Social Media Impact on Body Image Judgement

Ever since social media started existing there has been a significant change in the way people started to perceive themselves. Instead of having more positive as was expected, there has been an increase in negative outlooks with people specifically with their body image 

The online world is so stocked with images of human bodies that depending on where we click, and how critical we are of ourselves, we can develop either a healthy appreciation for marvelous physiques or a defective hatred of our imperfect bodies. But those perfect bodies we see and fear that we will never emulate may just be digitized lies that nobody, not even the models themselves we compare ourselves to that even they have never achieved, in which case we’re approaching ourselves for nothing.

The influence on body perception in the age of social media, digital communication, and self-criticism is made worse by the frequency of false representations on social media. “Self-criticism” refers to internalized judgment and is more intense regarding the inaccurate representations of bodies on social media. One major factor in the escalation of body dysmorphia and its detrimental impacts on mental health and social interactions is the ongoing dissemination of an idealized and unrealistic representation of bodies on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Social media users frequently post carefully chosen and digitally improved photographs that substantially alter reality. This behavior is consistent with studies showing the conflicting effects of social media and online communication on the well-being of adolescents, stressing negative consequences. In their 2013 comprehensive survey 43 surveys from 2003 to 2013, Paul Best and others found mixed results regarding the effect of social media on adolescent well-being. Other authors have reported mixed findings, but there was significant evidence that youth who use social media are subject to cyberbullying, depression, and social isolation.

They observed that although technological advances online can offer benefits like heightened self-worth and a sense of social support, they can also put people at risk, worsening problems like cyberbullying, depression, and social isolation. The review’s contradicting findings highlight the need for more investigation to fully comprehend the complex relationships among social media, body image, and mental health. As social media continues to shape societal perceptions of beauty, the challenges associated with maintaining a positive self-image in the digital age remain a critical area for exploration and intervention.

Online spaces for self-presentation and social media play a major role in the significant prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) among young users, around the world. An example would be in Saudi Arabia where the nation’s heavy reliance on social media hurts how people feel about their bodies, as demonstrated by the research done in 2020 by Alsaidan et al. BDD is fueled by the impossible standards established by supposed perfect bodies and carefully edited photos on social media sites like Instagram and Snapchat, which create a vicious cycle of comparison and self-criticism. 4.2% of participants in the study satisfied the criteria for BDD, with younger people having a greater risk of the condition. Notably, BDD was linked to more time spent on Snapchat and Instagram and an increased tendency to compare one’s appearance to celebrities on social media. The BDD group reported more incidents of harassment as well as a past medical history of mental health issues. The study conducted by Alsaidan highlights the importance of how social media can cause BDD, by simply comparing it to body images that cause concerns even with skin disfigurements (64.2%) or hair issues (42.3%).

The way that bodies are portrayed on social media correlates to a loss in mental health due to continuous self-criticism. People who are struggling with the increasing gap between their perceived and real identities are more likely to experience anxiety, sadness, and body dysmorphic disorders. A toxic mindset that undermines self-esteem and magnifies negative self-perceptions is fostered by frequent comparison due to social media. Furthermore, a study carried out in 2017 by Gkotsis et al. explores how social media contributes to the development of mental health disorders. The work applies informed analysis posts from the Reddit social media to identify and categorize posts on mental illness based on 11 disorder themes. The results show the potential of deep learning as a research tool, with a 91.08% accuracy rate in identifying postings connected to mental illness and a 71.37% weighted average accuracy rate in choosing the correct theme. To help with organized content and focused interventions for mental health, the study highlights how crucial it is to understand user-generated information on social media platforms.

The impact of social media on modern society is complex and affects social relationships on a worldwide scale. According to another study conducted in 2023 by Azzaakiyyah, social media offers advantages like improved connectedness, cross-cultural interaction, and emotional support. However, challenges arise, including “shared solitude,” as face-to-face interactions decline. When people create their online personas, their formation of identity changes, leading to unhealthy social comparisons and inaccurate self-perception. Social media promotes inclusivity and community development but makes it easier for false information to propagate. Fostering digital literacy, communication abilities, and moral online conduct are necessary to strike a balance. Education is essential to preserve the integrity of human connections in the digital age because it enables people to navigate the digital landscape responsibly and strike a good balance between virtual and in-person encounters. The influence goes beyond the person and impacts social relationships. Genuine connections suffer from avoidance behaviors resulting from self-criticism. Social media, which was first created to help people connect, unintentionally becomes an escape from loneliness as people avoid deep conversations out of fear of being judged for their presumed physical flaws.

Adolescent self-image around the world keeps deteriorating because of social media. Over time with the growing influence social media has been having on adolescents today and even the younger generation who have been growing up with phones, it has been seen that those kids have harsher self-criticism about body image. With this continuing and the younger generation being born with phones, society will start depending on the false reality of what they are meant to look like; as well as increasing mental health disorders.

