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Seeking Validation in The Digital World

vac social and emotion learning sem1 notes.

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19 views

Seeking Validation in The Digital World

vac social and emotion learning sem1 notes.

Uploaded by

kaysnookx
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In one of the articles, Caroline Knorr, a parenting editor at Common Sense Media, discuss

how social media starts as a fun way to document daily life and later become an obsession,
especially for young teens. Knorr asserted in her article that social media is much more
immediate and profound than the traditional forms that were popular in the past. According to
her report, 35% of teens are worried about people tagging them in unflattering images, 27%
feel stressed about how they look in photos, and 22% feel bad about themselves when they do
not have enough likes or shares on their images.

Reasons – Why?
The following could be some of the reasons why teenagers engage in such behaviour.
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Researchers believe one of the reasons why teens seek validation on social media could be
FOMO or ‘Fear of Missing-out’ syndrome. According to Gladwell, FOMO involves a fear of
missing out on someone’s unique experiences and can be regarded as a subcategory of stress.
To put it another way, FOMO describes the annoying feeling that other people may be
experiencing something fun and extraordinary but that you are missing out on it. However, to
mitigate the sense of FOMO and to level the position, teens usually posts and share every
information about their whereabouts to update the audience.

Socially Distant Culture


Another core reason could be – pandemic. The new socially distant culture, thanks to this
pandemic, leave people with no other option to solely rely on technology and such platforms
that satisfy their urge for human connection. Since last year, people, especially teens are
constantly connected to the World Wide Web. They interact mainly online and access social
networking more than older adults. As a result, teenagers today may feel like they are under
constant pressure. Regularly posting status updates, viewing the number of followers they
have, or analyzing the number of likes they have received on a recent post can leave teens
feeling less than worthy.

Doubt, Insecurity, and Anxiety


According to research published in 2016, the practice of comparing one’s self with others,
which social media so readily facilitates, can result in an endless stream of questioning and
self-doubt: Why did that post get more ‘likes’ than mine did? Why does that person have
more Facebook friends than I do? Moreover, an individual might also start to obsess over
their reputation and how they’re being perceived. They’re plagued by doubt and insecurity
with each new post: Do people like what I posted? What if they don’t like it?
Unfortunately, for some individuals, a complete lack of feedback can be worse than a
negative response. It can be said that negative feedback is evidence that the post, and thus the
poster, was deemed worthy of a response. This can be a form of validation for the individual.
On the other hand, the lack of a response can mean that no one cares since no one took the
time to respond. This can lead to anxiety and distress around the perceived lack of attention.

Parental Involvement and Support


Jonathan Rhoads, the founder of JMR Counseling, believes adolescents who are confident
and have healthy self-esteem are much better equipped to navigate social media and other
online platforms. However, if it’s not enough for parents to verbally support and encourage
these traits in their children, the message needs to be modelled in terms of their own
noticeable self-concept.
Teens will adopt what their parents do. Therefore, parents need to model emotional
expression; they need to teach and model for children that they’re accepted and that it’s safe
to express their feelings. However, parents also need to understand and appreciate the
significance of social media in their children’s lives. A big issue is that many parents didn’t
have social media access when they were growing up, making it difficult to relate to their
children’s experiences.
Rhodes suggested establishing technology-free zones at home may help teens in managing
their social media involvement. All in all, it will support teens to have technology-free times
at home during which they can engage in other activities with their families.

How social media validation affects kids


Everyone wants to be accepted for who they are and feel appreciated, whether that’s through
a compliment or genuine friendship. But many people now place a higher emphasis on the
interactions that occur online: of the 518 social media users surveyed by New Statesman,
42.1% admitted to deleting a post because it didn’t get “enough” likes, and 55.4% said
they’ve felt envious after seeing someone else’s post get a lot of likes. Though these digital
forms of validation make us feel good in the moment, they can also have long-term
consequences. There are several studies that show a high correlation between social media
use and decreased mental health in both adults and children.

It impacts body image


The more time kids and teens spend posting photos, comparing themselves to others, and
looking for social validation online, the more their self-esteem can suffer — and this is
especially true for young women and girls. A study by York University found that image-
based platforms that see users actively engaging with “more attractive” individuals worsened
body image.

It causes antisocial behavior


Another drawback of spending too much time on social media is that it can take time away
from socializing with peers. According to a study published in the Royal Society Open
Science Journal, teens today often have smaller offline social circles than adults. What’s
more, they discovered that managing a large amount of “anonymous ‘friends-of-friends’” on
various social networks was a significant source of stress for young users. This shows that
even though kids might have a lot of followers or friends online (one of those core social
validation metrics), it doesn’t necessarily help them to make real meaningful connections —
they could still very well be lacking community and support from their peers.

It triggers anxiety
A 2018 Research study found that many teens feel more connected to their friends because of
social media. But it also identified several areas of stress for young users: 43% said they “feel
pressure to only post content that makes them look good to others”, while 37% said they “feel
pressure to post content that will get a lot of likes and comments”. Yearning for social
validation might also encourage kids and teens to participate in harmful viral trends, like the
Tide Pod challenge, or exhibit other problematic behavior as they strive to keep up with the
peers and celebrities they see online. Ultimately, this can affect their sense of self, and lead to
feelings of inadequacy and envy.

Young children and teens are especially prone to the effects of social validation because
they are still developing emotionally, physically, and socially.
In an article published by Psychology Today, Dr. Gwendolyn Seidman posits that those with
a low sense of purpose are most at risk. “The approval of others may provide us with a sense
of meaning in our lives if we don’t already have a strong sense of purpose,” she writes, and
“since adolescents are still finding their purpose, they may be especially prone to take social
media feedback to heart and to work hard for others’ approval”.

It can be easy for young teens to compare themselves to others on social media — after all,
likes, hearts, and comments are on display for all to see. But online interactions aren’t all bad,
and kids don’t need to be entirely shielded from these environments. Rather, parents need to
seek out platforms that minimize (or completely avoid) the use of social validation metrics.

Suggested readings:
https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/why-do-teenagers-seek-validation-on-social-
media/

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