Self-Esteem and Facebook Addiction in Genders

Self-Esteem and Facebook Addiction in Genders

Self-identification is a very vital part in the study of self-esteem. Self-esteem can be defined as the way an individual thinks and feels about him or herself. People struggle hard to improve or maintain their self-esteem in all aspects of life. Therefore, in order to achieve a positive self-esteem, individuals will go extra mile to meet their goals. For instance, they will try to engage in both online and offline social settings. Hancock and Dunham, (2001) show that individuals with low self-esteem are the ones who are most likely to engage seriously in online activities that may improve their self-esteem. This research about communication via computers was however limited in that it did not provide the implications of social media in the new age. Through online activities like Facebook, people are free to express themselves more than in face-to-face conversation.

Facebook has been used in as a basis of this paper in order to investigate whether gender and self-esteem affect the level of Facebook addiction. This is because Facebook is the commonly liked site by many people of all ages. The main purpose for this study therefore, is to find more on how gender and self-esteem influences the level of Facebook addiction. Hancock and Dunham, (2001) formulated a hypothesis that gender and self-esteem both affect the level of Facebook addiction and individuals with low self-esteem will be more addicted to Facebook than those with high self-esteem will. Despite their extensive research into the issue, the implications of this form of addiction are not directly stated and are only inferred.

A person’s attitude about their self can be affected and improved through online self- presentation. For instance, Duval and Mulilis (2002) show that personal profiles posted on Facebook walls can give effective positive biased excitement to counter the ordinary impacts of objective self-awareness like a mirror. However, their research was limited in that it could have elaborated more about the alteration in one’s perception of the self that can be because of a virtual personality. This can enhance a positive change in a person thus building self-esteem. Ellison et al., (2007) argue that a person may lower his or her self-esteem by posting photos on Facebook wall. This is because it triggers objective self-awareness in a person making them feel out competed by others thus affecting their self-esteem (Epley & Kruger 2005). It is noted that women value their Facebook profile more than men are. Thus, self-esteem in women is most likely to be reduced depending on how they have self-presented themselves on Facebook profile than men (Rosenberg, 2000). Research reveals that most women in their early thirties are very active and more addicted to Facebook than their counterparts are (Young & Pinsky, 2006). Despite the fact that Facebook consumes a lot of time, it is quite surprising that these women in their early thirties are spending more time on Facebook other than doing other responsibilities.

In most cases, women tend to use photos as away of creating competition for men and for attracting their attention. A good number of women use Facebook as away of judging their self-worth by posting many of their photos o Facebook wall. According to Ellison et al., (2007), women post around ten times as many photos on Facebook as do men. Therefore, from this hypothesis, we can say that gender and self-esteem affects the level of Facebook addiction.

According to Duthler (2009), gender roles affect women’s tendency to place very revealing and sexy photos of their self-appearance on Facebook profiles while men use the About Me sections more frequently as a form of self-promotion. Therefore, both men and women may most likely be equal when it comes to using Facebook as a means of self-promotion. Gender and self-esteem affects the level of Facebook addiction in that people with low self-esteem tend to strive very hard in order to fit in the society (Walther, 2007). Therefore, the availability of internet sources in particular Facebook has been used by both men and women as a way of selective self-presenting themselves. In this case, people take their humble time especially when writing information concerning them in a more careful way selecting what information they would wish to emphasize more (Ellison, Heino &Gibbs, 2007).

Self-presentation online always affects positively the esteem of a person. Therefore, since most people realized this concept, they prefer to develop or improve their self-esteem by enrolling or signing in and with time, it becomes addiction (Toma & Ellison, 2008). This is because Facebook is very addictive; it makes a person wish to be there all the time just updating his or her status for others to view and comment. According to Gonzales & Hancock (2008), individual’s information on Facebook profile promotes self-esteem this happens mostly when an individual tries to edit the information on their profile about the self, or they selectively self-presents.

According to various articles used in this paper, there were hypotheses that illustrated the effect of Facebook exposure on self-esteem. There were differing arguments that Facebook would decrease or improve self-esteem respectively. The results showed that in contrast to the previous work on objective self-awareness, one could improve self-awareness. Therefore, through viewing one’s own Facebook profile, one can improve self-esteem rather than decrease it. However, the limitations of the articles arise in that they do not offer a direct implication between the effects of current social media and the alteration of individual self-perception. The rapid evolution of such forms of the media will require that research is constantly updated to meet current changes.

Self-esteem is defined as the way an individual thinks and views the self. People work hard every day in order to improve or maintain their self-esteem in all areas of life. Therefore, in order to achieve a positive self-esteem, individuals will go extra mile to meet their goals. For instance, they will try to engage in both online and offline social settings. Therefore, this paper made an attempt at finding out how gender and self-esteem affect the level of Facebook addiction. The results were that both men and women in one or the other try to find ways to promote their self-esteem. Most of them thus, find Facebook the most appropriate means of selectively self-presenting themselves. This is because on Facebook profile, one is able to expresses him or herself in away that pleases him. It was also noted that individuals with low self-esteem are more addicted to Facebook than those with high self-esteem are. For instance, personal profiles on Facebook walls can give effective positive biased feeling to counter the ordinary impacts of objective self-awareness like a mirror. This can enhance a positive change in a person thus building self-esteem.

 

References

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Duval, T., Duval, V., Mulilis, J. (1992) Effects of self-focus, discrepancy between self and standard, and outcome expectancy favorability on the tendency to match self to standard and withdraw. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology; 62:340–8.

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2007). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 2006; 11. //jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue2/ellison.html (Accessed Sept. 12, 2007).

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Rosenberg, M. (2000). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 25. Josephs RA, Markus HR, Tafarodi RW. Gender and self-esteem. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 1992; 63:391–402.

Toma, C. L., Hancock, J. T., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 4:1023–36.

Walther, J. B. (2007). Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition. Computers in Human Behavior; 23:2538–57.

Young, S. M., Pinsky D. (2006).Narcissism and celebrity. Journal of Research in Personality. 40:463–71.

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