Teens’ Perception about Social Networking Sites: Does Facebook Influence Teens’ Self-Esteem?

Abstract

Teenagers use social networks on a daily basis; they provide communication and information services and offer the chance to establish new relationships or maintain existing ones. Self-esteem, the esteem we have for our abilities and for what we can achieve, is affected by the comparison with others and by whether we are accepted by them or not. Since social networks enable their users to accept people or not, and they are also spaces highlighting social comparisons, it is important to investigate whether they have impact on teenagers' self-esteem. This paper examines the perceptions of teenagers about social networks and investigates whether Facebook, as a representative of social networks, has impact on teenagers' self-esteem. The survey was conducted among students in Athens, aged 16 (N = 71) and the Self Perception Profile for Adolescents (Harter, 1988) questionnaire was used, in its Greek version PATEM IV, adding questions regarding the opinions of teenagers for the use of social networks and their acceptance and popularity, which were correlated with the PATEM IV sub-scales. The study showed that self-esteem is not connected with the frequency with which students use Facebook or the level of acceptance or popularity of the users. It appears that teenagers primarily seek recognition and establishing relationships with their peers through social networks. The closer the relationships, the more they use social networks to communicate and less for self-promotion. The number of "likes" is positively correlated with relationships with the opposite sex. Teenagers with more "likes" on their profile pictures have developed better relationships with the opposite sex. Percentage of 51.6% expresses the need of higher acceptance and social recognition by others and uses "tags" in order to increase the "likes" received. 87.1% uses social networks on a daily basis and 57.1% two hours and more daily, but the majority finds enough time to go out. It is alarming that 53% of the teenagers sacrifice their sleeping and studying time to find time to

Facebook Social Media: How does it Affect First-Year Students' Description Writing Skills?

“…This also strengthens the findings (Bani-Hani et al, 2014), who found that Facebook could improve students' writing performance levels. Meanwhile, the findings of this study contrast with research findings (Botou & Marsellos, 2018), who claimed that the use of social media such as Facebook resulted in a decline in language where students unconsciously used to use abbreviations when writing. As well as, (Selwyn, 2009) found that online communication through social media platforms negatively affected students' writing due to the fact that students were accustomed to informal writing structures.…”

“…For this reason, this study tries to fill this gap by investigating the effect of using Facebook on social media on students' writing skills. Facebook allows college students to share messages, chat, and exchange photos and videos (Bagarukayo, 2018;Botou & Marsellos, 2018;Lego Muñoz & Towner, 2010;McCarthy, 2010). Therefore, the use of Facebook as a learning medium to practice writing descriptions through groups will allow students to exchange ideas, write freely, and edit the writings of their classmates.…”

Media habits and attitudes of students about the possibilities of applying mobile learning in foreign language teaching

“…According to the data, it can be concluded that girls use social networks more often on average (Table 4), which is an indicator of the importance of the quality of the virtual social sphere in their everyday life and peer relationships. A survey by Botou and Marsellos (2018) found that self-esteem is related to the frequency with which students use Facebook or the level of acceptance and popularity of users. For example, teens with multiple "likes" on profile pictures developed better relationships with the opposite sex.…”

“…Slightly more than half of the participants, 51.6%, expressed the need for greater acceptance and social recognition of peers, and used various "tags" to get more "likes." Interestingly, the majority (87.1%) used different social networks daily for this purpose (Botou & Marsellos, 2018), which is an indicator of the importance of the quality of the virtual social sphere in their everyday life and peer relationships.…”

Social media use and mental health in young adults of Greece: A cross-sectional study

“…In addition, excessive use of social networking sites has been significantly associated with personality factors, such as neuroticism, along with increased depressive sympto matology in young Greeks (Giota & Kleftaras, 2013). Although little research has been conducted, recent findings have suggested that the frequency of social media use, such as Facebook, is not associated with self-esteem in adolescents (Botou & Marsellos, 2018). However, cyberbullying has been related to low self-esteem in university students of Greece (Giovazolias & Malikiosi-Loizos, 2016).…”