In the informative article, “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem” (2013), written by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffrey T. Hancock, the authors claim that Facebook lowers the self-esteem of the users of the site (Gonzales, Hancock 202). Gonzales and Hancock exploit this information in the results found in their experimental research. The authors explain the effects the social media site has on self esteem in order to make everyone aware of the extremity of the situation and how media may alter social processes. The intended audience of this article is people who may not be aware of the drastic effects to self-esteem Facebook has on themselves and the world around them.
After reading this article, I am in agreement with part of it, but I also slightly disagree. I believe that Facebook, along with other social media sites, tend to lower the self-esteem of the majority of its users due to the rude comments, negative feedback, and snide remarks made by others on the site. But, in contrast, the other people on the site, people who are your family and true friends could boost your self-esteem easily by a polite comment or compliment such as on a photograph or self update status.
Gonzales and Hancock’s argument is weakened because the long-term effects of using Facebook cannot be determined from a single study taking place in such a short amount of time with 63 students. They do not draw a strong conclusion with such an overgeneralization of the effects on self-esteem of Facebook in their one experiment.
Gonzales, Amy L., and Jeffrey T. Hancock. "“Mirror, Mirror on My Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem"" Connections. Ed. Mary R. Lamb. N.p.: n.p., 2013. N. pag. Print.
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