Digital Validation: How Likes and Comments Affect Self-Esteem of Young Users

Author(s): Kanchan Patil, Taniya Madhukar More, Atharva Deshmukh and Aadira Nair

Abstract:

The rapid expansion of social media has had a tremendous impact on how young people communicate and express themselves. It has also affected their views of self-worth. Digital validation is a term used to describe the validation or approval that people get from their social media interactions like likes, comments, shares, and followers. Social media sites like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat offer young people a sense of popularity and social validation that can impact their views of self-worth. This research paper focuses on the relationship between digital validation and the self-esteem of young social media users. Self-esteem is the view that people have of their self-worth and can be impacted by what they get from others. When people get positive validation like likes and positive comments from others on social media, they can get confidence and motivation to do more and a sense of belonging. However, when they get less or negative validation, they can get a sense of insecurity and self-doubt. The study will also explore the impact of social comparison on social media on the youth. Most people, especially the youth, tend to compare their appearance, lifestyle, and popularity with other users online. This has, in turn, forced them to present an image of perfection to the public. They do this by altering their online content to gain more traction and approval. Through secondary research, this paper seeks to identify the positive and negative impacts of digital validation on the youth. The study has concluded that, although social media presents an opportunity for self-expression, it has a negative impact on the self-esteem of the youth. Thus, it is essential for the youth to develop good social media habits while maintaining self-esteem that is not based on digital validation.

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Pages: 64-68     |    10 View     |    2 Download