Why Seeking Validation Online is Unhealthy

by Paige Alvarado

Using Social Media | Photo from The Gray Collective

Have you ever measured your self-worth by the number of likes you get on your posts?

It’s apparent that the youth today have social media play a big part in their active lifestyle as they use it almost every day, with multiple social platforms being used: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and the like.

Let us take Essena O’Niell, a young social media maven, as an example. Essena has stated that by wanting to be popular, social media had caused her to ‘constantly compare herself to others’ and ‘measure her own self-worth by the number of likes’ she would get on her posts thus, quitting social media as she is planning to reflect who she really is to the public rather than the girl they only see on social media.

With ‘low self-esteem’ as a present issue in the youth, the need and pressure to be socially accepted is becoming more and more common every passing day, and although social media does have its positive aspects as it allows us to be more connected, updated, and it is one of our sources of entertainment but it might be one of the factors why we- as individuals, become disconnected with ourselves.

As humans we are insecure beings, and our feelings of insecurity tend to be repressed by social acceptance.

There are those who may strive for social acceptance and often they are the ones who use the validation they get online as a coping mechanism for dips in their self-esteem, which is exactly why we shouldn’t let our self-esteem and self-image be dependent on other people, much less the validation we get from people online.

There will always be that nagging feeling for some who try so hard to belong, by constantly comparing oneself to others, and measure their self-worth on social media, by being too engulfed in the opinions of other people as well as their impression about us, we often lose ourselves just to please others, and or to be accepted by them; will only lead to less self-confidence and erosion of self-worth. That is why seeking validation from others online is unhealthy.