The Impact of Social Media on Self Esteem: a Case Study of Malaysian Social Media Users

Chai, Xiao Han (2022) The Impact of Social Media on Self Esteem: a Case Study of Malaysian Social Media Users. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Social media is an important tool for people nowadays to carry out their daily activities. It is a convenient tool for people to conduct their communication and interaction with others. It also provides unprecedented access to a wide range of people's information and allows unlimited network possibilities. This is a research which has been conducted based on the impact of social media on social media users’ self esteem. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of social media on the social media user’s self esteem and to study the factors that cause social media to influence social media user’s self-esteem. This research conducts quantitative research through an online survey questionnaire with 50 social media users who aged between 15 to 30. The findings and conclusion of this study have indicated that the majority of social media users’ self esteem is influenced by social media in a negative way. Due to the upward social comparison, the majority of young adults think that social media brings more negative impacts towards their self esteem and lower down their self esteem although they are actually seeing more positive feedback in their social media. Social media causes them to feel bad about themselves and perceive themselves negatively. The features of social media such as the “likes'', “comments”, “shares” and “views” were the factors that influenced their self esteem which those features have been utilized by social media users for upward social comparison. The research results showed the heavily influential of social media’s features towards social media users’ self esteem. Any feedback that is shown to the social media users based on the social media’s features will create influence towards their self esteem which either increases or lower their self esteem and their perception towards themselves.