In Social Media Affordances of Ephemerality and Permanence:
Social Comparison, Self-Esteem, and Body Image Concerns by D. Kim and S.
Kim, they focus on the impacts of ephemeral versus permanent content on social
channels like Instagram (more permanent but some ephemeral content in stories)
and Snapchat (largely ephemeral). It presented research which assessed this
concept through multiple hypotheses to find a correlation between various independent,
dependent, and controlled variables.
The findings were fascinating and emphasized the impacts of
the introduction of social media, specifically Instagram and Snapchat, and the adoption
of elements like filters for photos. The filters and ability to adjust the reality
of images is one of the reasons there are higher instances of low self-esteem,
body concerns, feelings of envy, ungratefulness, and a desire to have an ideal self-image
presented. This did not exist before the adoption of social media. The more
time people obsess and focus on the idealized image presentation, the lower
self-esteem and higher body concerns when comparing to others. Snapchat is less
impactful on body image and self-esteem because users spend less time
perfecting their content because it is less permanent. Of the hypotheses
presented, only one supported Instagram users having lower self-esteem due to
social comparison. There were no positive outcomes illustrated to being an
Instagram user.
Overall, there is little evidence in this reading to suggest
any positive outcomes from the use of social media platforms like Instagram and
Snapchat in terms of social comparison, self-esteem, and body image concerns. The
only positive outcome suggested was from post likes, but negative feedback resulted
in lower self-esteem. After reading the article, I was curious to understand if
any Instagram influencers are secure individuals or have high self-esteem. It would
interesting research to explore as this course progresses.
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