INFLUENCE OF INSTAGRAM ON YOUNG ADULTS’ PERCEPTION OF SELF: A STUDY OF STUDENTS OF MOUNTAIN TOP UNIVERSITY.

Abstract

Young people get exposed to different kinds of personalities that they tend to hold in high esteem on Instagram, whose posts sometimes make them feel inadequate or uncomfortable in their bodies. This feeling of inadequacy leads them to lose their self-confidence and want to be so much like the person they see on Instagram. Thus it is on this premise that this study is examining young adults’ perceptions of Instagram’s influence on themselves. Uses and gratification, social comparison, and sociocultural and selective perception theory were adopted to support this research. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of this study consists of undergraduate students from Mountain Top University. The cluster sampling method randomly chose a sample size of 140. 140 copies of the structured questionnaire were administered while 120 copies were retrieved accumulating 85.71%. The results of this study showed that young adults use Instagram regularly to have a sense of belonging. Also, the majority of the respondents’ self-esteem decreases when there is a lack of engagement in their posts on Instagram making them feel like they are living below standard. Although, the majority of the respondents do not feel bad about comments made on their posts because it is full of positive energy from their friends, they still feel self-conscious whenever they come across posts of fit-bodied men and women. consequently, this study recommends among other things, that teenage girls should ensure that they do not have the notion of competition and should not worry about the thought of others as long as they are doing what is right and do not feel bad about it.