Recruitment of Social Media Influencers to Promote Self-Compassion Practices to Combat the Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescents.

Abstract

Social media is a strong mode of influence over adolescents that commonly evokes feelings of being less than those they follow. Social media influencers that promote self-compassion practices create a buffering effect to the self-comparison and insecurity that is encouraged through social media for adolescents. Self-compassion works in opposition to the harmful effects of social media by encouraging acceptance of oneself instead of comparing oneself to idealized versions of others. Due to the high regard of influencers by adolescents, using their influence for practical application of self-compassion will combat the negative feelings often elicited by social media use. On a greater scope, implementation of self-compassion ambassadors on various social media platforms holds implications to help lower rates of youth mental illness, as self-compassion is empirically supported to be greatly beneficial for mental health.