Writing & Skills Review: esej maturalny o tożsamości

Polecenie: "Discuss the view that social media makes it harder for young people to develop a stable sense of identity." (200–250 words)

The claim rests on a premise worth examining: that stability is the appropriate goal of identity development in adolescence. Developmental psychology suggests that some degree of identity instability is not pathological but normative — the productive uncertainty through which identity is eventually consolidated.

With that qualification in mind, the evidence does suggest that certain patterns of social media use complicate identity development. Passive consumption of curated self-presentations creates a social comparison context that research has linked to lower self-concept clarity — the sense of knowing who one is. It has been argued that the performative pressure of maintaining a consistent, aspirational online persona fragments rather than stabilises the self, because it demands the management of multiple audiences with competing expectations.

Notwithstanding this, the relationship is not uniform. Social media has demonstrably expanded access to communities that affirm marginalised identities unavailable in users' immediate environments — a benefit that is neither trivial nor equally distributed. What the research most consistently indicates is that the direction of effect depends on the type of use, not the platform itself.

On balance, the claim captures a real tendency but overstates it. Social media complicates identity development for some young people in some contexts; it facilitates it for others. The more precise formulation is that social media amplifies existing tendencies — including both the vulnerability and the resilience with which individuals enter it.

(~230 words)

Analiza:

• Wstęp: kwestionuje założenie (stability = goal?) ✅
• Akapit 1: passive use + it has been argued + performative ✅
• Akapit 2: notwithstanding + marginalised benefit + what research indicates ✅
• Zakończenie: on balance + precyzja + amplifier thesis ✅

📝 Exam tip: Najsłabsze zakończenie to „good and bad". Najsilniejsze REDEFINIUJE problem: amplifies existing tendencies rather than creating them / the claim captures a real tendency but overstates it. Konkluzja kalibrowana > konkluzja absolutna.