People spend increasing amounts of time using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, and more. They create digital profiles that reflect their personality, beliefs, interests, and values through carefully crafted images, videos, posts, reviews, articles, links, likes, comments, and messages. Digital profiles and narratives influence how people see themselves, perceive others, and make moral judgments. This article explores how repeated engagement with curated profiles and narratives affects self-concept, agency, and moral reasoning.
Research shows that people often experience a 'social comparison effect' when viewing curated profiles and narratives online. They compare themselves to the most attractive or successful people they encounter and feel worse about themselves in the process. They may think they are less talented, capable, intelligent, creative, accomplished, loved, attractive, happy, etc., than these people. As a result, their self-esteem suffers, which negatively impacts their mood, motivation, and wellbeing.
This can lead to depression, anxiety, low self-worth, and a lack of confidence. People may also become envious of celebrities, influencers, and others who seem to have perfect lives and relationships. They feel like outsiders who cannot achieve what they see, which leads to feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Curated profiles and narratives also limit people's sense of agency by restricting their ability to act autonomously. When people see only one type of behavior, opinion, product, service, activity, idea, or lifestyle presented as desirable, valid, and true, they may internalize it and believe it is the only way to live. They might feel pressure to conform and lose touch with their own values and preferences. This can lead to stagnation, boredom, and passivity, making it harder for them to grow, learn, and change. Repeated exposure to similar content can numb them to new ideas, experiences, and perspectives that challenge their existing beliefs. They may become too dependent on curated media and lose their critical thinking skills, creativity, and independent judgment.
Digital profiles and narratives affect moral reasoning by shaping how people perceive right and wrong, good and bad, fair and unfair. People often encounter injustices, prejudice, hate speech, discrimination, violence, and other negative behaviors online.
If all they see are 'likes,' praise, and positive feedback, they may normalize these things as acceptable. Without context or discussion, they may assume everyone thinks this way and fail to develop empathy, compassion, understanding, or awareness. They may even adopt harmful attitudes themselves without realizing it. Repeated engagement can reinforce biases and stereotypes, creating echo chambers where dissenting views go unheard and problematic behaviors go unchecked.
This can erode social cohesion, trust, accountability, and civic responsibility.
Repeated engagement with curated digital profiles and narratives influences self-concept, agency, and moral reasoning negatively. It's essential to be mindful of the impact of social media use on mental health, personal growth, and social progress, and take breaks from it regularly. By doing so, we can protect our wellbeing, autonomy, and ethics while fostering a more just, diverse, and inclusive world.
How does repeated engagement with curated digital profiles and narratives influence self-concept, agency, and moral reasoning?
Digital profiles and narratives on social media often show only a filtered version of reality, which can lead individuals to develop an unrealistic view of themselves and others. This can impact their sense of self-worth and identity, leading them to feel more inadequate compared to the lives they see online. Additionally, social media platforms have been linked to decreased motivation, as users may become overwhelmed by the pressure to post perfect content and compare themselves to others.