The impact of social media on self-esteem during COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) generated a global health crisis, resulting in people facing a distressing and unexpected situation. The risk of contamination and the experience of social distancing changed people's behaviors and impacted individual feelings, habits, and relationships. Uncertainty about the timeline of the growing pandemic, Isolation, and restrictions due to quarantine worsened feelings of anxiety and loneliness among both older and younger populations. Moreover, the loss of one's usual routine and reduced social contacts may cause boredom, frustration, and isolation, which can generate high levels of distress in individuals increasing the risk of mental disorders, such as anxiety, mood, addiction, and thought disorders. During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a steep increase in social media usage as individuals were confined to their homes, which paved the way for many harmful effects on their mental health. Due to this wide popularity, many researchers are inspired to conduct several studies on excessive social media usage and its impact on our lives. One such prominent research area is the impact of social media on self-esteem. By reviewing different studies, it is evident that one gets a boost in their self-esteem when they get positive responses to their actions (posts, stories, etc.) on social media, on the other hand, as one gets exposed to other‘s highlighted episodes of life (promotion in job, vacations) they have a fundamental drive to compare these with their normal episodes (daily hassles, work routines, academic assignments) in their lives. This tendency called “upward comparisons” frequently occurs among social media users, especially among adolescents eventually leading to low self-esteem.