Social media has become a prominent aspect of youth culture in today's society. Teenagers are becoming more and more accustomed to incorporating social media use into their everyday lives.  These sites and apps may be fun to go on and browse through, however the population is oblivious to the effect they are having on the minds of adolescent females.  It is important to realize that even though these sites provide ways to stay on top of news and current events, the same sites are simultaneously hurting the minds of teenage girls.  Social media is negatively affecting the self- esteem of teenage females by putting an undivided amount of pressure on them in order to be perfect, look flawless, and live picture perfect lives, ultimately creating a negative feeling of self worth.

In order to understand this argument, it is important to comprehend what the term 'social media' entails.  According to the Merriam- Webster dictionary, social media is "websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts" (Dictonary.com).  Social media is all about sharing.  Whether it be pictures, statuses, tweets, or videos, the point in posting these forms of digital communication is for other people to view them.  Social media has been gaining momentum ever since Facebook was introduced in 2006.  Social media, however, was introduced before this time with platforms such as Friendster, Myspace, and LinkedIn, but it ultimately did not become a global phenomenon until after the introduction of Facebook.  There are now sites, and apps for mobile phones, such as Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Snapchat, which are also used in order to keep the people of the world connected to one another. 

Social media, although keeping the world connected to each other, connects teenage girls in a different way.  These teenage girls are being connected because social media is essentially generating feelings of negativity in their minds, causing them to see themselves as less than what they actually are.  Think about this.  When one receives a like on a photo or a tweet, as seen in the positive side of the argument, one feels good about themselves.  But what happens when that good feeling goes away? That feeling can only last for so long, and especially for teenagers, they long for acceptance.  In the United Kingdom, a nationwide survey of 58,000 students completed in 2014 revealed that only 1 in 3 teenage girls had high levels of self-esteem.  Also in 2014, 33 percent of girls of 14-15-year-old girls felt good about themselves, whereas in 2007, a total of 41 percent reported levels of elevated self-esteem (McGuire).  

 One important aspect to highlight on the negative side of this argument is the concept of selfies.  The word 'selfie' was first brought up around 2007, and has now become a worldwide phenomenon.  People all over the world are doing it, and it has become accepted as a normal thing in society.  It is when one takes a picture of him or herself, either a solo picture or one with others.  President Obama takes selfies, celebrities, like Kim Kardashian, post hundreds of selfies everyday.  A video from Fox news in San Diego, California, "Selfie Addiction" interviews Dr. Dayan, a plastic surgeon in the area.  He says:

"A selfie completely alters the way we see ourselves depending on the position of the

camera.  If you hold the camera up high in the air, the lower third of the face looks smaller

and the upper third of the face looks bigger and that's actually an attractive look for 

women" (Jacobs).

When these selfies get posted to social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook, the way that it technically works is that the more likes you receive, the prettier you consider yourself to be.  Social media is making people base their worth off of likes rather than allowing them to be happy with themselves and who they actually are.  In one extreme case, a boy named Danny Bowman spent 10 hours a day taking over 200 selfies of himself.  When he could not get the perfect one, he attempted suicide (Jacobs).  Yes, this is an extreme case, but it proves the severity of the way that social media users see themselves.  They are their own worst critic.  

The argument at hand is the point that social media is negatively affecting the self-esteem in teenage girls.  A survey from University of Stanford in the California found that, among active social media users, self-esteem suffers when they compare themselves to other people that they follow on these various sites.  Girls generate feelings of negative self worth when they do not think they are as pretty as this girl, or not as skinny as that girl, and "oh man I wish I had her life".  So many women are seeing themselves as less than what they really are because of this.  Girls are changing themselves left and right in order to make themselves look perfect in front of the camera, or to take a picture that is good enough to post for others to see. They spend minutes before posting the original picture editing it, almost making themselves into a completely different person.  And what's the point?  The point is that social media is putting pressure on girls to make themselves look as perfect as possible, in order for them to feel liked by others.  If this means looking like a different person, then that is what they will make themselves out to be.  As mentioned earlier, girls are their own worst critic.  Yes, girls might be receiving hundreds of likes and compliments on their pictures and statuses, but can they really be trusted? Remember when Regina George in Mean Girls told that girl that she loved her vintage skirt, and turned behind her back and said how it was the "ugliest skirt she has ever seen"? So the question that is raised is, can a compliment really be taken as a compliment anymore?   