Globally, adolescents’ perceptions of themselves are alarmingly deteriorating, mostly because social media has such a strong influence. The younger generation, who have grown up with smartphones as constant companions, is particularly affected by this tendency. A culture of comparison and insecurity has been fostered by the pressure to live up to unachievable beauty standards and perfect online avatars. Adolescents who accept these unattainable norms are more likely to experience mental health illnesses and problems with body image. Additionally, the normalizing of photo-editing software and filters distorts reality even more by upholding an unachievable standard of beauty. Younger generations are more likely to get dependent on these illusory realities as they grow up in a world where digital connection is commonplace. 

The adolescent stage of a person’s life is the most vulnerable. With social media now being a part of the everyday world and society it has made it easier for adolescents to gain body image issues. One of the problems with this is the amount being consumed. The article, Reducing Social Media Use Significantly Improves Body Image in Teens, Young Adults stated, “Youth are spending, on average, between six to eight hours per day on screens, much of it on social media.” Constant scrolling for hours leads people to see those whom they follow, “celebrities and fashion or fitness models, which we know leads to an internalization of beauty ideals that are unattainable for almost everyone.” Not only are adolescents getting pounded on a day-to-day basis with seeing these people on their social media and wanting to look like them, but they are also being lied to and they still believe it. This is what leads to mental health issues and eating disorders.

Social media first has to affect the brain to start affecting the teenager’s body image, which is why mental health and body image have a strong correlation. The article, Influence of Social Media on Teenagers’ Body Image, talks about how social media has “the added pressure…on influencing body image for adolescents heightened by the content.” The pressure comes from the “influencers” teenagers watch and see the way they look and live and want the lifestyle. Body image dissatisfaction can range from extreme thinness, large breasts, V shapes, 6 packs, toned arms, and so much more. Teenagers are basically prayed upon by social media because they continue to scroll with the desire of wanting to look like their idol still being present. Often with unrealistic bodies that are nowhere near healthy but because it looks “good” it becomes a desire.

Growing up in a day and age where social media is accessible to anyone no matter the age is already going to take a big toll on people’s appearance. An article published by Psych Central, How Does Social Media Affect Body Image, states another big issue comparison and competition, when in reality it is all fake. The article states, “Many people tend to post only their best photos, which may not be representative of their everyday appearance.” Which is true a majority of the time. Photoshop, filters, posing, and lighting all play a huge role in how a picture will look and make your body look. This leads people to start believing in unrealistic beauty standards, without realizing the pictures are not even natural.

There are “positives” that come with social media and body image as well. Recently there has been seen a lot of health and fitness inspiration. Psychcentral states, “Social media can inspire leading a healthy and active lifestyle.” Having community, support, and body positivity groups. community and support are groups for “people working through body image disorders.” A great way to find others who are like you in the sense of not loving the body you have and learning to love yourself. Body positivity groups lead to more self-love and acceptance as well. With the groups, there was a study done in 0221 where 233 females participated and found that “Participants who observed positive social media either with or without caption experienced improvements in body satisfaction.” This itself can all be seen as a positive because of the sound of it, but it comes with negatives. Health and fitness inspiration could lead to people with leaner builds being dissatisfied with their bodies because they do not eat or look like those who are more physically active. With community and support it can be a positive for the people to meet others like them, but also a negative because people tend to feed off of one another. If one person shares their disorder another person does and there is a bonding experience with the disorder. Nothing in reality is being done there is just more of an understanding and acceptance of how there is no self-love to potentially lead to self-love. Body-positive groups sound great until the wrong person gets access to the post and becomes greatly critical of their body.

Health and fitness influencers all over tend to show the real truth about bodies. Showing different people they have trained with the start and the result, showing that consistency is the key to change. For example, trainer Mikeymikebw always posts his clients after some time of being with him to show the muscle definition change with his training or meal plans. Showing the transformations and showing people the difference influences people to want to be better for themselves, not envy and feel like they are not enough. After speaking to Mikey about his clients and the social media posting he said, “The best thing I do is post my client’s spotlights because they draw in more attention for people to want to change and clients as well for myself to help people change,” As stated before this is influencing people to want to change, giving them a optimistic mindset for their future about their body and health. In another conversation, he stated, “Nobody comes to this on their own they start by being influenced mainly by social media.” Whether it is a bad or good influence it still creates a positive change in the end with people changing their lifestyles and mindsets. 

Social Media has been seen as these horrifying apps that the most recent generation has grown up with. All due to a lot of mental health struggles, cyberbullying, eating disorders, and body image dissatisfaction. All of these cases could have been true in the past, but in the most recent years, it has been shown to have a more positive impact. With more fitness influencers coming up and talking about their personal experience growing in their bodies and changing, showing expectations vs reality, and simply talking about their bodies, fitness journeys, comparison struggles, and just being raw to be more relatable to everyone else. It is believed that social media positively reinforces people’s mental health and body dysmorphia because of these things.

Social media has one of the biggest roles in body positivity movements. The study, “Bopo: Enhancing body image through body positive social media- evidence to date and research directions” talks about these movements and characteristics. Also finding ways that social media content can be beneficial for body image and lower comparison. All of this occurs because most of the body positivity posts also branch out to “a wide range of body sizes, shapes, and appearances and include messages about the importance of broadly conceptualizing beauty engaging in body acceptance and appreciation”, stated in the article. This is more than enough to show how much body positivity movements have a great impact on people on social media to stop constantly comparing themselves to bodies that are nothing like theirs.

