Using Data Analytics to Understand Impact of Social Media Usage on Self-Esteem and Identity: A Research Survey

Abstract

None of us are untouched by social media these days. The impact of social media usage depends on the consumption patterns. Young minds have higher tendency for social media usage and this may impact self-esteem and identity. Impact on self-esteem and personal identity, as a result of certain actions, is measured on one or all of the variables e.g. Comparison Propensity i.e. likelihood for comparisons, tendency for negative thoughts, feeling pressurised to follow the trends and effect on self-identity. By a detailed analysis of data captured through a detailed questionnaire, we could uncover the impact of social media usage on self-esteem and identity. A strong positive correlation between number of hours spent and following of trends portrayed on social media. Tendency to adopt the trends is highest amongst age group of 12-15 years and 16-19 years. A moderate correlation between the hours spent and tendency to compare themselves to others is seen. Tendency to compare is high amongst all users with age group of 12-15 being most affected. A strong negative correlation between hours spent and negative thoughts means that social media usage may create positive vibes as well. Moreover frequency analysis suggests that negative thoughts are more prevalent amongst the age group 16-19 years. Lastly while lower correlation is observed between number of hours spent and impact on identity, frequency analysis suggests that lower age group of 12-15 years and 16-19 years report higher impact on identity. This study because of reasons of convenience sampling issues and lack of ability to check integrity of responses may have limitations. But this offers great view into what is going into the minds of young users of social media.

Keywords: Data Analytics, Social Media, Self-Esteem

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