DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2017.v05i08.016

Pages: 910-917

The recent rapid development of information and communication technologies has sparked the creative incorporation of social media into current pedagogical applications and processes. Social media is a way that people communicate with family and friends, get information, and share photographs. Social media sites which include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MySpace, YouTube among others have gained popularity among undergraduate students and are becoming an indispensable constituent of majority of their daily routines. This paper argues that the social media affects self-esteem of the users. Particularly, the paper reiterates that although the social media is a source of entertainment, it can be a cause of low self – esteem amongst students. According to past research, there appears to be connection between more time spent online and a decline in face-to-face communication with family and peers, which leads to feelings of loneliness and depression. The purpose of this paper therefore, was to explore the correlation between high usage of social media and lower levels of self-esteem among undergraduate students of Kabarak University Nakuru County, Kenya. The target population for the paper comprised of 2,623 undergraduate students. Quantitative data was analysed using frequency counts, means t-test and percentages. The findings of this study provided valuable empirical data on the relationship between social media and self-esteem. These results indicated that the undergraduate students‟ frequent social media use does correlate with self-esteem levels due to overexposure and social comparison.