Social Media and Self-Worth: How Social Media Might Be Affecting Your Confidence

A nice car, big house, perfect family, and an ideal body, social media has painted us a fake portrait of how our lives should be and what we should look like, leaving us in pursuit of unrealistic expectations, diminishing our self-worth in the process. Moreover, we compare our lives with influencers, wondering why we don’t have what they have. Social media has made us determine our self-worth based on the amount of followers, likes, and shares we have. In this post, we’ll explore social media and self-worth and how it might affect our confidence.

1. Living in the Highlight Reel

The perfect skin. The perfect job. The perfect boyfriend. The perfect morning routine. The perfect life. But is this real or fabricated?

Social media influencers spend countless hours taking selfies and videos just to get the perfect end product, depicting the ideal lifestyle.

However, this isn’t authentic as we only see a snapshot of someone’s life and not the whole picture.

We use filters that contour our noses, plump our lips, enlarge our eyes, and give our skin an unnatural glow creating this illusion of what beauty is supposed to look like, causing us to feel insecure with our natural looks.

Social media has created an unrealistic blueprint for what beauty should look like. Moreover, studies have shown that women go as far as carrying filtered selfies to their plastic surgery consultation trying to chase a beauty that doesn’t exist.

3. The Body Image Struggle

Body trends have stood the test of time, from the 90s heroin chic to the early 2000s toned body. However, social media’s influence on body image has become more popular. To push the ‘perfect body’ image into our faces, social media algorithms favor these body types placing them in our feeds.

As a result, it causes many women to think something is wrong with their bodies.

In addition, many women develop eating disorders trying to achieve their favorite influencers’ bodies, not knowing that the influencers’ pictures have been edited to look more poised and fit.

But the thing is, these are only trends; here today and gone tomorrow. A snatched-waisted and curvy hip is here one day and slim and petite is in another. Hence, love your body. You don’t have to look like a fitness influencer to have a perfect body. Your body is wonderful just the way it is.

4. Self-Worth Wrapped Up in Likes

Did you know that getting a like, follow, or share releases dopamine in your brain, giving you a sense of joy? That’s the purpose of social media for you to feel good when you get a new follower or like. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, when your self-worth is wrapped up in the amount of likes and followers you have this can become a problem.

If you get a like or follow you feel confident and when you don’t you start questioning your self-worth. When social media and self-worth go hand in hand, it can cause a short-lived confidence boost and long-lived anxiety.

However, social media likes and follows shouldn’t determine how you feel about yourself, you’re worth more than that.

5. Comparisons, the Confidence Killer

Omg, she got her dream job, engaged to a ‘prince charming’, and traveled every month to exotic countries her life seems so perfect, why can’t my life be this perfect? Have these thoughts ever run through your mind? I know it has for me. Constant comparison on social media is referred to by psychologists as “upward social comparison.” This is when you compare yourself to someone who you think is better than you.

But I’ve got news for you social media is a performance act. Nothing on social media is real, honey. Social media influencers meticulously plan and create content for long hours so that they can make sure they have the best life ever. They post the most worthy and aesthetically pleasing content possible. Moreover, they show us the highlights or fabricated versions of their lives and selves. And guess what? We fall for it.

Many influencers will never showcase their struggles, insecurities, or the fact that they cried themselves to sleep last night.

So the next time you envy someone on social media, remember they’re humans and probably have weaknesses just like you and me.

Everything that glitters, isn’t gold.

How to Fix This?

Let’s be clear social media isn’t just filled with negativity. We still find inspiration, motivation, connect to wonderful people, and get to participate in empowering movements. Hence, there are some ways we can enjoy social media while protecting our mental health:

Filter Our Feed: follow people who make you feel good about yourself and spread positivity. Also, unfollow accounts that make you feel insecure about yourself or spread negativity.
Share Our Truth: you don’t have to showcase your whole life on social media but be authentic. Post your highlights but also your shortcomings and inspire others to do the same.
Log Out: a social media detox is a necessity as it can get overwhelming. Therefore, taking time away from social media, even for a weekend can do wonders.
Watch Our Self-Talk: catch yourself when you’re speaking negatively to yourself. You wouldn’t talk to someone you love like that so don’t do it to yourself.
Be Grateful: be grateful for your life and your body’s abilities.
Show Ourselves Compassion: be gentle and patient with yourself. Celebrate your achievements and where you are now.

Take Your Confidence Back

Confidence doesn’t come from likes, shares, and follows. It comes from your kindness, intelligence, your creativity, and your sense of humor.

Nor does your life have to look like the next person on social media to feel wonderful about yourself. Moreover, you don’t have to follow the beauty standards on social media to be beautiful. Beauty isn’t a one-size-fits-all.

So, the next time you feel insecure or worthless when scrolling on social media, remember you are enough just as you are.

To Wrap Things Up

The point is you are the only person who should define you, not an app, like, follow, or unattainable beauty standards on social media. Social media and self-worth don’t go hand in hand. Moreover, social media’s influence on body image shouldn’t make you feel insecure, you can be yourself and still shine.

Psst…Yes, you! If this article helped you consider liking and sharing it with someone it might help or share it on your social media pages. Until next time, Ciao!