Impact of Social Media Platform on Self-concept Among Lgbtqia+ Community

At the beginning of the 21st-century social networking sites were developed and spread all over the world. Since then, social media platforms have become an important part of the lives of young people in particular. Many teenagers use social media like Youtube, Instagram, and especially Facebook to build relationships, communicate with the world, share and acquire knowledge and information, build stronger personalities, and have better social lives (Boyd, 2007). Mitchell (2002) stated that young people use social networking sites to engage in romantic and casual online relationships. People's changing behavior has shown that social media has many negative impacts on people. Social media sites help people to make social comparisons that increase the psychological distress of individuals and, as a result, lower the overall level of self-esteem (Chen & Lee, 2013). Many observers and researchers believe that people have become victims of lower self-esteem and self-growth due to increased use of social networking sites.

Through social media platforms, people can share and exchange personal information with a broader community of people by posting photos, videos, and blogs (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are widely used by adolescents, young adults, and people over 30years old (Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012). Considering all the social media platforms available online, Facebook seems to be the most utilized in the world, with over 1 billion visitors per month (Facebook Press Room, 2017), Including YouTube and Instagram as part of the most popular social media platforms (Kallas, 2019). Several Facebook research studies refer to positive impacts, such as user satisfaction with self-worth and self-integrity experiences (Toma and Hancock, 2013), an improvement in the quality of existing friend-ships (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009), and the perception of greater subjective well-being (Kim & Lee, 2011). However, other researchers have found the opposite results, providing evidence of negative consequences related to social media use specifically Facebook. For instance, excessive use of social media, sometimes recognized as Internet addiction, has been related to high levels of depressive symptoms (Marino, Hirst, Murray, Vieno, & Spada, 2017; Morrison &Gore, 2010). Moreover, some researchers found that the individual who used Facebook more frequently have reported that others are happier and live better than they do themselves (Chou & Edge, 2012). However, these negative psychological outcomes are mainly related to the way people use Facebook rather than to the social network itself. For most people, this social medium does not have positive or negative consequences, but for other individuals, Facebook use may be a maladaptive way of escaping from problems or relieving a dysphoric mood(Cash, Rae, Steel, & Winkler, 2012).

Social media is an aspect of everyday contemporary life and has become a staple in the lives of our young people, with 92% of adolescents aged 13-17 reporting online daily, 'including 24% who say they go online ' almost constantly '' (Lenhart, Madden, Smith, and Macgill, 2015, para. 2). The purpose of this study is to explore the positive and negative aspects of social media platforms; Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram as three of the most popular and frequently used social media platform (Kallas, 2019), and how they affect the self-concept of the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and more) community living in Bacoor, Cavite. In addition, this study tends to bring awareness to the actions made by individuals on their computer screen or mobile phones that can result in a lower level of self-concept so that it can be prevented.

Rogers (1959) defined self-concept as an understanding of yourself that is based on your personal experiences, body image, thoughts, and how you tend to label yourself in different situations. Carl (1959) Believes that self-concept has three (3) different components; Self-image (The view you have of yourself), self-esteem or self-worth (How much value you place on yourself), and ideal-self (What you wish you were really like). This research investigates the impact of social media platforms (Facebook, Youtube, Instagram) whether it is positive or negative and how it affects the self-concept of the LGBTQIA+ community relating it to Carl Rogers's (1959) three components of self-concept.

References

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