0
0
Author: John Saah Morlu, a student of BSc Biology, MSc Applied Psychology at School of Behavioral Sciences Apeejay Stya University.
Abstract:
While examining the adverse impact of social comparison and cyberbullying on self-esteem, which exists predominantly within adolescent. We will evaluate social comparison, cyberbullying, and self-esteem among adolescents, how social comparison affects a person’s personality, character and behavior. Social comparison theory suggests that individuals determine their self- worth by comparing themselves to others, which can lead to both positive and negative self- assessments. In the digital age, social media facilitates these comparisons and may intensify experiences of cyberbullying, impacting users’ self-esteem.
In this context, we will consider the socio-legal aspect of cyberbullying, unlike traditional (in person) bullying, this digital bullying has some unique characteristics inclusive of anonymity, persistence and a much wider audience which collectively intensify the psychological impact on victims thereby creating significant challenges for legal and social responses.
Another key aspect to consider is Social-comparison. Comparing ourselves with others may influence our self-perception, our self-motivation and sometimes even how we respond to our emotions. The moment we decide that our lives would be based on how others take us, how they tolerate us and how we can fit in a certain group, we no longer life at our own existence but for others. Self-comparison cannot be generally classified as a good practice or a bad practice, the classification of which depends on the impact it might have on an individual.
Social comparison is a normal behavior strategy where we seek to better understand our status relating to ability, opinion, and emotional reaction, by comparing ourselves to other people. This may have huge impact on how we conduct ourselves, live our lives and respond to the world around us. This behavior is not a new thing and all persons have one way or the other, fallen prey to this issue of social comparison. It either influences a person positively, by creating that notion where one could inspire to be like another by means of modeling or mentorship, or it may also adversely impact a person by creating low self-esteem as a result of comparing oneself with others. Thus, social comparison is a neutral concept and depends on the impact on the individuals themselves.
Introduction:
The digital revolution has profoundly reshaped social interaction, providing record connectivity alongside new risks to psychological well-being. Aspect of psychological well-being, especially during adolescence, a period marked by identity formation and social belonging. The advent of social interactions, allowing for immediate access to peer comparisons and, unfortunately, enabling forms of harassment such as cyberbullying. Social comparison refers to the tendency of individuals to evaluate themselves by comparing their abilities, achievements, and appearance to those of others.
According to Festinger’s social comparison Theory, individuals are motivated to compare themselves to others to access their self-worth, leading to findings of satisfaction or dependency based on the results of these comparisons.
Individuals are motivated to fulfill unmet needs in this order, moving from lower to higher levels only after the preceding needs are sufficiently satisfied. The ultimate goal is self-actualization, which is the desire to fulfill one’s full potential. Cyberbullying, defined as the use of electronic communication to bully or harass individuals, has emerged as a significant mental health concern among adolescents. The isolation and reach of online platforms can intensify the harmful effect on victims. The study aims to understand how social comparison and cyberbullying intersect and influence self-esteem among adolescents, providing insights that could inform effective intervention.
Social comparison theory, proposed by psychologist Leon Festinger’s suggests that people have an innate drive to evaluate their abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others. This process is crucial when no objective measures exist, as it provides a sense of self-evaluation and helps reduce uncertainty. Comparisons can be upward against perceived superiors or downward against perceived inferiors, influencing self-esteem and motivation.
Self-esteem in adolescents is their personal evaluation of their own worth, which is vital for mental health and success in life, but tends to fluctuate during this period of rapid physical, social, and emotional change. High self-esteem fosters resilience, positive relationships, and good mental health, while low self-esteem can lead to psychological problems like depression.
Adolescents who are targeted via cyberbullying report increased depressive affect, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal behavior, and somatic symptoms. Perpetrators of cyberbullying are more likely to report increased substance use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors. Mediating/moderating processes have been found to influence the relationship between cyberbullying and adolescent health. More repeated work is needed to increase our understanding of the effects of cyberbullying on adolescent health over time. Prevention and intervention efforts related to reducing cyberbullying and its associated harms are discussed.
