Kaily Young

Taylor
ARC
1/19/18

Negative affects of Social Media on Girls

INTRODUCTION:
Social media is a big part of today’s society. Everyone is very dependent on their phones and
knowing the lives of others. People use social media to keep in contact with family and friends
to update people on their lives and to know what is going on in the world around them. Social
media has its positives and negatives but, now it seems like young boys and girls are facing
more negatives than positives when it comes to pictures online. “In the United States an
estimated 185 million people use social media.” Statista.com.
The problem for girls with social media is that there are unrealistic images of other girls,
“models”. It makes young girls feel like they need to change to look like these girls. They receive
a lot of praise and attention for their bodies, which can make young girls also think they need
compliments from strangers to feel accepted. Some research questions I would like to know
more about are:

 Why do girls feel like they need to look a certain way?

 Why do we compare ourselves to others?
 How many girls change the way they look to please others?
ANNOTED BIOGRAPHY:

Austin McCann. AustinMcCann.com. “Negative Impact of Social Media on Teens”. 28th May,
2013. 4th Jan. 2018.

The author explains impacts on teens caused by social media. He explains the negative effects
and provides articles and explanations to back up his reasonings. The information would be
helpful because it provides me with more reasons about why social media cannot always be the
best thing. Teens are always on their phones and don’t know what is real or fake. Girls change
their hair up all the time with wigs, extensions, color etc. It is often hard to compete with that
when you don’t have all that. Also, teens say things on social media they wouldn’t really say
face to face. Sometimes that can be a result of cyberbullying. The say these things because they
feel safe. Also, some of the comments are appropriate and can make the person feel
uncomfortable. The things that teens say or post can be completely different from how they
really act/

Lisa Pecos. ParentingJournals.com. “The Negative Effects of The Media on Teens”. 19th Sept.
2011. 19th Dec. 2017.

The author provides information on children. The information this article provided might not be
helpful or useful for me. I am not looking for this type of information for my research. The
author does however provide a list of ways that could help minimize time spent with
technology. The information about the use of cell phone isn’t as useful as i thought it was going
to be. I thought the article would be about teens on social media because that is the name of
the article. It is more about children and the use of their technology. I wouldn’t use this
information as a part of my research either. The author talks about how children’s video games
and tv shows affect them negatively.

Miribel Tran. Huffingtonpost.com. “The Effect of Social Media in Young Girls”. 21st June 2014.
4th Jan. 2018.
The author is a Junior in High School. I find that helpful and resourceful because someone who
understands this topic is sharing their view. The information is useful because it gives facts and
evidence. She talks about how models are photoshopped and made to look differently. This
post is from a couple years ago so, some things with social media have intensified but the
information is still accurate. Girls need to learn how to react to social media in more positive
way. Photoshop and unrealistic images has caused more obese girls to become more
depressed. It is linked that girls with obesity have lower grades and less self-esteem than girls
who are healthier and not depressed.

Rachel Ehmke. Childmind.com. “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers”. 17th, Dec. 2017

This information is helpful because it gives reasons about how social media makes people feel
insecure. Peer acceptance is when teens care more about their image. Likes on their pictures
makes them feel accepted or not accepted by the amount of likes. Also, teens try harder to look
better and girls tend to stare at their pictures and point out every imperfection. When girls see
pictures of other girls that look good, it adds more pressure on them to look better, when in
reality, the girl posting it doesn’t really look like it. The author is a senior editor at the Child
Mind Institute. The author goes into depth about other reasons on how or why social media
makes teens insecure. She provides many reasons and evidence as to why teens feel pressure
and have low self-esteem. She also provides links that can be helpful and have relation to the
article.
SURVEY/RESULTS:
After research, I found that Social media makes girls feel insecure because the girls with more
fit bodies receive the most attention. Teens have a hard time determining real from fake. Today
everyone is changing up their hair and getting injections and procedures done to change
themselves. It is becoming such a common thing to do now. Based on the chart, only 1% of
teens feel good about body images posted online. 20% of teens are impacted
on body images in both positive and negative ways. 71% of teens are impacted negatively.
The pie charts inform us that 74% use their social media platform to try and look cooler and
41% of those girls admitted to it. With girls trying to be someone or something they aren’t isn’t
okay. They should be able to be whoever they want to be without wanting to impress others.
33% of girls said their pictures don’t match who they really are! This is so wrong that girls feel
like they need to look better or different to please others and people they hardly know. The
positive thing is that 56% of girls said they felt more connected with their friends and families
by using online websites. 30% actually said that by using social media, it made their
relationships better. The use of social media has it’s ups and downs but hopefully we can find a
way to social media a positive outlook.
SURVEY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Karly Backie
1.) Q: Have images online ever made you feel insecure?
A: Yes.
2.) Q: Do these images of girls make you want to change your appearance?
A: Yes, they make me want to get more in shape.
3.) Q: Do you want to look like them too?
A:Yes.
4.) Q: If yes, why do yo want to look like them?
A: Because I want to look and feel good about myself.
5.) Q: How do the images make you feel?
 A:They make me feel insecure and different but like I could improve myself a little bit
more.
6.) Q: Do the images inspire you to get in shape if it's something you've been wanting to
do?
A: Yes, they make me want to get in shape and be a healthier me. But at times its
frusterating because it takes time.
7.) Q: Do they inspire you to eat healthy?
A: I would like to eat healthy but, its hard to stick with it.
8.) Q: Do you believe these girls are being praised for having "good bodies"?
A: I do because I feel like I see more “skinny” girls being complimented and everyone
saying they want heer body or her body, never a body like mine.
9.) Q: Does it make you want to log off social media?
A: I never want to log off, I just will skip past them on my news feed.
10.) Q: Do you want to look like them to receive compliments?
A:Yeah, I mean everyone likes receiving compliemnts.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion I found out that social media does have it’s negative affects. Girls young and old
all have their insecurities. They need to learn how to accept themselves for who they are. They
compare themselves to every girl good or bad and hopefully we can all learn to accept
ourselves and not want to change ourselves to please others. Know you are perfect no matter
how you look. Don’t compare yourself to others. Resaerch says, “We are more likely to make
downward cpmarisons because our self esteem is threatened.” Psychologytoday.com. There’s
nobody else like you. Everyone is differerent in their own way. If everyone was made to be the
same the world would be boring and plain.
WORKS CITED:
Austin McCann. “Negative Impact of Social Media on Teens”. AustinMcCann.com. Web. 28th
May, 2013. 4th Jan. 2018.

Breines, Juliana. “The Perlis of Comparing Ourselves to Others.” Psychologytoday.com. Web.

31 Jul 2016.

Ferry. “Frazzbuttblog” Blogspot.com. Web 21 Sept. 2014.

Lisa Pecos . “The Negative Effects of The Media on Teens”. ParentingJournals.com. Web. 19th
Sept. 2011.

Miribel Tran. “The Effect of Social Media In Young Girls”. Huffingtonpost.com. Web. 21st June
2014.

Rachel Ehmke. “How Using Social Media Affects Teenagers”. Childmind.com. 17th, Dec, 2017

“Percentage of U.S population with social media profile from 2008 to 2017.” Statista.com. 20
Dec. 2018.