Digital cruelty's impact on self-esteem and body image

Abstract

Adolescents are immersed in digital technologies, raising concerns among parents, teachers, scholars, and policymakers on how use may be affecting adolescent development. The affordances of digital technologies bear special relevance to declines in self-esteem and body image perceptions that occur during adolescence. One element of digital technologies that may be especially relevant for self-esteem and body image is the occurrence of digital cruelty, in which digital technologies can be used to transmit and reflect negative or hurtful commentary and feedback. This review considers how digital cruelty may unfold in digital spaces and how it may relate to self-esteem and body image concerns, with special attention given to how digital cruelty may occur in the appearance domain. Past research has demonstrated that appearance-oriented digital cruelty may be rare, heterogeneous in how it occurs, and not always linked to poorer self-esteem and greater body image concerns. However, much work is to be done that considers the nuances of how digital cruelty can occur and the individual differences and contexts in which negative effects may manifest. We discuss areas of future research and conclude with recommendations on how to combat digital cruelty as it occurs among adolescents.