The whole point of the content on social media is to make everyone feel included not for you to pick the worst features you think to have and compare them to others. As the study states, “ body positive content aims to disrupt the monopoly of idealized media on the visual landscape, and to encourage individuals to adopt a positive stance towards their body and appearance.” All of this is done by having more inclusiveness and less oppressive systems. Social media is not going away any time soon, we have to learn to embrace it in the most positive outlook possible because it is meant to be used in that way. That does not mean it will not have negative impacts. Perceiving it negative way with constant comparison of bodies only makes it look that way more and more causing the environment to be negative.

Another study, “I don’t need people to tell me I’m pretty on social media:” A qualitative study of social media and body image in early adolescent girls” talks about how these girls embrace the differences in bodies rather than compare themselves and beat themselves up for it. From 7th to 8th graders it was shown that even though their social media use was high the influence that social media had on them was minimal and they appreciated the differences. This could be due to, “these characteristics were nurtured by positive parental influence and a supportive school environment.” as the study stated, causing them to not want to look for a way to be better or look better, but rather appreciate themselves and everyone else around them because they do not need that attention from anywhere else. When the environment all around is better it prevents body dissatisfaction because the young adults are already satisfied. Therefore they see everything in a positive light no matter what the post is. This is not the case for everyone though. As more people every day tend to see themselves worse and worse not even proving the point of this case study.

Overall the most straightforward answer to give anyone who claims to suffer from body image from body dysmorphia would be to just get off social media and live without it, be happy on your own. That simply would not happen in today day.  Adolescents should not be spending six to eight hours of their day mindlessly scrolling; just to end up in a worse position from where they started. Posts deceive everyone, not everything seen on social media is real. Everyone posts the best pictures of themselves because it is the best version. Even though there are some things seen as positive it all depends on perception. However, we want to see something that will be seen from our point of view. Looking at mental health and the usage of social media it can be seen that social media does not have a positive outlook.

 Learning to embrace social media in the positive way that it is meant to be looked at with influencers showing the reality of bodies and having better environments showing people to perceive things differently is the way to handle it. This would be true in an idealistic world which is not the one we live in today. Even with positive environments around human beings, there is still a way to perceive yourself negatively because of the world’s negativity. Every day people find a new flaw in themselves, something new they are not satisfied with. Even if we “love ourselves” it is simply not true it is more of a facade we place for us to believe that ourselves. 

In conclusion, the complex relationship between “self-criticism” and self-body image in the context of social media and self-image creates a complicated web of influences. This has been shown to possibly worsen body dysmorphia and has a severe influence on mental health and interpersonal relationships. While social media can be beneficial in allowing people to communicate and have long-lasting relationships with different individuals in all locations of the world, It is vital to acknowledge the important implications of self-criticism due to social media. Social media can allow individuals to develop an online community that embraces inclusivity and support. Moving forward, it is important to encourage people to accept and value who they are. This becomes critical for overcoming the obstacles presented by the digital age, encouraging sincere relationships, and fostering community well-being.

References

Alsaidan, M. S., Altayar, N. S., Alshmmari, S. H., Alshammari, M. M., Alqahtani, F. T., & Mohajer, K. A. (2020). The prevalence and determinants of body dysmorphic disorder among young social media users: A cross-sectional study. Dermatology reports, 12(3), 8774. https://doi.org/10.4081/dr.2020.8774 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7772767/\

Azzaakiyyah, H. (2023). The Impact of Social Media Use on Social Interaction in Contem-porary Society. Retrieved from https://journal.literasisainsnusantara.com/index.php/tacit/article/view/33/49

best, paul, manktelow, roger, taylor, brian, Barak, A., Campbell, R., Davis, K., … Killick, C. (2014). Online communication, social media and Adolescent Wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190740914000693

Burnette, C. B., Kwitowski, M. A., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2017). “I don’t need people to tell me I’m pretty on social media:” A qualitative study of social media and body image in early adolescent girls. Body Image, 23, 114–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.09.001 

Gkotsis, G., Oellrich, A., Velupillai, S., Liakata, M., Hubbard, T. J. P., Dobson, R. J. B., & Dutta, R. (2017). Characterisation of mental health conditions in social media using informed Deep Learning. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/srep45141#citeas

Goldfield, Gary. (2023). Reducing social media use significantly improves body image in teens, young adults. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/02/social-media-body-image

Nierengarten, M. B., M.A. (2017). Influence of social media on teenagers’ body image. Contemporary Pediatrics, 34(10), 21-22. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Finfluence-social-media-on-teenagers-body-image%2Fdocview%2F2017969955%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D13605

Pedersen, T. (2023). Social media and body image: What’s the link? Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/health/how-the-media-affects-body-image#postive-effects

Rodgers, R. F., Wertheim, E. H., Paxton, S. J., Tylka, T. L., & Harriger, J. A. (2022). Bopo: Enhancing body image through body positive social media- evidence to date and research directions. Body Image, 41, 367–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.008 

Talked to Mikeymikebw in person for 45 minutes about the topic.