How Do You Social Media? The Implications of Social Media Usage and Its Effects on Self Perception

Increasingly, social media has become an integral part of everyday life. Research suggests that the usage of social media has mixed implications, both positive and negative, on individuals. Despite mixed research results, there is evidence that social media usage has a strong relationship particularly with negative outcomes (depression, anxiety, poor sleep habits, eating concerns and self-esteem). Our research focused on answering the question of whether social media usage negatively correlates with individuals’ self-perception (operationalized as self-esteem). To investigate this question, we recruited college participants who answered questions about their social media usage as well as their state-based and trait-based self-esteem. Data were analyzed using bivariate correlational analyses. Results indicated that social media usage was not significantly correlated with state-based self-esteem nor trait-based self-esteem. Limitations of this research and future directions are discussed