Self-esteem

Image by miliquin

Esteem, usually partnered with the word “self”, sits near the top of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, just below self-actualization. As we continue this series of posts about the intersection of social media and the different types of human needs, we’re going to take a look at esteem and see if social media can help you build esteem, both within yourself and back to the rest of the world.

First, the definition of esteem, as per dictionary.com:

Noun: favorable opinion or judgment; respect or regard: to hold a person in esteem.

Here’s a way to paraphrase the dictionary definition of esteem:

Esteem: being respected and well thought of, both by yourself and other people, while according that same good will towards other people.

Maslow’s hierarchy shows that there are five aspects of esteem.

Maslow\'s hierarchy of human needs

Here are my thoughts on what these aspects are:

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is when you have a favorable opinion or judgment about you. In many ways this is about liking and respecting yourself. If you feel worthy, you have positive or good self-esteem.

Confidence

Confidence is the belief in your abilities to perform well, to do the right things. Confidence (or self-confidence) means that you can think and act without hesitation because you have the assurance that you are thinking and doing the right things.

Achievement

This is all about getting stuff done: finishing projects; and creating new things.  This seems to link closely to the self-actualization level of Maslow’s hierarchy, particularly creativity and problem solving.

Respect of others

Respect of others is the consideration of the rights, thoughts, and feelings of other people.

Respect by others

When other people respect you, they will give due consideration of your rights, thoughts, and feelings

What’s the key to building esteem using social media?

To me, the way that you can fulfill these aspects boils to three things:

  • Do good work and share it (achievement, confidence)
  • Help other people and win their trust (achievement, respect by others, confidence)
  • Be considerate of your fellow human beings (respect of others)

If you repeat these things over and over again and get positive feedback, your self-esteem will grow but only if you believe that you are doing the right things. If you don’t believe that you are trying hard enough, giving enough, and growing enough, your self-esteem might not build as much as it could, so belief is a big, unstated component of self-esteem.

So where does social media come in?

Social media is a tool by which you can do these things and can augment your offline activities. Social media’s powerful capabilities for communicating with people, publishing content, sharing ideas, and helping each other lend itself towards achievement, respect by others, and respect of others.

There are endless ways to publish content, either in blogs, forums, discussion groups, photo sharing, video blogging, and so on. There are endless people to communicate with, help, and learn from. This activity, knowing that you are doing good work and helping other people learn and grow, builds confidence and self-esteem as we’ve seen in Maslow’s hierarchy diagram. It’s a great proving ground to help you feel better about who you are and what you can do.

And, on top of all that, interacting with other people, learning about them and seeing their skills in action, can help you better appreciate and respect them.

In my opinion, these things help fulfill our esteem needs and set the stage for us to take the next steps toward self-actualization.

Do you agree or do you think I’m full of crap? Does this level of Maslow’s hierarchy have any meaning to you?  What do you think?

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