Cost of Comparison | Yara Abdulhadi | TEDxASK Youth

The speaker describes scrolling through social media, seeing curated lives, and feeling her own life shrink and empty from comparison. She introduces herself as Yara Abdul Hadi and discusses the often-unnoticed cost of comparison, explaining it as measuring oneself against others. While many teens normalize constant comparison across social media, school, and friends, psychology proves otherwise. Research shows our brains are naturally wired to compare, especially during teenage years. Constant comparisons silently erode confidence, self-esteem, and happiness. This leads to noticing disliked aspects of oneself, lowering self-esteem, and potentially causing depression and anxiety. Psychologists call this the "social comparison theory," proposed by Leon Festinger, which states humans innately evaluate themselves by comparing opinions, abilities, and success. Festinger and Willis identified three types: upward (to improve), downward (to feel better), and lateral (to feel secure). Comparison, though normalized, quietly kills confidence. It's not influence, but comparison-driven influence can occur when we are influenced by groups we compare ourselves to. Comparison hits hardest in teenage years due to developing brains and heightened sensitivity to feedback and peer pressure. Teens may alter their personality, speech, or hobbies due to fear of rejection, building a self-image based on pleasing others. The speaker encourages shifting from comparing to others to focusing on personal improvement.