#nofilter: Online Personas and The Negative Impacts of  Social Media on Young Adults’ Self-esteem

Jessica Godwin

doi:10.9744/katakita.7.2.220-227

#nofilter: Online Personas and The Negative Impacts of Social Media on Young Adults’ Self-esteem

Jessica Godwin^(1*),

(1) Petra Christian University, Jl. Siwalankerto No.121-131, Siwalankerto, Wonocolo, Surabaya
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

My novel #nofilter follows Mia, a photo model who is pretty famous on the social media platform Instagram, as she meets Kyle, her online boyfriend for the first time. In an effort to earn other people’s acceptance, Mia has been building a perfect online persona. However, after meeting Kyle, it is revealed that she is not who she portrays herself to be. As my work revolves on how social media affects someone’s self-esteem, hopefully it can help the readers learn to love themselves and do not depend their self-esteem on others. Specifically, I focus on how Mia maintains an idealized online persona in order to cope with her low self-esteem and earn other people’s acceptance, how the contrast between Mia’s online and real life personas causes her relationship with Kyle to crumble, and how Mia learns to love herself by accepting her weaknesses and acknowledging her positive qualities. For that reason, I use Contingencies of Self-esteem theory by Jennifer Crocker and Connie T. Wole, the Social Comparison theory, and the Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman. Set in the early years after college, I use New Adult genre and the sub-genre Contemporary Romance to explore Kyle and Mia’s romantic relationship.

Keywords: Social media, Instagram, self-esteem, online persona, New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Full Text:

PDF

References

Ackerman, C. (2018, July 3). What is self-regulation? Definition, theory + 95 skills and strategies. Positive Psychology Program. Retrieved December 16, 2018, from https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/self-regulation/

Aprilia, A. (2018, January 26). Dampak mengerikan media sosial terhadap rasa percaya diri remaja. Okezone.com. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from https://lifestyle.okezone.com/read/2018/01/26/196/1850711/dampak-mengerikan-media-sosial-terhadap-rasa-percaya-diri-remaja

Barker, E. (2016, June 7). This Is the best way to overcome fear of missing out. Time. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from http://time.com/4358140/overcome-fomo/

Bullingham, L., & Vasconcelos, A. C. (2013). 'The presentation of self in the online world: Goffman and the study of online identities. Journal of Information Science, 39(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551512470051

Calafiore, S. (2014, February 6). The novel or the film. The Artifice. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://the-artifice.com/the-novel-or-the-film/

Campbell, J. D., & Lavalle, L. (1993). Who am I? The role of self-concept confusion in understanding the behavior of people with low self-esteem. In R. Baumeister, Self-Esteem: The Puzzle of Low Self-Regard. New York: Plenum Press. doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-8956-9_1

Chou, H.-T. G., & Edge, N. (2012). They are happier and living better lives than I am: The impact of using Facebook on perceptions of others’ lives. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2011.0324

Cook, K. (2013, February 8). The new adult novel–Bridging the gap between young adult and adult fiction. The How to Write Shop. Retrieved November 14, 2018, from http://howtowriteshop.loridevoti.com/2013/02/the-new-adult-novel-bridging-the-gap-between-young-adult-and-adult-fiction/

Crocker, J., Brook, A., Niiya, Y., & Villacorta, M. (2007). The pursuit of self‐esteem: Contingencies of self‐worth and self‐regulation. Journal of Personality, 74(6), 1749-1771. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00427.x

Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R. K., Cooper, M. L., & Bouvrette, A. (2003, December). Contingencies of self-worth in college students: Theory and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.894

Dimock, M. (2018, March 1). Defining generations: Where Millennials end and post-Millennials begin. Pew Research Center. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/

Goffman, E. (1956). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Penguin Random House LLC.

Jacobson, N. (Producer), & Lawrence, F. (Director). (2015). The hunger games: Mockingjay part 2 [Motion picture]. United States: Lionsgate.

James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 10). New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Kieffer, K. (2017, July 21). What is new adult fiction? well-storied. Retrieved November 14, 2018, from http://www.well-storied.com/blog/what-is-new-adult-fiction

Lind, J. (2015, March 25). Genre guide: YA contemporary romance. The Hub. Retrieved November 7, 2018, from http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2015/03/25/genre-guide-ya-contemporary-romance/

Litte, J. (2015, December 25). New Adult: It’s not about the sex (but don’t be afraid of the sex either). Dear Author. Retrieved November 14, 2018, from https://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/new-adult-its-not-about-the-sex-but-dont-be-afraid-of-the-sex-either/

Luckinbill, T. (Producer), & Samuels, I. (Director). (2018). Sierra Burgess is a loser [Motion picture]. United States: Netflix.

Madasari, O. (2017). The last crowd. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Naughton, J. (2014, July 11). New adult: A book category for twentysomethings by twentysomethings. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/63285-new-adult-matures.html/

Nordquist, R. (2017, May 28). First-person point of view: Glossary of grammatical and rhetorical terms. ThoughtCo. Retrieved November 8, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/first-person-point-of-view-1690861

Romance. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18, 2018, from Literary Terms: https://literaryterms.net/romance/

Screencraft Admin. (2015, December 28). Five major differences between writing novels and screenplays. Screencraft. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://screencraft.org/2015/12/28/five-differences-between-novels-and-screenplays/

Sholihin, B. (2018). Indonesia 2018 digital landscape. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from Slideshare: https://www.slideshare.net/rumahide/indonesia-digital-landscape-2018

Steers, M.-L. N., Wickham, R. E., & Acitelli, L. K. (2014). Seeing everyone else’s highlight reels: How Facebook usage is linked to depressive symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33(8), 701-733.

Stefanone, M. A., Lackaff, D., & Rosen, D. (2011). Contingencies of self-worth and social networking site behavior. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1-2). doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0049

Valentine, O. (2018, January 11). Top 10 reasons for using social media. globalwebindex. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-day/social-media/

Vogel, E., Rose, J. P., & Roberts, L. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206-222. doi:10.1037/ppm0000047

Widiartanto, Y. H. (2017, May 21). Instagram dinilai buruk untuk kesehatan jiwa remaja. Kompas.com. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2017/05/21/09345137/instagram.dinilai.buruk.untuk.kesehatan.jiwa.remaja

Woods, H. C., & Scott, H. (2016). #Sleepyteens: social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Journal of Adolescence, 6, 41-49. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.05.008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.9744/katakita.7.2.220-227