Social Context
Individuals usually get to know themselves by viewing the reaction of others towards them. Face-to-face social interaction is commonly used to understand and observe other people’s reactions. Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter is another way through which people understand themselves by observing the reaction of others towards themselves. Social media provides a platform where other people can comment and react to an individual’s post, and this makes it easy for social media users to understand themselves by focusing on how others react to their posts. However, the reliance and the popularity of social media for social connection usually interfere with the self-awareness process. The interference is stressed further by the habit of social media users posing on social media as who they wish to be but are not.
Implications of the Pressure of presenting Ideal Self
Depending on social media for social connection does not provide essential information for creating an authentic self. The high desire of portraying an ideal self on social media can have positive or negative implications on the basis of how social media users use self-observation, introspection, and other people’s reactions to understand much about themselves. Social media puts an interesting lens on the construction of self and how this creation affects the social media user’s mental health. The ideal self is the self that most social media users aspire to be. An individual’s self-image is the individual one actually is based on the habits, behaviors, and actions. As per Carl Rogers’s theory of personality, each human being has a motivation inside of themselves that constantly pushes them to upgrade themselves to reach their potential. The full potential, according to Abraham Maslow, this achievement is referred to as self-actualization. Maslow believed that this achievement could be arrived at when the person’s self-image and the ideal self perfectly align (Sunstrum, 2009). Social media can be harsh sometimes because even after presenting the ideal self on a social media platform, people can react negatively, which can negatively affect one’s mental state.
Disparities between the Ideal Image and Self Image and how it interferes with confidence
As per Charles Cooley’s looking glass self-theory, “part of how we see ourselves comes from our perception of how others see us” (Sinigaglia & Rizzolatti, 2011). People are often judged by the way they appear and the content they post. Even though social media does not essential information for creating an authentic self, people meeting or the first time are usually confident that they are meeting someone close to the ideal-self presented on social media, and therefore, their confidence is usually high. However, confidence in how they appear depends on others’ reactions towards them on social media (Fein & Spencer, 1997). For instance, if on social media people view one as beautiful or handsome, this usually boosts one’s confidence when they are meeting another individual for the first time. While the ideal-self presented on social media usually builds confidence for people meeting for the first time, most people are usually skeptical. Most people have grown aware that one can paint a good picture on social media when they have a shady character in real life. Therefore, even though the way an individual presents themselves on social media can build confidence in themselves and those whom they are meeting, both or either of the individuals usually have some doubts about each other.
Information that one might not get when relying on Social Media
While social media can be used by social media users to know about themselves judging by others’ reactions towards their content and posts, there are pieces of information about how others perceive a social media user that cannot be obtained by a social media user relying on social media for social connection. Such information about how others perceive an individual that cannot be found on social media includes a person’s attitude their mental and emotional state. Social media makes it impossible for others to judge a particular person on specific bases. Most people usually fake their life to appear happy and mentally stable on social media when in reality, they are suffering from mental illnesses such as depression. Besides, an individual might want to know their attitude towards others but may fail to know such information. Understanding one’s attitude is only possible for a face to face communication. It is not surprising that most people usually end up not establishing a good relationship once they meet face to face after interacting on social media for a while. One might be interested in knowing much about themselves on social media, but the content might not be sufficient for social media users to come up with sufficient information that fully defines an individual.
The reliance and the popularity of social media for social connection usually interfere with the self-awareness process. The interference is stressed further by the habit of social media users posing on social media as who they wish to be but are not. According to Charles Cooley, people usually know themselves by keenly viewing other individuals’’ reactions towards them. Social media usually offers a platform from which social media users understand themselves from other individuals’ reactions towards them. However, social media usually does not provide essential information for creating an authentic self. However, the confidence of individuals meeting for the first time after interacting on social media is usually based on the ideal image portrayed on social media, even though some scepticism might exist.
REFERENCES
Sinigaglia, C., & Rizzolatti, G. (2011). Through the looking glass: Self and others. Consciousness and Cognition, 20(1), 64-74.
Sunstrum, K. (2009). How social media affects our self-perception.
Fein, S., & Spencer, S. J. (1997). Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 31.
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