Social media comprises websites and applications that allow users to create and share content, ideas, and personal messages within online communities, fostering connections, information exchange, and collaboration. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube are used globally for personal communication, news consumption, entertainment, and business marketing, with over 5 billion people using social media worldwide. Social Comparison, the effect of Cyberbullying on Self-Esteem, Adolescent Psychology, what does the term refer to and why must we understand it in this contemporary society, Social Media and its effect on Mental Health, Digital Well-Being in this era of digital age.
Research Methodology:
This research paper is descriptive and explanatory in nature as it seeks to explain the concept of cyberbullying and its effect on self-esteem and describes the various factors that are responsible for low self-esteem in a digital age. This paper includes secondary sources like journals, articles, blogs and websites for information provided to explain the subject matter. All information provided herewith is genuine and has been given due credit to the several articles and papers researched.
Literature Review:
The adverse impact of social comparison on an individual’s self-esteem is deep and multifaceted. Self-esteem, which relate to an individual’s overall sense of self-worth and confidence in their abilities, can be influenced in different ways through social comparison. Upward social comparison and downward social comparison, two distinct types of comparison, can have opposing effects on an individual’s self-esteem.
Upward comparisons can motivate self-improvement but often lead to lower self- esteem, while downward comparisons can provide a temporary ego boost. Upward social comparison: comparing oneself to others who are perceived as better can highlight one’s own perceived deficiencies. In life don’t ever compared yourself with other do the needful thing that matters your life.
Social media the curated, idealized versions of lives presented on social media platforms often lead to more upward comparisons, fostering beliefs that others are happier and living better lives.
Downward social comparison: comparing oneself to others perceived as worse off can lead to feeling superiority and enhance one’s self-esteem. Motivation for growth, when an individual has high self-esteem, upward comparisons can provide motivation and a sense of hope for personal growth and self-improvement.
Furthermore, bullying in this digital age is classified into two distinct categories including traditional (face-to-face) bullying and modern (cyber/digital) bullying. Traditional bullying which normally happens in person, and can be easily tackled and avoided as it has only limited audience and no anonymity. On the other hand, Modern or cyberbullying characterized by persistency and anonymity may not be avoided easily thus, leading to a more complex way of tackling its sources.
Cyberbullying may be motivated by complex psychological factors including jealousy, attention seeking, recognition, revenge or even thirst for power.
For cyberbullying, it remains anonymous, which emboldens them to behave more cruelly than they might in person and makes them harder for authorities to trace. Digital content can remain public and accessible indefinitely, meaning the victimization is constant and inescapable for the victim. Additionally, hurtful content can be spread rapidly to a larger audience and can remain accessible online long after the initial incident. This increases the potential for humiliation and distress, leaving a permanent digital footprint that can haunt victims for years.
Role of the Society in minimizing the impact of cyberbullying;
Society plays a crucial role in minimizing the impact of cyberbullying by focusing on education, providing support, encouraging positive behavior, and collaborating with key institution. Given that cyberbullying can happen at any time and often extends beyond school or work, a collective, community-wide effort is essential for prevention and intervention. A robust societal effort begins with empowering its members to combat cyberbullying directly through widespread educational campaigns which informs children, parents and adults about what constitutes cyberbullying and its severe psychological and emotional effects.
Role of Law in minimizing the impact of cyberbullying;
By punishing offenders and deterring future abuse and providing victims with legal resources to remove harmful content and seek justice, Law act as a critical mechanism as it classifies various forms of cyberbullying as criminal offences which results to consequences such as imprisonment and fines.
The Role of Peers in combating cyberbullying;
Peers can contribute immensely in the combat of cyberbullying by providing direct emotional and practical support to victims, acting as active supporters by intervening in harmful situations and educating others through peer education which fosters a positive online environment.
