Social media has been creating a negative influence on the self-esteem of women, but there is hope for more positive influences.

The left is a picture seen on Pinterest, and the right is a picture
 taken from a user who tried to imitate what they saw.

With societies growing use and dependence on social media, it is expected that we would begin to see some of the positive and negative impacts. One of the most prevalent issues regarding the social impacts of social media, is its threat to the self-esteem of women users. A study by TODAY Moms reports that of 7000 women users surveyed, 41 percent have experienced stress from Pinterest. This stress isn't from technical issues with the site or the site content, but it is caused by the fact that they feel as though they cannot compete with the creativity and execution of other users on the site. This stress to act and look a certain way is not confined to Pinterest.com, but it is induced by almost all social media sites.

Women are more dependent and likely to be social media users than men.  

Bar graph showing that women use most sites more than men

Before understanding the effects of social media on a women, it is important to understand why women are such heavy users. A recent study by Pew research found that women are higher users of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr. The content on these social media sites tend to be geared more towards women, which could be a reason for their high participation.

Women not only use social media as a means of communication, but they also use it to see what their friends are doing. They use it to keep up with the latest trends and look into the lives of others in the community. These facts could be incredibly beneficial for both women and society, but generally it has a large potential to be more damaging than good.


Social media encourages women to strive to be something that they're not and highlights on their insecurities.

The beauty of social media is that it is all controlled behind a screen and key board. Users have the power to construct their profiles any way that they like. They can upload any pictures and content they wish with just the click of a button. Rashanta Bledman, Ph.D., counselor specializing in body image at UMD, agrees that photos and other content on social media tends to have a negative impact on women and especially young girls. She mentions a tension regarding the appearance of women, especially the pressure surrounding weight. 

 
Much research has gone into the media portrayal of women in ads, magazines and movies. The use of Photoshop to enhance a celebrity's appearance has been heavily critiqued and widely disapproved by society. Many campaigns are being promoted by big companies, like Dove, to capture the real beauty of women, while exposing the excessive use of Photoshop in the media. But what many fail to recognize is how this translates into the world of social media. Now advertising companies aren't the only ones to use Photoshop. Now, young girls use Photoshop to edit photos of themselves to hide their insecurities. They can make themselves look 5 pounds lighter, tanner and brighter.  An article from the Huffington Post says, "A girl's social networking profile is a persona she constructs, a photoshopped billboard on the information superhighway." 

When photos are posted to social media sites like Facebook, it is easily accessible for others to  view. So when women upload these photoshopped pictures of themselves, they are sharing that image with many other women. Similarly to advertisements, there is a consequential affect on the self-esteem of women. It shows an ideal that is practically impossible to naturally achieve. This is different than if they were looking at a picture of a celebrity. These fake images are of their friends, which makes the affect all the more personal. It is a direct threat to a viewers self-esteem because it stirs thoughts of inferiority, jealousy and insecurity. It encourages these woman to be in a constant state of competition, with themselves and with other women. 

An example of this would be from Tumblr. Tumblr is a social site that allows people to create their 

Left photo is a young girl before it was edited, and the
right is the photo posted onto Tumblr after editing.

own personalized blogs made up of pictures, quotes, text, videos and more. Like twitter, a user can follow and repost content by other users. Recently, there has been a rise in popular female users who post pictures of their style and lives. These "Tumblr girls" have been the center of attention on the site and have gained hundreds of thousands of followers. Many young girls that use the site have been influenced by that culture and strive to be like these "Tumblr girls." A wikiHow page even gives women steps on how to achieve the fame and the look. Not surprisingly, one of the steps mentions using Photoshop to edit the photo in order to achieve a flawless appearance. 

The effect that social media has women can be so detrimental that it leads to dangerous consequences, like bullying.

Once women fail to achieve these unwritten standards on social media, it has the potential to create a very severe emotional impact. Cyber bullying has been a huge issue with social media in recent years. Research shows that girls are both larger victims and instigators of cyber bullying than boys. In a study of 1000 young women, 94 percent believed that social media makes it easy for girls to torment or bully one another. Social media and its content offer a platform for people to bully others without dealing with the consequences of their actions. 

A screen capture from Amanda's video

In September of 2012, a video of a young woman holding hand-written note cards went viral. Her name was Amanda Todd and she was only 15 years old when she posted the video. She was telling her story through a series of note cards. For the past year she had been intensely bullied through Facebook. A man had distributed a nude photo of her  to all her friends and peers through the social networking site. This led to an outbreak of bullying, both in person and online. People would post mocking photos imitating her on the site and left graphic threats on her Facebook wall. Even strangers were able to leave hate-filled comments for her to read. Social media was her source of torment; she was left with no self-esteem. Later that year, the torment got so overwhelming that she took her life.

This is the sad truth of social media. It opens the doors to a whole new type of danger society had never dealt with in the past.

Companies and citizens are taking the steps to create positive influences on social media.

Although there are many negative consequences of social media, there is still hope. Rashanta Bledman believes that it starts with those who recognize the problem. Those are the people that can move towards using social media as a positive place. 




A study of 1000 young girls showed that 87 percent of them believed that social media sites have the power to fight against negative issues of self-esteem and bullying. There are tons of groups on sites like Facebook, that are meant to empower women, and create a safe place for women to interact. For example, Secret (Women's deodorant brand), created a campaign called "Mean Stinks." Throughout this campaign they use sites like Facebook and Youtube to bring awareness to issues surrounding women and social media.

In this way women can choose to fight against the effects social media may have on their self-esteem. It is a way to use social media in a healthy and meaningful way. 

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