The impact of Instagram on youth self-esteem

Problem današnjice jest prevelik utjecaj društvenih mreža na sam način života. Društvene mreže danas imaju moć da svakodnevno mijenjaju društvene trendove, norme, navike i ponašanja. Sadržaj koji se može pronaći na Instagramu nudi jako iskrivljenu percepciju onoga što je dobro, točnije stvara okvire u koje se korisnici žele uklopiti kako bi imali osjećaj pripadnosti u određenoj zajednici. Većina Instagram korisnika mrežu koristi kako bi prikazivala kreativnu stranu na jedan slobodan način jer je Instagram mreža gdje svatko može slobodno izraziti svoje misli i stavove kroz sadržaj. No često se može dogoditi da netko na naveden način stvori trend koji će imati utjecaj na druge korisnike te će čak imati i moć iskriviti sliku drugog korisnika koji se možda neće uspjeti uklopiti u trend. Stavovi mladih često su lako promjenjivi te se na njih najlakše može utjecati, a Instagram svojim sadržajem i okvirima koje nudi stvara preveliku prednost za utjecaj na samopoštovanje osobe kao i na promjenu percepcije nas samih. Cilj istraživanja je analizirati percepciju utjecaja društvene mreže Instagram na razinu samopoštovanja mladih. U radu je primijenjena metoda kompjuterski podržane ankete, tj. internetskog intervjuiranja. Anketa se provodila s korisnicima Instagrama, kolegama, obitelji i prijateljima na uzorku od 62 ispitanika. Glavni rezultati istraživanja pokazuju kako ispitanici smatraju da Instagram utječe na samopoštovanje mladih, dok većina smatra da prevladavaju negativni utjecaji.The problem in today’s society is the excessive influence of social media on the way of life itself. Social media platforms today have so much power that they tend to change social trends, norms, habits, and behaviors on a daily basis. The content found across Instagram profiles contains highly distorted perceptions of what is good, more precisely, it creates benchmarks that users want to meet to feel like a part of a particular community. Most Instagram users use the platform as a place to pursue their creative side since, ultimately, Instagram is a type of social media platform which allows everyone to express their own thoughts and views through content. However, it can often happen that someone creates a trend, which will have an impact on other users, and will even have the power to distort the image of another user who may not be able to fit into the trend. The attitudes of young people at such age are easily influenced, and Instagram with its contents is giving an opportunity for their self-esteem to be affected even more - often in a negative way. The goal of this research is to analyze the impact of Instagram on the level of self-esteem within young people. The paper uses the method of computer-aided surveys, i.e. online interviewing. The survey was conducted on Instagram users, colleagues, family, and friends, with a sample size of 62 respondents. The main results of the research show that respondents believe that Instagram affects the self-esteem of young people, while most believe that negative influences prevail