Social Media Based Social Comparison Paper
Social media based social comparison
Social media sites are an ideal platform for adolescents to engage in social comparison as the most prevalent activities on social media are viewing other user’s profiles (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009), and browsing and searching for other individual’s information (Wise, Alhabash, & Park, 2010). Social media provides the opportunity for adolescents to portray themselves in an ideal manner by using selective self-presenting techniques that highlight their optimal self (Chou and Edge 2012; Gonzales and Hancock 2011). For instance, users may choose to disclose positive life developments more frequently than negatives (Kross et al., 2013 ; Verduyn et al., 2015), resulting in a misrepresentation of their …show more content…
This section of the paper outlines the themes that emerge from the literature regarding social media based social comparison and the impacts on anxiety and depression.
Researchers suggest that participating in social media based social comparison associates with anxiety and depression symptoms (Feinstein et al., 2013; Lub, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015; Nesi & Prinstein, 2015; and Steers, Wickham & Acitelli, 2015). However, from the literature it was found that gender, popularity, types of social media followers and intensity of social media use were mediators in the relationship between social media based social comparison and anxiety and depression (Feinstein et al., 2013; Lub, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015; Nesi & Prinstein, 2015; Steers, Wickham & Acitelli, 2015 and Vogel, rose, Roberts & Eckles, 2014). This factor entails that the research on social media based social comparison indicates correlation to anxiety and depression but does not explore causation as mediators are identified in each study. Their analysis is comparable to the previous section on social media use, as a lack of information regarding direction leaves only association of variables. For example, the study conducted by Nesi and Prinstein (2015) investigated if engaging in social comparison through Facebook and Instagram associate with
Social media sites are an ideal platform for adolescents to engage in social comparison as the most prevalent activities on social media are viewing other user’s profiles (Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009), and browsing and searching for other individual’s information (Wise, Alhabash, & Park, 2010). Social media provides the opportunity for adolescents to portray themselves in an ideal manner by using selective self-presenting techniques that highlight their optimal self (Chou and Edge 2012; Gonzales and Hancock 2011). For instance, users may choose to disclose positive life developments more frequently than negatives (Kross et al., 2013 ; Verduyn et al., 2015), resulting in a misrepresentation of their …show more content…
This section of the paper outlines the themes that emerge from the literature regarding social media based social comparison and the impacts on anxiety and depression.
Researchers suggest that participating in social media based social comparison associates with anxiety and depression symptoms (Feinstein et al., 2013; Lub, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015; Nesi & Prinstein, 2015; and Steers, Wickham & Acitelli, 2015). However, from the literature it was found that gender, popularity, types of social media followers and intensity of social media use were mediators in the relationship between social media based social comparison and anxiety and depression (Feinstein et al., 2013; Lub, Trub & Rosenthal, 2015; Nesi & Prinstein, 2015; Steers, Wickham & Acitelli, 2015 and Vogel, rose, Roberts & Eckles, 2014). This factor entails that the research on social media based social comparison indicates correlation to anxiety and depression but does not explore causation as mediators are identified in each study. Their analysis is comparable to the previous section on social media use, as a lack of information regarding direction leaves only association of variables. For example, the study conducted by Nesi and Prinstein (2015) investigated if engaging in social comparison through Facebook and Instagram associate with