Abstract
The current digital age and life online brings to question the effects on social media users that promoting false realities has. In this autoethnography, I will share my own findings based on research and experiences encountering these false realities promoted through media. Scholars studying these effects of displaying digitally enhanced pictures to followers have found not only lower self-esteem, but also deteriorating mental and physical health in young users who try to achieve these unrealistic images promoted to them on social media through celebrities and influencers altering their photos. Along with these findings, I also reflected on my own journey with social media and how using it from a young age of around 12 years old, I was more impressionable to believe these perfect images online were real and that affected my own self-esteem. These found effects lead me to conclude that the display of edited and photoshopped photos online to followers, especially adolescents, leads to struggles in their own acceptance of themselves and causes them to strive for unachievable goals. With the promotion of false realties through social media, it can cause a variety of effects on the mental and physical health, as well as the self-esteem of its users.
Keywords: false realities, digital age, self-esteem, mental health, physical health, adolescents, insecurities, editing, social media
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Introduction
Growing up in the current generation which is built up on new technology and social media that was not present before provides a unique experience of developing and entering adulthood for current teenagers and young adults. Social media has provided amazing opportunities to connect with people from all around the world online as well as provide access to information in just a few clicks that would have taken hours to find through books, magazines, and newspapers. These technological advancements have allowed for new online job opportunities as well as shift the atmosphere 0f school classrooms to incorporating more online resources. However, with so many new online opportunities and systems, the effects of the digital age on its users cannot be ignored. Whether it be from extensive photoshop and editing, or promoting perfect versions of someone’s life to followers, the reality behind social media becomes a difficult concept for young users to differentiate between. A false reality online consists of displaying a picture or version of oneself that may not be accurate to how they truly appear or hides certain flaws and problems in one’s life offline. Without being honest about these manipulated photos, followers may believe them to be reality. With the promotion of false realties through social media, it can cause a variety of effects on the mental and physical health, as well as the self-esteem of its users.
Socially Online
Unlike any time before the 21st century, a major component of the lives of young adults has become social media. Although the amount of use varies from person to person, the constant increasing number of apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, proves the constant interest people have with creating and displaying their online lives. For many, these interactive apps are a way of socializing and developing relationships with other users, whether those be people they initially met in-person or someone living on the other side of the globe that shares the same passions and interests. Being able to post pictures or opinions to an online database spread across the world has allowed for people to connect with others they may have never met in-person and has created a world connection that was not present before. This connection is also much simpler and accessible to most people by only needing a phone or computer to communicate through. For me, social media was something I was introduced to in middle school, around 12 years old, so it became a crucial part of growing up. Outside of school, these apps allowed for me to connect and communicate with my friends and classmates. Without the need to plan out when and where we could meet or relying on a driver prior to having a driver’s license, we could just communicate at any moment online. By having access to this at such a young age, proves the impact these apps had on how I and many others grew up by providing the possibility to learn about things occurring across the world, new music, shows, or even trends to post. The internet became a fascinating place to explore and be whoever we wanted to be, while also staying connected with each other. From that point, social media use has only increased, and its users continue to join the internet at younger and younger ages. The issue with this is often those young teenagers and even children gain most of their influence from their peers, and with so much socializing occurring online, they will be just as influenced by what they witness online. This becomes a concerning problem as now arises the issue of how real those who post online present themselves.
Figure 1. The increasing number of social media users in billions from 2017 to the predictions for 2025 (Statistica, 2022)
False Realities
With all the new technological advancements presented to people through apps on their phones, it becomes easy to morph pictures to the ideal image you hope for. Although perfected images have been a trend even before social media through proper photoshop and professional makeup on models for magazines, today anyone can alter their picture in a few clicks to erase any flaws or enhance other features. Whether this technique is used to boost one’s own confidence by changing the shape of their body or removing insecurities, these changes still provide a false image to followers of what someone looks like. Even just editing photos to create a more aesthetically pleasing photo for their profile can display an image of a perfect life, which is just not possible. The problem lies not in changing how one looks through edits, but rather not being open about those types of changes to followers. Without being able to differentiate between what is real and what is edited online, media promotes a false ideal to social media users of what they should look like without defining what is naturally achievable. I remember in my younger teenage years how my friends and I would constantly look at posts of various celebrities and influencers and wonder how it is possible for someone to not have a single flaw and try to figure out how we could achieve that image, only to look back now and realize how edited those photos really were. These types of perfected images become constantly reminded to users who spend hours throughout the day scrolling through apps and can not only mentally but physically affect them.
