How many likes, tags, comments, messages, followers?
Human beings are creatures of comparison. Adolescence, a period loaded with social drama and identity upheavals, represents for many a moment of great vulnerability.
Acceptation, inclusion and recognition now transit through the digital platform. They come with their own codes of social behaviour, which teens are very sensitive to. They will spend hours scrutinizing the likes of their followers, polishing their profile, or even sabotage the accounts of people they don’t like.
Relying on commercial platforms like Facebook to build a window to self comes with loads of anxiety for many, especially teenagers striving for validation. One also becomes at risk of losing self-esteem as notification boxes and artificial links fade away.