Who Are We: Self-worth in the Digital Era

Once upon a time, I used to have an art page on Instagram, and then I deleted it. The page had its fair share of followers and the work I posted was good too; however, I didn’t get the desired likes. The purpose of telling this small anecdote is to highlight an issue faced by many individuals: the distortion of self-worth with popularity. As an over-weight female with a below-average IQ, popularity has been a foreign domain for me. I have never been the “cool kid” and didn’t feel the need to be- until I reached puberty. The rise of social media apps such as Instagram during my pre-teen days played a huge role in this distortion.

The distortion of self-worth

Self-worth is determined by what we think about ourselves: our analysis of our strengths and weaknesses. However, when we use validation and popularity to conclude our self-worth, we distort our analysis. Our narcissistic tendency to believe that the world revolves around us is amplified by the number of followers we have on our social media. Furthermore, these features either inflate or deflate our self-esteem. Moreover, our names on other people’s tongue has become the prime factor to measure our self-worth.

Damage caused by the distortion

Anyone with a sane mind and a clear conscience is aware that this distortion is unhealthy. Individuals with more followers and engagement may believe themselves to be some sort of demigod. The outlandish behavior exhibited by influencers is an example of such a mentality. Furthermore, talented individuals with low followers and engagement may doubt their craft and stop pursuing it. Whichever end of the spectrum the individual falls in, the results are unhealthy to their mental health. Narcissistic personality disorder to extreme self-hate and doubt is a result of such distortion. Furthermore, the distorted perception of one’s self-worth gives birth to an unstable dystopic society, where no one is aware of who they really are.

The conclusion

The way for an individual to stop this distortion is to simply not care about the opinions of people around them. However, it isn’t easy to just stop caring about how people perceive you. In our society, we give immense importance to what people think about us and social media just takes this concept to an extreme level. The journey of evaluating one’s self from the perspective of your own eyes is a tough journey, but an important one. Embracing your strengths and pointing down your flaws in a healthy manner can aid in self-growth. Once a wise person said, “The weight of one’s opinion of you is as heavy as you allow it to be.”