Social Media Maneuvering Social Comparison

Social media has achieved huge acclamation by connecting people all around the globe. As social networking websites facilitates communication among people from every corner of the world, they have also influenced their users psychologically. The ideas circulated through social networking websites have such a strong impact that even if a user do not endorse them explicitly but still gets considerably affected by them. Research shows that these websites have potential to impact user’s thought process. Photos uploaded by celebrities on social networking websites like Facebook has the ability to change a user’s feelings about their own lives.

Recently, the trend of slim and slender models has enhanced upward social comparison which is victimizing both men and women. People are increasingly becoming dissatisfied with their body weights. Psychological evils like body-shaming and hating one’s body size are spreading at appalling rate. It emphasizes that beauty is deeply rooted in thinness and stimulate desirability to achieve thinness even if not possible due to one’s health condition. This situation makes the user to think them as imperfect which leads to reduced self-worth and self-esteem. People suffering from this mental state avoid social gatherings, follow crash dieting routines and even starve themselves for unrealistic reduction in body weight in short period of time.

Social comparison is not only limited to body-weight/body-size comparison rather it has contaminated almost everything that is found to be happening around us. For instance, women see wedding pictures uploaded by a friend, relative or even on random photography page on Facebook which urges never-ending desperation to have royal wedding arrangements like others. They want to have everything like others – dresses, decoration, catering, groom’s entry on white horse or limousine, bride’s entry on a train and what not. Such trends increases financial burden on families and even they take loans to afford all idealistic “necessities” of life.

Interestingly, men are seen going frantic to achieve muscular appearance like their ideal celebrity. For that purpose they opt for steroids and other harmful drugs to get the desired results quickly in least possible time. Consequently, they invite long-term health hazards in their lives. The non-attainability of ideal results can lead to fierce consequences like feeling bad about oneself, disbelief in one’s own personality attractiveness, anxiety, bad moods, disheartenment and behavioral dysfunctions.