Effects on Health
Due to various celebrities and influencers posting edited versions of their bodies and faces leads to an unrealistic beauty standard set on adolescents. These unrealistic ideals users try to achieve can become dangerous on both physical and mental health. Unlike with magazines or movies, social media is constantly at the fingertips of young users which leads to these ideals being observed all day and presented for followers to compare each part of themselves and their lives to these versions promoted online. As discussed by Richard M. Perloff (2014) in his research of how social media effects the way young women view their bodies, “scores of experiments have demonstrated that exposure to thin-ideal media images increases women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies, as well as negative affect” (p. 363) rather than bring any positive influence to their lives. This dissatisfaction can lead towards the development of various eating disorders combined with intense physical activity to chase a body type that may not even be real but rather manipulated through editing or surgeries. Another problem with the promotion of unrealistic bodies is the increased desire for cosmetic procedures in younger and younger adolescents. In his article, “Can photo editing on social media contribute to eating disorders?”, Steve Clarke (2022) addresses rises in “the desire for cosmetic surgery among women aged 18-29” (p. 4) which is concerning as those types of changes are much more permanent and dangerous than previous beauty enhancements that would rely on changing one’s hair or wearing makeup. Although changing one’s looks on a photo can be achieved in a few seconds, those changes due not translate to real life. By normalizing unrealistic standards, this carries on to the increase in interest young users have in drastically changing their features and looks. By constantly seeing perfect faces and bodies without flaws as the current presented beauty standard, only increases the struggle of accepting oneself that so many teenagers already struggle with. Along with physical effects, a false promotion of perfection can have tremendous effects on mental health from “low self-esteem, depression, perfectionism,” (Perloff, 2014, p. 367) anxiety, and lack of self-worth. By constantly comparing one’s body to that of people online, without the knowledge of how real those bodies are, can lead to depression correlated with one’s own appearance and anxiety offline due to not looking as perfect as on editing pictures posted to social media. Social media constantly follows its users as it appears on their phones, which stay by their sides all day, leaving these triggers and health problems at a constant availability. Along with new posts appearing on these apps each day, it becomes a constant comparison of one’s imperfections to the perfections they view online.
Figure 2. This model displays the various health problems correlating with social media use and how it can become a continuous cycle of seeking gratification but gaining dissatisfaction. (Perloff, 2014)
Self-esteem
A crucial effect of social media has been found to be lower self-esteem in users. This varies by each individual and how they use social media. Those who focus on their community and friendships online may have a positive effect on self-esteem and feel encouraged to be themselves online due to gaining praise from friends and family. However, there can also be negative effects for users whose media may be filled with edited photos and luxurious lifestyles promoted through celebrity and influencer posts that only show the good parts of their lives without showing real struggles to relate to. I remember in middle school and in the beginning of high school feeling uncomfortable posting online because I did not have these perfected images of myself or luxurious vacations to share that I saw receiving the most likes and attention. This left me feeling I had nothing to offer my followers through posting the normal parts of my everyday life. As I got older, I got better at distinguishing the reality of certain posts I would see online and began posting unedited pictures that made me happy or captured memories with friends and family, however that was a process of figuring out my place and goals online. With younger users joining each day, I worry they will struggle to understand the reality of media and that will affect how they view themselves and their self-esteem. In a study of the social media use throughout the day of 13–15-year-old adolescents, it was found “that participants who spent more time with social media across the three weeks had a lower average level of self-esteem compared to participants who spent less time with social media” (Valkenburg, Beyens, Pouwels, Driel, & Keijsers, 2021, p. 66). This displays how strong the effects of social media use translate to how adolescents view themselves in comparison to those they see online. With teenagers, and even young adults, they are still trying to find who they are and want to be identified as, and part of this process is accepting flaws and imperfections. This becomes difficult if false realities are promoted online because one may wonder why their life or looks are not as perfect as those online. However, the effects of social media use can differ between people and how they choose to spend their time online. For instance, results can vary if “positive susceptibles experience mainly positive content on social media, whereas the negative susceptibles experience mainly negative content” (Valkenburg, Beyens, Pouwels, Driel, & Keijsers, 2021, p. 72). Those who are constantly observing unrealistic lifestyles and ideals will most likely compare that image to their own lives and lower their acceptance and value of themselves, while those who focus on media that promotes positivity or communicating with friends, may lead to an increase in confidence and one’s own acceptance.
