Social media has taken over the world, as a way to communicate with friends, family and even celebrities. The ever-growing availability of the internet allows people to post, stream and share their personal lives. However, with the growing social networks comes the need to "fit in". With social networks such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook lend hand to social comparison opportunities. Despite its many positives, it has a downside. The general population views social media as a way to connect but, there are some that are negatively affected by social networking sites unrealistic representation of unrealistic body types
The "Selfie" In the article "Selfie and self: The effect of selfies on self-esteem and social sensitivity" the author
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Burrow and Nicolette Rainone article "How many likes did I get?: Purpose moderates links between social media feedback and self-esteem" uses the sociometer to explore different aspects of social medias effect on self-esteem. The social networking site Facebook is one of the leaders in the social media world. There is nearly 4.5 billion like generated daily and half of all users like at least one post they view every day (Burrow, Rainone, 2017). What impression do these likes have on the ones receiving them? Receiving verification such as likes has a positive influence and receiving them online shows people have an increased self-esteem and subjective well-being and it corresponds negatively with loneliness (Burrow, Rainone, 2017). The other side is that people shouldn't rely on verification from others to feel good about oneself. This may signal unforeseen negative self-worth which can lead to lower well-being over time. The sociometer theory (Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Leary & Downs, 1995), "which suggest that self-esteem is calibrated to cues of inclusion or rejection within the social environment". Self-esteem is higher when individuals are deemed acceptable and included by others. By receiving positive feedback, it can also have a positive effect on one's social environment as well. However, individuals with personal goals, a sense of purpose in life, and motivation, have lower need for social inclusion. Previous studies have found that purposeful individuals have a higher self-esteem (Scheier et al., 2006). In the first study they examined to see if self-esteem is determined by condition. The study showed that people with the "high like" condition showed higher self-esteem than those who got a lower number of likes. Next, they test the main assumption they made which was that "self-esteem caused by receiving a high number of likes would be attenuated among participants who had a sense of purpose in life" (Burrow, Rainone, 2017). They ran