

The amount of time an average person spends on social media a day exceeds a couple of hours. A poll was taken by the Global Web Index saying that an average person spends about six hours online and of those six hours two hours are spent on social media, alone (Mander, Daily time spent on social media rises to 1.72 hours). With it so easily accessible on our smart phones, people can scroll through any website effortlessly. A lazy atmosphere has been created with the amount of time people are wasting by looking at what everyone else is doing on their profiles. How there is anything still interesting to view is intriguing because everyone is doing the same thing nowadays, sitting and scrolling. Social media has taken over the lives of everyone and is influencing a very unhealthy lifestyle. Before social media became so popular people used to have face to face conversations; people actually went outside and enjoyed themselves, too. Now, everything is online and there is no need to really leave the comforts of your home to interact with people. All motivation to go outside and enjoy the fresh air is lost because people would rather sit on Facebook for hours on end. Social media has taken away the need for human contact and has negatively impacted society as a whole. 

Even though social media has made communication easier, it has negative effects on self-image which is a huge issue in today's society. Social media has become a medium where people are pressured to live up to an unrealistic standard of how they should look like and how they should be. Not only is this certain image that people wish to have causing harm to others but it is harming themselves, as well.  Over the past decade, social media has become a huge presence in our lives and has changed society into believing unrealistic images of themselves are ideal. Without social media, the idea of self-image would not be nearly as impacted and not as much of an issue. 

