Every morning, millions of professionals open LinkedIn to check out news in their sector, expand contacts or share their achievements. What they find is usually inspiring: promotions, awards, scientific publications, new projects, international conferences or job changes apparently to a better desired position. How does this continued exposure to outside success affect the way we value our own careers?
Recent research tells us that, on the one hand, it offers clear benefits for employability, networking (creation of networks of professional contacts) and the dissemination of knowledge. But it can also lead to less visible psychological effects, related to social comparison, professional self-esteem and the need for external validation.
The psychological trap of comparing ourselves too much
The social comparison theoryformulated by Leon Festinger in 1954, maintains that people evaluate our capabilities and our value by comparing ourselves with others. Under normal circumstances, these comparisons can help us orient ourselves. The problem appears when the information is biased.
That is precisely what happens on many social networks. While instagram usually shows an idealized vision of personal life, LinkedIn presents an idealized vision of professional life. We rarely see projects that have gone wrong, rejected articles, strategic mistakes or difficult learning processes. The usual thing is to find ourselves with the final (and successful) results: the promotion, the publication, the award or the new position.
This dynamic is not harmless. Some studies have observed that social comparison on LinkedIn can increase anxiety related to the job search by affecting the perception of professional self-efficacy.
It is paradoxical that a tool designed to promote professional development can end up generating the feeling that we are always behind.
A dependent professional self-esteem
Psychologists distinguish between relatively stable self-esteem and contingent self-esteem, that is, one that depends on external factors such as recognition, achievements or social approval.
This second can weigh much more than is convenient in the context of social networks. Many users of these platforms They come to link an important part of their self-assessment to the response obtained on digital platforms. The greater this psychological dependence, the greater the intensity of use of social networks and the risk of developing problematic patterns of use.
Taking this to the professional field, the issue is worrying. If our perception of competence increasingly depends on the views, comments or compliments received on LinkedIn, we run the risk of replacing internal indicators of progress with external indicators of popularity.
In other words, we could begin to confuse recognition with professional value.
The great showcase of professional identity
Decades ago, the sociologist Ervin Goffman described social life as a theatrical performance in which people try to manage the impression they make on others. Social media has brought this phenomenon to an unprecedented scale.
Recent research on digital professional identity shows that users develop conscious strategies to build a certain professional image. Among them are the strategic selection of content, the careful management of digital reputation or constant monitoring of one’s own presence. on-line. These practices are not necessarily negative, but rather the opposite.
They can be useful for communicating skills and generating career opportunities. But they can also foster excessive concern about the projected image. We may end up spending more time communicating what we do than doing what we communicate.
Professional promotion or narcissism?
Promoting one’s own work does not automatically imply narcissism. In fact, in many sectors it is essential to make projects, publications or achievements visible to generate professional opportunities.
However, when professional identity is built primarily on reactions obtained online, success is no longer measured by the quality of the work performed and starts doing it because of the attention received.
The difference is subtle but important. It’s one thing to share an accomplishment because it can be helpful and inspiring; It is quite another to constantly need the approval of others to confirm our professional value.
Especially because, when recognition becomes a permanent necessity, any digital silence can be interpreted as a failure.
The risk of forgetting learning
Another risk of the comparative dynamics and external validation that are established in social networks, and specifically of a professional nature such as LinkedIn, is the loss of intellectual humility. The research on professional learning and development show that progress is usually associated with the ability to recognize mistakes, accept limitations and learn from experience. However, algorithms tend to reward visible results much more than invisible processes.
That is why we find many publications celebrating successes and relatively few analyzing failures, doubts or difficult learnings. The consequence is the construction of an unrealistic professional narrative in which linear progress and success seem permanent.
The reality is very different. Behind every promotion there are usually years of effort. Behind every published article there are usually peer reviews, corrections and rejections. Behind every brilliant career there are often moments of uncertainty that rarely appear on the LinkedIn wall.
This reflection is what led Princeton professor Johannes Haushofer to publish a CV of failures. Accustomed to using the networks to show how much fun we had (Instagram) or how good we are (LinkedIn) or how many friends we have (Facebook), we end up feeding a showcase open every day of the week where only hit movies are shown.
A valuable tool, with distance
The solution is not to abandon LinkedIn. The platform offers extraordinary opportunities to learn, network and spread knowledge. Much of the transfer of current professional and scientific knowledge occurs thanks to tools of this type.
The point is to use it without turning it into a mirror of our self-esteem.
A solid professional career is not built by accumulating digital reactions, but by developing skills, learning from mistakes and generating real impact on people. “Likes” can provide visibility. Congratulations can be nice. But none of them should become the definitive measure of our professional value.
Because, in the end, the best career is not the one that looks brightest on a screen, but the one that continues to grow when the screen turns off.
Fernando Diez RuizAssociate professor, University of Deusto and Elene Igoa IraolaProfessor and University Researcher, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Deusto
This article was originally published in The Conversation. Read the original.