Social Media and Self Identity

Social media has a huge impact on individuals self identities' in multiple ways, whether it is physical or mental. The media is one of the main industries that shape how we see ourselves or others, however social media is having the biggest effect on people, which in recent years, is leading to more serious issues, such as major mental health struggles.

In recent years, cyberbullying has became such a huge issue as social media has gotten more popular, resulting in it becoming more toxic. Multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter, have very limited guidelines, meaning that the possibility to 'troll' people online is much easier. Although the guidelines on Twitter may be one of the most limited, Snapchat at 69% and TikTok at 64% are the most common platforms that cyberbullying occurs on, meaning that it mainly effects the younger generation. Children have started to join social media at such young ages, meaning that the rates of cyberbullying will increase, which is extremely damaging for their mental health in the future, due to the toxicity that people have caused in the media.

Although, social media can damage one's mental health, it can also effect how someone pictures themselves physically, due to the unrealistic beauty standards that have been normalised throughout the years. Many celebrities, such as the Kardashians, have been called out on the fact that they edit their photos that they post on social media, which has caused controversy in the past as they are meant to be seen as influencers that follow these beauty standards, when instead they're creating a false reality. Linking back to mental health, this can effect individual's self-esteem and confidence, possible driving them into a bad place in their life. The recent advertisement for Dove, portrays the idea that young girls edit their photos and are pressured to get 'the perfect selfie', in order to boost their confidence, when in reality it is secretly destroying it.

On the positive side, one thing that has been normalised and made aware of over recent years in the media is gender identity. In May of 2021, American singer, Demi Lovato came out as non-binary and shared how they were beginning to use the pronouns they/them, which I believe has recently became more aware of and more accepted as we have seen more people in society coming out. During Non-Binary Awareness Week last year, they spoke in an interview about how normal it is to misgender themselves due to the "huge transition" that it was when changing their pronouns.

"If you misgender me — that's okay,' the message begins. 'I accidentally misgender myself sometimes! It's a huge transition to change the pronouns I've used for myself my entire life. And it's difficult to remember sometimes!"