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  • Essay / Privacy and Social Media - 1415

    If a person does not have a sufficient number of likes on their photos or statuses, they come to assume that they are not good enough in relation to to others who are getting more attention on social media. Additionally, simply browsing images can cause negative feelings among users of these sites. In the article “Why Facebook Makes You Feel Bad About Yourself,” Alexandra Sifferlin states, “…flicking through photos of friends’ life achievements can trigger feelings of envy, misery, and loneliness…” ( Sifferlin 2) Seeing photos of other people on vacation or at a party can make a person feel like their life is not as good as the lives of others who post those photos. They begin to compare themselves to the images they see online, without realizing that they are posed and are not necessarily representative of reality. Additionally, if a user doesn't post as many photos as others, they start to feel like their life is neither satisfying nor interesting. As a result, content and happiness are measured by how a person's profile appears online. Social media sites can connect people socially, but they can also often make users feel excluded by the people on their friends list. People who use these sites may feel dissatisfied with their lives after viewing their friends' profiles and comparing their