Effects of Social Media

A look at how social media affected the lives of three women

Briana Walton

Taylor Searle began to feel anxiety about two years ago while looking at social media due to her boyfriend at the time partially resulting in her attempting suicide.

Caroline Adamski uses social media primarily to communicate with her friends and family back home in Canada, but will start to feel insecurity when she sees images of people who are fit.

Social media causes Elizabeth Hamblin to feel anxious as to what people will say about what she posts to the point that it effects how she presents herself in public.

Social media can be a tool in connecting people, but it can also cause anxiety in people as studies have shown.

A study that was published in “Computers and Human Behavior” has found that people who use seven or more social media platforms are more likely to have high levels of anxiety as opposed to those who have 0-2 types of social media platforms.

The Effects of Social Media

Taylor Searle transferred to Lincoln Park Performing Arts High School after having a hard time at Butler. One incident that caused her to feel anxiety due to social media while she was there was when an inappropriate photo of her was printed out and put on her locker where many of her peers saw it when she was 15. Afterwards, it circulated around Twitter.

Taylor Searle poses for a photo. Photo courtesy of Taylor Searle. Photo by Bella Eagle (Searle's sister)

“Lies were being spread about things that I never had any part in with different guys on the football team,” Searle said. “It was like a movie.” Searle blamed herself for the incident for a while and would always wonder if different guys were going to blackmail her.

She had a boyfriend for three years and during this time she felt insecure about herself based on the pictures of women he would follow on Instagram. One of Searle’s biggest regrets about that relationship was that they exchanged passwords to their social media. In doing so, she would get notifications from her boyfriend’s Instagram which made her feel uneasy since a lot of the people who followed him were other women.

There was a lack of trust in their relationship. They had each other's passwords to Instagram causing Searle to receive her own notifications as well as her boyfriend’s. She would be questioning his loyalty when she would see the amount of women who would “like” and comment on his photos.

“At the end of this relationship...I found out that he was cheating and my whole insecurity about this whole Instagram thing became reality because these girls actually were talking to my boyfriend,” Searle said. For her, her fear became her reality.

On Thanksgiving on 2016, Searle attempted suicide by overdosing. For three weeks she was in Western Psych and did not have access to her phone or any mirrors. Without her phone she did not feel the need to look at social media. Even though she was still with her boyfriend at the time she did not have him around. Without mirrors around, Searle was just focused on how she felt and she felt amazing.

“I felt this freedom even though I was in the most locked-down, horrible place,” Searle said. She has not self-harmed since when she overdosed. Recently she and her boyfriend broke up and she now feels more confident in herself.

Insecurity After Recovery

Social media is both a blessing and a curse for Adamski. It is a blessing because she is able to talk to her friend’s and family back home in Canada while she is in school at Point Park in Pittsburgh.

The destructive side of social media come when she starts to feel insecurity about her body image. As she scrolls through Instagram she sees many images of healthy and fit people from the different fitness accounts she follows. Adamski on the other hand feels that she is not as fit as she could be due to her two knee surgeries.

Caroline Adamski poses for a selfie. Photo courtesy of Caroline Adamski.

While Adamski was at basketball practice one day, she tore her ACL. She did not stretch before and it ended up costing her.  She went to make a turn, but as she was turning, her knee stayed in place. During the first surgery the doctors put the screw in incorrectly. Due to this, Adamski had many issues with her knee and needed a second surgery.

While she was in recovery, Adamski was not able to do the work outs that she would usually do because her knee was not as strong as it used to be. She started to notice her body change slightly and it caused her to be insecure about how she looked.  

“I felt a lot of anxiety while looking through Instagram because I can’t do what they are doing anymore when it comes to doing different workouts,” Adamski said. “I’m so insecure about what everyone is going to say about me."

Communication Disconnect

Two years ago, Hamblin’s mother passed away. The loss was difficult for Hamblin to accept so she began to smoke cigarettes as a way to cope with the loss. Her brothers were not happy about Hamblin’s life choices and as a result the siblings began to talk with each other less.

Hamblin uses Facebook as a way to keep updated with with what is going on not only in her brothers’ lives, but also in the lives of her grandparents. With this, however, Hamblin feels anxious about potentially being criticised by her grandparents because they are getting older.

She also fears this criticism from others as well. Hamblin was a part of a Facebook group and when she made a comment on a post, a friend of hers commented back saying that she did not belong in the group and used vulgar language towards her. She was surprised that someone she knew would say that to her online.

Now when anyone comments on anything that she posts she is nervous that someone will bully her again. Along with feeling anxious, Hamblin also feels insecure about her body image.

“When I was 16 I had started using Facebook more,” Hamblin said. “I was overweight and insecure from looking at other people.”

Elizabeth Hamblin poses for a selfie. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Hamblin

Even now that Hamblin is older, this insecurity can be seen in her everyday life as she tries to present herself how she would want to be seen on social media by wearing makeup or dressing a certain way. Even though she feels this way sometimes she tries to stop comparing herself to other people.

Dr. Robert McInerney, a professor of psychology at Point Park University for 11 years says that a way to help with these emotions that many have about social media is to use focal practices.

One focal practice that Dr. McInerney recommends is shutting off cell phones when at dinner with someone. It allows for people to be with each other and not get distracted. Other focal practices include anything that is the opposite of what social media does which is usually something more meditative.  

“I think a focal practice is that awareness itself,” Dr. McInerney explained. “You’re waking up to an understanding that the anxiety that I am feeling is related to this and that how I engage in social media and the extent that I use social media I can begin to feel better and it also wakes us up to the idea that you can’t be all of these multiple identities.”

Briana Walton is a photojournalist who graduated from Point Park University in April 2018. She focuses primarily in photography and creating documentaries.