Figure 3. The statistics from the study of time spent on social media in correlation with self-esteem (Valkenburg, Beyens, Pouwels, Driel, & Keijsers, 2021).
Finding my place online
As I previously mentioned, social media has been a big part of my life growing up since middle school. I started with a very positive relationship with these various apps such as Instagram and Snapchat, which I would use for the sole purpose of bonding and building my friendships. I would spend time posting what I wanted to share with those people and followed mainly friends I already knew in-person. However, by the end of middle school and entering high school this fun digital age shifted to one focused more on how I appeared online and overthinking what I should or should not post based on the perfect photos I would see promoted from major celebrities and influencers on their own profiles. This pushed forth a sense of pressure to me that if those with these amazing pictures of travel destinations or glamorous appearances get the most followers and likes, there is no reason for me to post unless I have something exciting or edited to the best of my ability to share with the world. The reality of social media is that there are those who post their best versions in a way to control the life they dream of rather than opening up about the reality of what they have and struggle with, and then there is the side of real and genuine communities that build each other up. Through my later teenage years and entering adulthood, I have found myself gravitating towards rebuilding those communities and have returned to a positive relationship with social media and acceptance of who I am online and in-person as the same version. Although I may not have the best photos of myself posted to create a perfect appearance that is not actually achievable, I am much more satisfied knowing those who follow me recognize the real me and will not be shocked to see I am someone else online in comparison to offline. I no longer question what I post, but rather do what makes me happy or post the memories I cannot wait to look back on when I am older. I use social media to connect with those I cannot regularly see in-person and through filling my feed with positivity from people who really know and care about me has increased my self-esteem as well as confidence in in recognizing social media for the uplifting impact it has had on my life.
Conclusion
Although I have found my place online, it was a long and challenging journey of getting to this point through growing up in a digital age. I am concerned for the young social media users who are just starting to create a presence online or who still struggle with their self-esteem and own acceptance. At such young and impressionable ages, social media users will be heavily influenced by the people and trends they see online whether those be positive or negative. For adolescents who still are growing into the people they will become in the future, it is important to provide them with positive encouragement and support, rather than hiding behind perfect and unrealistic posts. Along with my findings and that of the scholars I have previously discussed, social media impacts each individual uniquely and it is impossible to determine the intensity seeing an altered photo will have on one person over another. Some may have more positive experiences through discovering communities where they can feel accepted and that they belong, but for many, constantly seeing perfected photos leads to various health concerns and a lower self-esteem. The use of various editing techniques may provide a user with confidence in how they appear on social media, but those changes do not transfer to their appearance in real life offline. Without making clear the level of reality presented in this digital age, it can become difficult for users to embrace their flaws and accept who they are once they log offline and return to in-person interactions, leading to the various effects previously mentioned to physical and mental health. This displays how valuable it is for those with large social media platforms to be transparent with their audience about photoshop or other unnatural enhancements, as it could help guide the younger generation to differentiate between reality and online perfection. Only once users can learn to understand these differences will it be possible for them to focus on the various positive effects and online communities social media and this digital age created.
References
Clarke, S. Can online image editing on social media contribute to eating disorders? Priory. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.priorygroup.com/blog/can-online-image-editing-on-social-media-contribute-to-eating-disorders
Perloff, R.M. Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research. Sex Roles 71, 363–377 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0384-6
Statista Research Department. Number of social media users 2025. Statista. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
Valkenburg, P., Beyens, I., Pouwels, J. L., Driel, I. I. van, & Keijsers, L. (2021). Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Self-Esteem: Heading for a Person-Specific Media Effects Paradigm. Journal of Communication, 71(1), 56–78. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqaa039
