Phone Usage, Self-Esteem, and Women

I, like a lot of people, use my phone more than I would prefer to admit. Typically, my screen time ranges anywhere between 7 and 8.5 hours in a day. It never feels like that much while I’m doing it, of course, since phone applications have a way of sucking users in, but looking back at it now, I’m flabbergasted. 8 hours is time I could have used to do just about anything else. In the time I spent on my phone every day, I could have done my homework, practiced one of my hobbies, or caught up on sleep. But instead, I sat there, scrolling or playing little games on my phone.

What’s even more shocking to me is the amount of time I spend regularly on social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok. When I looked at my screen time, I realized I was typically spending upwards of two hours a day using social media. I know I’m far from alone in this, but it’s still surprising and somewhat embarrassing that I’m consistently spending at least an hour every single day on these platforms. I don’t even like them that much, but there’s something that keeps drawing me in.

I know I’m far from alone in that regard. Social media developers exploit the way our brains work. Researcher Anna Lembke writes, “These apps can cause the release of large amounts of dopamine into our brains’ reward pathway all at once, just like heroin, or meth, or alcohol.” Social media platforms are purposely engineered this way; after all, the longer you’re on their app, the more money the developers make.

The endless scrolling that social media provides to its users has detrimental effects that have been well-documented. Just one of these negative effects is the impact on the body image of social media users, especially young women and girls. According to a 2019 study, “engaging with attractive peers’ social media causes worsened body image in young adult women.” When scrolling social media, it is common to see pictures of influencers, acquaintances, and friends that show off the very best of their lives and appearances. These things all contribute to low self-esteem, especially to women. Women are shown messages from a very young age about how their bodies should look, through various forms of media. According to researchers, the effects of using social media are similar to those of traditional media such as magazines. However, because social media can be carried around everywhere and opened at any given moment, and because it is engineered to suck users in, these effects on body image and self-esteem are more prominent than ever.

Social media developers know that, and they don’t care. As long as people keep scrolling and giving money to their companies, they’re doing their job exactly as they’re supposed to. Many researchers have compared social media to a slot machine, and for good reason; the dopamine rush that scrolling these platforms gives activates the brain’s reward center, and tailored algorithms encourage users to keep scrolling just in case they come across something that they really love.

And yet, I can’t help but wonder, does coming upon one exceptional post or video justify the hours of our lives that we waste on social media?