Jennings 1

Alexys Jennings
April 5, 2016
English 1001

Preface:
Grammatically speaking I know its all over the place because I just wanted to get
something down to work with. But as far as my real concerns I wonder if its all links together.
Im also unsure if my inquiry question of Why do teenage girls seek validation and/or
acceptance from social media, specifically Instagram and Facebook? is really answered or not. I
think that as I write more I might have an answer to the question but right now its still me asking
it. So my other question is just I keep that as my question or broaden it up some and not specify
on teenage girls and just make it social media users in general. Because in some areas of the
paper I only speak on social media in general I dont specify on which network Im talking
about. And paragraph 5 is not done its kind of a thought in the making. Side note: I realized
looking back over it that I only included 3 of my sources so I will be sure to go back and put
them in. I think if I had another two weeks or so Id be able to fix more of the errors in the paper,
and find a way to intergrade more of the research I found, and maybe be more specific in some
on some of the things that I discussed. With writing this paper I learned how to do research better
than I did, because I didnt know we had the library resources online. I also learned the more
efficient way to use your sources without using the entire quote.

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Seeking Validation

1.Social media is used for many different things, and over time it has gone from a simple
way to keep up with your friends to being the main way some communicate with theirs. With
time it has also gone from being a source of happiness to being used for cyber bullying too. In
some cases it reaches the point to where people put their happiness in the hands of those on
Facebook and Instagram. With these changes positive things have come along as well; events
such as people using their social media account to spread awareness. But the question of why
people put their happiness in the hands of those on these social networks still stands. Why do
people feel more important with the acceptance of someone on these sites?

2.A major example of how users seek validation from these sites is with Facebook.
Because it is used by so many people. So why is it the overtime Facebook has gone from being
used solely by college students to being used by millions worldwide? Of those millions a vast
majority relies on it as their source of happiness in many different ways. In the article The
Upside of Selfies: Social Media isn't all Bad for Kids on CNN the author Maria Konnikova
sheds light on some of the more positive effects of social media for people. In the article she
discusses how using social media actually makes one in five teens feel more confident, which is
rare if anything with todays generation. As oppose to the rest who if anything felt more attacked
on these sites.

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3.While there arent as many obvious positive effects of social media the negatives are
everywhere. Everything from kids being bullied to how teenagers put their value in the amount
of likes they receive. For teenage girls specifically, they tend to define their beauty based off of
what they see on social media accounts that are payed to make their lives seem more glamorous.
Comparing your life to those who paid to fake it can cause you to feel more depressed. I have
personally heard many times two people conversing and saying how they felt they should have
more followers than someone else, because they felt they are more important and more
relevant than the other. Which is what causes so much bullying. Teenagers often bully over
social media because they are hiding behind the screen, and in doing that they dont hold back or
think about what they are saying to one another, since they dont see the person theyre hurting in
person.

4.Another prime example of the teenage girls seeking acceptance is on Instagram. As a

user of the Instagram I have seen firsthand how girls put their value in their accounts. Multiple
times Ive overheard my associates say how they have more followers than someone else, so they
should get more likes than they do. Along with this girls tend to try and make their accounts
similar to those who are paid to make their lives look more glamorous. When in reality many of
these people whose lives look so fabulous on the network, and are paid to look this way, arent
usually quite as great as they we think they are. In the article Essena O'Neill quits Instagram
claiming social media 'is not real life' former Instagram famous star Essena O'Neill said It got
5 likes. This was when I was so hungry for social media validation (Hunt paragraph 7)
referring to when she first made her account and automatically want this validation from

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others. Later in the article she talks about how she would sit there for hours almost every day
trying to get a picture worthy of posting.

5.Although when people think of social media and its effects on its users people tend to
think of the negatives there are some positives as well. In the book Networked: The New Social
Operating System the authors Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman shed light on the more positive
affects it has on its users by doing surveys on its users. One survey showed that teenage girls
tend to feel prettier and be happier with their lives. Along with these surveys they did they
discussed why it is we put our happiness in the hands of those on these social media sites,
Instagram and Facebook. Many people do so because they receive more compliments on these
sites than they do in person, myself included. While others do so because they fell their lives are
more interesting on these websites than what they are in reality.

6.With all this being said the question of why teenage girls seek validation and/or
acceptance from social networks still stand. Is it because they want to feel pretty? Is it because in
a way these complete strangers telling them they theyre gorgeous makes them feel this was,
even if they may never actually meet them. Maybe because they just want to seem like theyre
important and their lives are glamorous just for the sake of likes. Or maybe a combination of it
all. Not only do they want to seem more fabulous than they are but it might just make them feel
that way. I personally think that its different for everyone. Ive heard some say that they dont

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feel that social media is that deep, and others say that its their lives, and they have no idea what
theyd do without it.

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Work Citied

Hunt, Elle. "Essena O'Neill Quits Instagram Claiming Social Media 'is Not Real Life'"
The

Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 03 Nov. 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.

Konnikova, Maria. How Facebook Makes us Unhappy. The New Yorker. Cond Nast,
10

September 2013. Web. 26 March 2016.

Mantel, Barbra. Teen Suicide. CQ Researcher. Sage Publications, 12 September 2014.

Web.

23 March 2016.

Mustian, Jim and Wallace, Ben. Social media proves powerful resource for La. Law
enforcement. The Advocate. Capital City Press LLC, 28 June 2014. Web. 26 March
2016.

Rainie, Lee, and Barry Wellman. Networked: The New Social Operating System.
Cambridge,

MA: MIT, 2012. Print.

Wallace, Kelly. The upside of selfies: Social media isn't all bad for kids. CNN. Turner
Broadcasting, Inc, 7 October 2014. Web. 26 March 2016.