Stanley

Meghan Stanley
English 110C
Melissa Sipin
2 December 2014
Self-Identity is Being Erased
Our society is caught up in a world of social media. Teens today , as
well as many adults, are constantly looking down memorized by their cell
phone devices to check whats happening in the real world through their
Apps, which include Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.. . These devices are no
longer used to just call a friend or family member. Instead, many people have
stopped looking and interacting with what is happening right in front of their
eyes. People are missing the important face-to-face interactions with each
other that help build ones self-identity. Our self-identity according to Dr.
Taylor is how we define and see ourselves as unique individuals. It is also
the knowledge each individual gains as they grow up. So why do people
allow others on social media, even people who do not know them, to have a
harmful effect on the development of ones self -identity? People allow others
on social media to influence them, who they are, because people are
codependent on it, it gives them a sense of acceptance and self -worth.

In todays society ones self-identity is no longer influenced internally

it is now influenced externally. Before social media people would be
interacting more face-to-face, which allowed them to achieve their self -

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identity in a healthy manner. To not create a fake sense of who they are based
on the heavy influence social media has on a person. When people are
interacting in person they are gaining knowledge on how to act, whats right
and wrong, and hear stories that teach them new things about society. Faceto-face interaction still has somewhat of an externally influence on how
someone acts, there always will be. Its different when peopl e are walking
around versus hiding behind their phones checking on social media.

People under the influence of social media are codependents they need
to feel socially accepted to get the feeling of self -worth. Societies way of
communicating through social media is if there are a lot of likes on a photo,
status, or even if someone has a lot of friends then that is socially accepted.
According to Taylor self-identity is no longer self-identity, meaning derived
from the self, but rather is an identity proje cted onto us by popular culture
and in no way an accurate reflection of who we really are. In that statement
Taylor claims that self-identity is not influenced from ones self at all,
although it is very heavily influenced by this constant need codependent
people have to feel a sense of belongingness, there is still some self left in
our identities. Social media is slowly erasing self -identity, because people
live their lives trying to impress others.

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People on social media like Facebook are always trying to prove that
they can fit in, causing them to become people they really arent. The time
people spend on social networks has lots of negative effects on ones self worth. Psychologist Slater stated that ''t ime spent on social network sites was
related to lower self-esteem, body esteem, sense of identity and higher
depression.'' A study done by Vogel showed how the time somone spends on
Facebook and how much social comparison one does, affects the persons
self-esteem. The studys results showed that the m ore frequent someone spent
on Facebook comparing themselves to other people in society the lower the
self-esteem would be. On the other hand those who would only go on
sometimes and spent less time comparing them selves to others still were
affected, but it had a lot less of an affect on them. Another study was on how
the time spent on Facebook affects a persons loneliness. The study showed
that with the more time someone spent online the more likely they are to be
lonely, which then can lead to the feel ing of depression. A study was done by
Flinders University on a group of girls that were 8 and 9 years old about
how time spent on social media affected their body esteem. They were
interviewed again when they were 10 and 11 years old. This study found th at
there was already an increase in time spent on social media. Along with an
increase on time spent on social networks they became more worried about
their weight. Even though 80 percent of the girls weighed a normal weight,
46 percent were dissatisfied with the weight they were at. Self-esteem plays a
big role on how other people on social media influence someone. If someone

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is not confident in themselves, likes and follows are probably going to matter
more to them, because they want to fit in. Rather than someone who is
confident in who they are, and arent worried about what others think of
them.

In todays society people are constantly changing based on what others

think and believe. Its sad that people in todays world cant be who they
really want to be. The strong ones can sometimes overcome the fake barriers,
but for the weaker ones, acceptance on social media can become too
overbearing and crippling them and sadly sometimes leading to suicide. To
everyone trying to fit in out there in this judg mental world of social media.
is it really worth changing for?

