Facebook Users 'Anxious'
We've been discussing how social media can make people feel anxious as they compare themselves to peers.
It is part of our daily tapestry; and even those of us who say they don’t really post on social media platforms are still guilty of being on it far too much. When taking a selfie is common-place, and checking into your favourite restaurant is just what you do because you want the world to know, what happens when you aren’t feeling so fantastic?
“No-one is immune from the anxiety that manifests itself when you post on Facebook” said Shanelle McIntyre from Napier University in Edinburgh. She has been studying the subject as part of her final year dissertation into social media and narcissism.
“Most of the people I interviewed admitted they posted for an ego boost and were seeking affirmation when they got more and more ‘likes’ for their posts. Everyone was definitely addicted in some way, but it wasn’t so much narcissistic but about making themselves feel better. There was a lot of anxiety surrounding what they’re posting and what other people thought of them.”
Not Even Realising
She said; “I tried to highlight the problems about how addicted we are to it, and it’s everybody. People told me they were going onto Facebook without even realising and then all of a sudden they’d been browsing for 20 minutes. I think with the rise of Instagram and the celebrities you can follow, it’s only going to get worse.”
“A lot of the girls didn’t want to post photographs up because other people’s lives looked so amazing, when their friends are on holidays and looking great it made them feel worse about themselves when they saw pictures of friends looking good in bikinis. The females were quite worried about how their lives might seem, as it didn’t compare to other peoples’ experiences.
False Identity
She continued; “But something else I found was that a lot of people are very good at making their Facebook a false identity, to make it seem a lot more interesting than it really is.”