How to Protect Yourself From Low Self-Esteem on Social Media

Over the last couple of decades, a link between social media and low self-esteem is a consistent finding in studies. For people who are constantly on social media like influencers and content creators, the concern multiplies. In the upcoming book, An Influencer’s World: A Behind-the-Scenes Look At Social Media Influencers and Content Creators (which I co-author), dozens of interviews show the kind of hits influencers get to their self-esteem, the buffers they use against them, as well as positive boosts they get from social media. Whether you are an influencer or a casual scroller, the following are ways you can fend off low self-esteem on social media.

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Don’t Compare Your Life to Others’ Highlight Reels

The well-known phenom of comparing and despairing on social media is based on social comparison theory, which assumes that people define and make judgments about themselves by drawing comparisons to those around them.

The problem is that on social media, even influencers fall into the cognitive trap of comparing their real lives to others' curated highlight reels. Because you’re seeing so much info about other people, you might unconsciously process their posted snippets as their full lives. And even people attempting to show the whole picture still tend to skew positive, like abundant birthday, anniversary, and vacation posts, which could make their lives seem falsely like a holiday compared to yours. Catch yourself, before you fall into this cognitive trap by being mindful of the snippets you’re taking in.

Don’t Try to Be No. 1

Before social media, it was easier to claim a top spot in your neighborhood, but on social media, there are seemingly infinite numbers of people who are prettier, smarter, or more athletic. Don’t play into a numbers game that you can’t win. Instead, use upward comparisons as motivation and focus on making yourself better than who you were yesterday, not the millions on social media.

Focus on Unfiltered Posts

For everyone, but particularly for those with body image issues and eating disorders, the filtered images on social media can be triggering even if you consciously know that poreless skin and flawless, chiseled bodies aren’t real. Besides being intentional and keeping the facts about filters in your conscious mind, try to follow influencers and creators who keep it real by using fewer filters, rather than filling your feed with all that’s fake.

Use Social Media to Empower Yourself

If you use social media to unapologetically own who you are, while setting appropriate boundaries with followers, there can actually be benefits to self-esteem. For instance, many influencers point out that social media has given a voice to marginalized community members who would not have otherwise had a platform. In the book, Lauren “Lolo” Spencer (@itslololove on Instagram), an actor and disability activist, says, “For me, it actually helped my self-esteem, because the more vulnerable I become in my content, the more I share things that are not that social media standard ... It’s a tool for me to say, I’ve already shared this, so you can’t weaponize that against me, because I’ve already owned this part of who I am or this experience.”

By finding the positives that give you power on social media, you can control your experience rather than having social media control you.