Adolescence is a transitional period in life where a person’s development is characterized by daring behaviors and involvement in adventurous activities. At this stage, adolescents imitate behavior as they strive to explore the world. Peer pressure is a major influence on decisions and lifestyle while body image is a very sensitive issue especially among females. Moreover, the level of self-esteem plays a role in the youth’s ability to form and sustain social networks that fulfill their needs for information, alternative ideas and emotional support. Social skills aid in the development of independence, direct future career paths and enable the establishment of successful personal relationships. Media plays an important role in adolescent development as it affects self-esteem and body image as well as mediates peer pressure and social network formation. This paper presents two studies that explore the effects of media on these various aspects of adolescent development.
The article “Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis” found in the Journal of Applied Development Psychology analyzed how social media, namely Facebook, affects the psychological wellbeing and social capital of adolescents. Satisfaction with life and self-esteem were used as indicators of psychological wellbeing. Meanwhile, bridging was the form of social capital studied and is described as the ability to form a loose network of personal relationships for information purposes. Another purpose of the study was to determine whether adolescent self-esteem influenced the building of social capital through Facebook. Using online surveys of 256 respondents and 18 in-depth interviews, the longitudinal study collected data in 2006, at the start of the research, and again at its end in 2007 (Steinfield, Elison & Stampe, 2008). The target participants were university students.
The results showed that social media improved the bridging social capital of youth participants as well as their psychological wellbeing. Between the first survey and the second survey, the number of hours spent per day on Facebook increased by 21 minutes. Within one year, the number of friends also increased by 50% which translates to an average of 339 from the baseline number of 223 (Steinfield, Elison & Stampe, 2008). This high number of friends suggests the existence of weak ties or loose connections with other people who can provide needed information, such as on employment opportunities in the future, or favors. Friend lists, messaging, tagging and wall posting are tools that enable users to maintain these ties. The ability to keep tabs on what is happening with friends and acquaintances in various networks and receiving messages from them contributes to increased satisfaction with life and higher self-esteem.
Further, Steinfield, Elison & Stampe (2008) found that bridging social capital was influenced by self-esteem. Data analysis showed that participants with lower self-esteem had the most gains in social capital from Facebook use compared to those with high self-esteem. The interviews conducted revealed that Facebook made it easier for people with low self-esteem to initiate interaction with others by inviting them as friends or sending short messages. This initiation of contact would have been difficult to achieve, awkward at best, had the participants attempted to personally approach call people they do not know very well.
The article provides in-depth details on how the teenagers have benefited from social media particularly Facebook where the sharing of ideas and experiences have enabled them to close the gap between different levels of self-esteem. The article, however, did not discuss the negative influence of social media in the process of developing self-esteem in adolescents. Social media may result in deteriorating self-esteem in cases where the lifestyle of their online friends does not match theirs, regardless of whether the lifestyle is real or fictional created by posting updates, comments and pictures based on lies. Also, in an effort to fit into the social circle, teens may adopt the fictional life of their online friends which they think are cool and could aid in developing their esteem such as drinking alcohol, smoking and dress codes that are inappropriate to the socio-cultural practices and norms.
The article ‘Peer pressure trumps “thin” ideals in the media’ in the Journal of Youth and Adolescent compares how peer pressure and competition together with social media and television impact on the body image of adolescent girls. A total of 237 Hispanic females with ages ranging from 10 to 17 years participated in the concurrent and prospective study (Ferguson, 2013). At the start of the study, they were asked to state their most preferred television shows and to rate the physical traits of the actresses in those shows. Measurements of the participants’ height and weight were done and the duration and frequency of social networking site use were taken as well. Perceptions of body image, satisfaction with life and symptoms of eating disorders were evaluated. These assessments were again obtained after six months.
The results show that peer pressure affects teenage girls negatively in terms of body image and general life satisfaction more than television and social media. According to the article, most girls are likely to feel inferior towards their colleagues and friends in terms of dress code and living standards as opposed to television and other media personnel. The social media plays an insignificant role in affecting the youth’s self-esteem. It mainly focuses on girls and states that they are more likely to be affected by what is portrayed on the media. A group of girls were randomly selected and interviewed and later followed up to identify any possible change in behavior as a result of media influence and interaction on social sites.
With the technological advancement in today’s world, it is evident that the media and more so the social sites provides a platform for learning. Adolescence is the most crucial development stage in human beings and at this stage they learn mostly from observation and interaction (Ferguson, 2013). This shows that what they see on television will be copied as coming from the stars; they take it to be the right thing to do. They also copy their friends and colleagues as a way of trying to fit into social groups. Social media also provides a basis for interaction and therefore, increasing peer competition. All these negatively impact youth body image.
The two articles have discussed the influence of media on adolescent development whereby to some extent, teenagers will imitate the images, discussions and lifestyles of the people from the media which they consider as role models. The two also demonstrate the importance of communication between parent and their children especially in this critical time when guidance about life choices is essential. The main difference between the two articles is the way they perceive the influence of media and gender whereby the first article has put an emphasis on the influence of social media on satisfaction with life, the formation of social networks and self-esteem while the second article puts more emphasis on the higher likelihood that female adolescents will imitate the stars from the media. The second article, however, does not seem to acknowledge the influence that the social media has on a teenager’s life.
References
Ferguson, C. (2013). Peer pressure trumps “thin” ideals in the media. New York: Springer. Retrieved from http://www.springer.com/psychology/child+%26+school+psychology/journal/10964?detailsPage
Steinfield, C. Elison, B. & Stampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434-445. Retrieved from www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-applied-developmental-psychology/