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Works Cited
Taylor, Jim. "Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?" Psychology
Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. 05
Nov. 2014. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-powerprime/201107/technology-is-technology-stealing-our-self-identities>.
COSIMA, MARRINER. "Online link to teen self-esteem." Canberra Times 21 July 2013:
11. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Lemieux, Robert, Sean Lajoie, and Nathan E Trainor. "Affinity-Seeking, Social
Loneliness, And Social Avoidance Among Facebook Users." Psychological
Reports 112.2 (2013): 545-552. MEDLINE. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Vogel, Erin A., et al. "Social Comparison, Social Media, And Self-Esteem." Psychology
Of Popular Media Culture 3.4 (2014): 206-222. PsycARTICLES. Web. 10 Nov.
2014.
Jin, Borae. "How Lonely People Use And Perceive Facebook." Computers In Human
Behavior 29.(2013): 2463-2470. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Sheldon, Pavica. "Voices That Cannot Be Heard: Can Shyness Explain How We
Communicate On Facebook Versus Face-To-Face?." Computers In Human
Behavior 29.(2013): 1402-1407. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Labrague, Leodoro, J. "Facebook Use And Adolescents' Emotional States Of Depression,
Anxiety, And Stress." Health Science Journal 8.1 (2014): 80-89. CINAHL Plus
with Full Text. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.
Springer, Carrie A., Thomas W. Britt, and Barry r. Schle nker.
"Codependency: Clarifying The Construct." Journal Of Mental Health
Counseling 20.2 (1998): 141. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

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Lindley, Natasha R., and Peter J. Giodano. "Codependency: Predictors And
Psychometric Issues." Journal Of Clinical Psychology 55.1 (1999):
59-64. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

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Annotated bibliography
Taylor, Jim. "Technology: Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?" Psychology
Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. N.p., 27 July 2011. Web. 05
Nov. 2014. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-powerprime/201107/technology-is-technology-stealing-our-self-identities>.

In this article it talks about what self-identity is and how it has switched from
being internally driven to externally. I will use this article to support my statement
that social media is erasing peoples social identities and how much others
influence us. This website is credible because it helps me understand what selfidentity is.

COSIMA, MARRINER. "Online link to teen self-esteem." Canberra Times 21 July 2013:
11. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

This article is about a study done on teenage girls that shows that the
time spent on social networks leads to lower self -esteem and
depression. This study is credible because it helps support my claim
about the effects that social media has on teens self -esteem.

Lemieux, Robert, Sean Lajoie, and Nathan E Trainor. "Affinity-Seeking, Social

Loneliness, And Social Avoidance Among Facebook Users." Psychological
Reports 112.2 (2013): 545-552. MEDLINE. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

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This article is about a study done on 313-college student about the relationship
between Facebook and affinity seeking, social loneliness, and social avoidance.
This article is credible because it showed that the number of close friends they
had on Facebook was negatively correlated to social loneliness and avoidance,
which helped support my claims about the negative effects Facebook has on a
person.

Vogel, Erin A., et al. "Social Comparison, Social Media, And Self-Esteem." Psychology
Of Popular Media Culture 3.4 (2014): 206-222. PsycARTICLES. Web. 10 Nov.
2014.

This article is about social comparison, social media and self-esteem.

It includes studies, research, methods, and data tables to help support
there research. This article is credible because it helps me understand
how self-esteem effects social media users.

Jin, Borae. "How Lonely People Use And Perceive Facebook." Computers In Human
Behavior 29.(2013): 2463-2470. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

This article is a study about how Facebook causes loneliness and is used by those
who are lonely. It showed that lonely users engaged more in negative selfdisclosure. This study is credible because it helps me understand that those who
use Facebook tend to keep to them selves more.

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Sheldon, Pavica. "Voices That Cannot Be Heard: Can Shyness Explain How We
Communicate On Facebook Versus Face-To-Face?." Computers In Human
Behavior 29.(2013): 1402-1407. ScienceDirect. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

This article is on a study about how society communicates through

Facebook versus face-to-face interactions. This study is credible
because it helps me understand how communicating through social
media and not directly with the other person has a negative affect on
someone.

Labrague, Leodoro, J. "Facebook Use And Adolescents' Emotional States Of Depression,

Anxiety, And Stress." Health Science Journal 8.1 (2014): 80-89. CINAHL Plus
with Full Text. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.

In this article it talks about a study done to show what effects Facebook has on
individuals emotional states. This article is credible because it helps me
understand how Facebook causes people to have depression, anxiety, and stress.

Springer, Carrie A., Thomas W. Britt, and Barry r. Schlenker.

"Codependency: Clarifying The Construct." Journal Of Mental Health
Counseling 20.2 (1998): 141. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

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This article is on a study about how codependency relates to self esteem, social anxiety, locus of control, impression management, and
self-consciousness. This study is credible because it helped me
understand how codependency negatively affects self-esteem and selfconsciousness.

Lindley, Natasha R., and Peter J. Giodano. "Codependency: Predictors And

Psychometric Issues." Journal Of Clinical Psychology 55.1 (1999):
59-64. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

This article is about how codependency is related to self -confidence

and how individuals who are codependent dont have a strong personal
identity. This article is credible because it helped me understand more
about how codependency works.