Eating disorders are caused by feelings of not being good enough and negative self worth.  Males are also affected by eating disorders, but they are mainly prominent in teenage females.  For girls who have a tendency toward perfection, anxiety and disordered eating, they may see images of thinness as advertising the recipe for happiness, and validation online can falsely fill the need for acceptance.  Social media is fuel for eating disorders in girls.  Models and celebrities post pictures on Instagram and twitter about their workouts, their bodies in bikinis, and also just their lives in general.  By seeing this, teenage girls almost 9 times out of 10 wish that they were thinner or prettier to look like this girl or that girl.  In 2013, an ad for a Junior's bathing suit from Target came into the limelight.  The ad was being displayed on all social media platforms, but something was not right about it.  It seemed that there was a slip of the Photoshop eraser in between the model's thighs, in an attempt to showcase the new trend of having a "thigh gap", or a big gap in between your thighs (pretty self explanatory).  Target received a lot of negative publicity for this unfortunate slip and has since apologized for trying to make their model skinnier.  However, this mistake proved to be very hurtful in the eyes of teens.  How are girls supposed to love themselves when organizations are trying to portray images of unhealthy, scarily thin girls as projections of the "perfect girl"?  

The International Journal of Eating Disorders, conducted a study that found that a group of women, who were asked to browse Facebook for 20 minutes, experienced greater body dissatisfaction than those who spent 20 minutes online, researching rainforest cats (Forney, Keel, Mabe).  This study concluded that the more frequently a girl logged onto Facebook was associated with greater disordered eating cases and also, that Facebook use was associated with the maintenance of weight/shape concerns and state anxiety compared to an alternate internet activity.  While social media is not the root cause of low self-esteem, it has all the right elements to contribute to it.  Social media creates an environment where disordered thoughts and behaviors really thrive (Weiner). 

Cosmopolitan magazine also conducted a study with real life college females and their reactions to what Instagram has on their self esteem.  Gabby, 21 years old, says "Seeing a girl constantly post photos of her body and how she works out makes me feel bad about my self-image and changes my perception of myself" (Tullo).  Liz, a 19-year-old student, shows how the negative effects of social media outweigh the positive ones when she says, "Instagram has affected my self-esteem positively and negatively. Positively because when I post a picture and get nice comments and likes, it makes me feel good, but sometimes negatively when I see pictures of flawless girls and think, 'Oh, why can't I look like that?'" (Tullo).  There are 13 more girls who share their feelings of how social media negatively effects them, which is a prime example of how real life, ordinary girls feel about themselves while scrolling through social media.  This is the central point.  You can tell a girl she is pretty, or you can tell them you like their makeup, and they will remember it for maybe a day or two.  But say that you do not like something about her, or that she is not as pretty as someone else, and she will remember it for the rest of her life.  

Although girls are the main culprits to these negative, excluding males from the equation would be wrong.  Males are also sensitive and can be prone to negative self provoking thoughts as well.  In a study done in Poland, it was concluded that narcissism predicted selfie-posting behavior more strongly among men than it did in women.  Narcissism is generally related to low self confidence, because it is based on the amount that one is obsessed with themselves.  Men, although some may put up a front, are sensitive inside and also do care about fitting in and being liked.  It is a natural instinct among all human beings.  We all want to fit in.  Also, men can succumb to eating disorders as well, seeing that one in 10 males are sought to have an eating disorder.  It is important to not exclude men from the argument, but women are more individually affected.