Managing social comparison
Mindfulness: By recognizing that social media presents dynamic version of reality that can help manage the impact of downward comparison. Additionally, focus on personal achievements is another factor to be considered, by shifting focus to one’s own strengths, achievements, and progress can mitigate negative effects and enhance self-worth.
Cyberbullying
The perception of cyberbullying in relation to self-worth is that, individuals often experience decreased self-respect that impact their emotional feelings negatively to an individual thought caused by online interactions with social media. A person with low confidence sometimes engages in cyberbullying to gain validation to express strength, or adjust with feelings of social isolation. Cyberbullying is associated with technology to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person personality that will leads to stress and depression. Like sharing embarrassing pictures or videos on social media without the person consent, this may impact harmful feelings in an individual’s life.
The consequence of cyberbullying also includes, mental health issues, increased stress and anxiety, depression, acting out violently, and low confidence. Cyberbullying can also result in long-term emotional effects, even if the bullying has stopped. These effects of cyberbullying can result in enduring feelings of embarrassment. Online bullying feels more permanent, especially when it is performed through social media posts that does not immediately disappear. It can lead to overwhelming feelings of exposure and distress.
Cyberbullying can have insightful and harmful effects on an individual’s self-esteem. Anxiety and depression, the stress and trauma associated with cyberbullying can contribute to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. These conditions can further undermine self-confidence, creating a various cycle where negative perception leads to withdrawal and mental health struggle. Navigating the impact of cyberbullying on academic and professional life, cyberbullying can distract victims from school or work, resulting in poor performance, which lowers self-worth. If students or employees feel are underperforming due to bullying, it can support negative self- beliefs. Cyberbullying can cause adolescents to suffer from sadness, shame, and embarrassment. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of addressing self- regard issues in interventions aimed at reducing cyberbullying, highlighting the shared relationship between self-esteem and online victimization
Self-esteem
Self-esteem refers to how individuals rate themselves and the degree to which they accept themselves. According to, Patchin and Hinduja victims of cyberbullying also experience a decline in their levels of self-esteem.
Self-esteem refers to the positive high self-esteem or negative low self-esteem feelings that we have about ourselves. We experience the positive feelings of high self-esteem when we believe that we are good and worthy and that others view us positively. We experience the negative feelings of low self-esteem when we believe that we are inadequate and less worthy than others.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
The findings underscore a significant and negative relationship between social comparison, cyberbullying, and adolescent self-esteem. Addressing these issues requires a multi-faceted approach involving educational institutions, parents, and mental health professionals to mitigate the harmful effects of online interactions on young people’s well-being. The interplay between social comparison and cyberbullying profoundly impacts adolescent self-esteem. The digital landscape, while offering social comparison, exacerbates vulnerabilities by presenting unrealistic ideals that trigger damaging comparisons. This creates fertile ground for cyberbullying, a form of aggression that inflicts deep psychological harm and further reduced self-worth. A healthy research methodology is crucial for understanding these dynamic relationships and establishing causality.
The combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, particularly in a repeated format, would provide comprehensive data to inform prevention strategies. Effective recommendations including fostering digital literacy, promoting mindful social media use, and strengthening communication between adolescents and trusted adults. Addressing this complex issue requires a collaborative effort from adolescents, parents, educators, and technology companies to build a safer and more supportive online environment.
References:
Social comparison: An unavoidable upward or downward spiral |Alicia Nortje; PhD| Published April 29, 2020| Last Visited |October 2, 2025.
Leon Festinger | Festinger’s | Social comparison | Last Visited | October 1, 2025.
Patchin JW. Hinduja | Hinduja | cyberbullying | Last Visited | October 1, 2025.
https://ijip.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/18.01.139.20241203.pdf
The feeling of self-esteem| Self-Esteem| Chapter 3|By Jhangiani and Tarry| Last visited October 6, 2025
https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/the-feeling-self-self-esteem/
