Self-Expression

In the past few decades, youth has become continuously exposed to social

media sites, it seems like an artificial world for youth. Considering that today’s

generation is very reliant in social media sites, self-expression among youth has been

one of the psychological impacts caused by social media platforms and sites. According

to Back, Stopfer, Vazire, Gaddis, Schmukle, Egloff and Gosling (2010) in line with this

authentic self-expression perspective, research has shown that individuals on Facebook

are more likely to express their actual rather than their idealized personalities.

Newheiser and Baretto (2014) says that the desire to present the self in a very way that

is ideal and authentic is not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, a personal is probably

going to desire both simultaneously. This happens partially because self-idealization

and authentic self-expression fulfill different psychological needs and are related

to different psychological costs. On the one hand, self-idealization has been called a

“fundamental a part of human nature” because it allows individuals to cultivate a positive

self-view and to make positive impressions of themselves in others. Additionally, self-

expression allows individuals to verify and affirm their sense of self, which

might increase self-esteem, and a way of belonging. On the opposite hand, self-

idealizing behavior may be psychologically costly, as acting out of character is related

to feelings of internal conflict, psychological discomfort, and robust emotional reactions;

individuals may additionally possess characteristics that are more or less socially

desirable, bringing their desire to present themselves in an authentic way into conflict

with their desire to present the simplest version of themselves.

decades, and the approach of self-expression are changing as well, with the rise of the

use of social media platforms. The population of people using social media is increasing

tremendously. According to Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart and Madden (2014) over

288 million active users are on Twitter, who collectively tweet an average of 500 million

tweets per day. In United States, 23% of adult are internet users and 19% of the adult

population use Twitter. In recent times, the rate of users has increased, specifically

among individuals aged 18 to 29, with 37% of this associate using the platform.

Golbeck, Edmondson and Turner (2011) stated that although the researchers have

identified personality correlates of behavior on Twitter. Quercia, Kosinski, Stillwell and

Crowcroft (2011) says research has not examined whether perceivers are able to detect

Twitter users’, they investigated whether twitter users are able to elicit positive and

accurate perceptions from those who reads their tweets.

With the continuous exposure to social media, people can accurately distill the

person behind the tweets and messages on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Tweets are form of non-verbal communication that is present in dynamic impression

formation context and people can easily judge other’s personality based on the

information they read in social media sites. Back et. al (2010), perceivers can

accurately perceive others’ personality traits after viewing their Facebook profiles and

other personal accounts. In addition, tweets may also in a few methods facilitate

accurate self-expression. According to Marwick and Boyd (2011) people self-expose at

the net without robust privateness concerns, and self-expression at the Internet may

also offer an possibility for people to proportion factors of themselves with much less
worry of rejection or disapproval than face-to-face interactions with their close social

network. Furthermore, speaking to a huge and numerous set of visitors limits a person’s

capacity to tailor their message to unique target market members, which may also boom

the expression of strong character trends rather than factors of the self that modify

throughout interplay partners. On social media platforms, customers generate content

material themselves, which lets in for self-expression each explicitly thru self-disclosure

and implicitly thru phrase usage. Overall, then, it is far probable that people may be

perceived with a few accuracies on Twitter.

Moreover, social media sites have been a gateway for young adults to

experience expressing themselves with worry and fear. Using social media platforms,

youths are feeling anxious about how people will respond and react on a certain post.

Pentina, Zhang and Basmanova (2013) discussed how trust in a social media sites may

fluctuate supported both personal experience and public perceptions of a site. As an

example, recent breaches in user privacy led some Facebook users to begin a “quit

Facebook” movement, and also the main reason that individuals provide for committing

“virtual suicide” on Facebook (or deleting one’s account) is privacy concerns and

revealed that they may successfully manipulate people’s emotions says by Stieger,

Burger, Bohn and Voracek (2013).

Social Media is a place where millions of teens share their lives every day,

creating a platform of self-expression and interesting information. Although it was

created to be enjoyable, allowing people to connect with others, it has often been

portrayed as unrealistic: showing only the desirable aspects of people’s lives. According

to Binns (2014), teenagers expressed their true selves more on social media platforms.
However, it is also said that they experienced more negative situations and reduced

confidence on media sites. Most of the participants regarded self-expression in social

media to prevent possible damage to their self-image. Furthermore, such self-

expression seemed to raise hesitation and anxiety among users. The sources of this

uneasiness were various. Some participants had personal experiences of being hurt

because of uncontrolled privacy disclosure or from losing social respect and

relationships. Other participants had learned lessons from others’ bad and negative

experiences with social media, lie for example witnessing celebrity scandals caused by

unpopular comments made on social media sites. According to Kim, Sohn and Choi

(2011), the social media users hesitated to express themselves online. They said that

they worried that frank expression of thoughts and inner emotions could damage their

social images. While such fear may be considered a cultural bias in self-presentation in

South Korean society, social media can inflict actual harm no matter particular cultural

characteristics. It is the explanation why revealing one’s true self in social media is

commonly considered carefully and will after all prove dangerous.

Social media sites become an outlet and platform for young adults to express

themselves. However, expressing themselves online can damage their self-esteem and

self-worth. In the study of Steers, Wickham, and Acitelli (2014) negative feedbacks and

reactions are associated with low self-esteem and can negatively impact one’s mental

well-being. Even further, individuals with low self-esteem may end up feeling worse

because of social comparison on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

etc.
 There are many potential and actual negative experiences in social media that

can down users’ self-expression, reminding them of possible damage to their self-image

and the way they express themselves online. Online networking sites become the

gateway for attacking and spreading malicious information and hate. According to

Gonzales and Hancock (2011) most of the youths are having a hard time on expressing

themselves on online networking sites and they even delete and restrict access to their

posts because they might be seen by their parents, receive backlash and hurtful

comments from others, or negatively impact them in the future. The CBS (2010) stated

that the devastation of online attacks can leave a deep mental mark and the victim can

be traumatized.

Online communication through social media sites has become one of the most

significant form of self-expression and it contributes to better self-reflection because of

the vast social deliberation of the expressed self. On the contrary, negative effects such

as harassment, bullying has a great impact on self-expression. According to Patchin

and Hinduja (2010), cyberbullying involves harassing, intimidating, threatening or

otherwise harming others by sending or posting threatening or humiliating texts,

pictures, or videos over the Internet without permission can cause a damaged in

expressing oneself.  Other authors suggest that victims of bullies who use the Internet

to harass and mock may be more likely to develop low self-esteem which, in turn, can

have severe consequences for young people's well-being, self-expression and

psychological adjustment.
References:

Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., &
Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization.
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