This problem is affecting the parents of social media users as well.  A mother of a 14-year-old girl shared her story to CNN about how she had to make her daughter temporarily shut down her Facebook account.  She explained to CNN that a number of inappropriate and hurtful comments were being directed at her daughter and as a parent, she could see how these things were taking a toll on her.  It was not until she asked her child what was wrong that the mother found out why her daughter had been feeling so blue lately (Etheridge). This generation and all their technology is posing to be an issue to the generation above because how are they supposed to know what is happening? Technology that is around today was not around when they were young!  Parents are able to help prevent these negative feelings by putting restrictions on how much time is spent on social media, and once in a while monitoring what their child is doing on there.  They are parents, it is there ultimate duty to want to make sure that their kids are safe in the world.

Alongside parents, Doctors are also getting involved in the issue.  Pediatricians see kids come in day in and day out and get caught up by the new trends of the younger generation.  Dr. David Hill, of the American Academy of Pediatrics' council on communications and media, talks to CNN and tells them that it is important in today's society to make sure that children are behaving in ways that are healthy and safe, both mentally and physically (Etheridge).  On the other spectrum of doctors are plastic surgeons.  They see girls coming into their offices asking for nose jobs to look like Taylor Swift, or lip fillers to look like Kylie Jenner.  The influx in plastic surgery has raised ever since social media has become prominent, and the age that it is first being given has become younger than ever before.  

Social media is becoming more and more prevalent in popular culture as well, through movies, TV shows, and songs.  For example, the song #SELFIE by The Chainsmokers glamorizes the effects of taking a selfie to make sure everyone sees everything that is going on in a given night.  In movies like Unfriended and Cyberbully, the protagonists are made fun of and harassed over the internet and various social media sites that it makes them consider taking their own lives.  Many episodes of popular TV shows deal with the issues of cyber bullying and using social media as a weapon, making problems and negative feelings for the characters to deal with. 

To make the argument stronger, it is important that not all aspects of social media are bad.  Some say that it increases self- esteem in females.  When someone posts a picture to Instagram, that picture gains likes.  When one scrolls through and he or she sees a picture that they like, they would double tap the picture, therefore "liking" it.  It is commonly known that individuals take pride in their posts on Instagram, and thereby base their worth on the amount of likes they receive in a given period of time.  If one gets a plethora of likes, it can make them feel very confident and proud because they know that people like what they are putting up.  At InStyle magazine, a study was done with a sample of 1,000 women and this study showed that 89 percent of women said that getting a "like" on social media feels like a compliment, while 82 percent said compliments on social media improve their self-esteem (InStyle).  This study was done in order to prove that social media stimulates positive views of self worth in the minds of females, ages 18-49.  This study also showed that one positive comment on a picture will most likely cause someone else to comment something positive on another person's picture, therefore creating a chain reaction of optimistic thoughts.    

However, while there are some positive aspects associated with social media, there are still the negative aspects that are overpowering the positive ones that need to be addressed and put to rest. Social media is creating negative feelings of self esteem and self worth in adolescent girls, and this issue is vitally important to society today.  However, there are ways to change this.  Dove, the soap company, in 2014 enacted the "#SpeakBeautiful" campaign, in which the goal is to diminish the amount of negative tweets and comments posted within a given day (Weiner).  In a study by Twitter done in 2014, it was found that 40% of all tweets that were posted by women about their bodies were negative (Weiner).  Everyday, the company goes on twitter and retweets people who are saying positive things, instead of negative things. Little things like this will ultimately change the way teenagers use social media.  If girls are constantly surrounded by positivity and self uplifting thoughts, chances are, they'll feel better about themselves.  We live in a time where media and technology is all that we depend on.  We are obsessed with being connected and being part of something that entail people to feel poorly about themselves if they are not.  Think about all the children using social media and take a minute to reflect on why it is not healthy to base self worth off of trivial sites like the ones mentioned earlier.  It may take a while, but by changing the face of social media post by post, or tweet by tweet, it could be reflected in a positive light, instead of one that is self detrimental.   

