Body Image Dissatisfaction Through Instagram

Social media creates an ideal body image in an adolescent’s mind that affects them in various ways. Having an ideal body image can lower self-esteem in some adolescents’ creating eating disorders, and this idea of getting plastic surgery as they get older. Social media is steadily increasing and has heavily influenced adolescent’s to be more aware of their body figure. As a result, many adolescent’s have developed low self-esteem due to the fact that social media continues promoting fit women and creating the idea that women need to be thin to be loved or accepted by society; this can cause harm to adolescent’s because they feel the need to fit in to society.

Throughout history, body image has been determined by various factors, one of them being the media. In the article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror,” written by Rachel Simmons, she shares the story of a woman who admits to being afraid of leaving her apartment without putting on makeup. “I don’t get to choose how I’m going to leave my apartment today,” one young woman told me, “If I could, my body would look different. But I cant choose which picture makes my arms look thinner” (Simmons). One word: Fear. The woman fears the opinion of others. She second guesses herself before she steps foot outside her apartment building. It displays the lack of confidence she has towards herself as an individual and the control the media has over her. The author goes on to discuss how teenagers look up to social media by obsessing over how many likes

Over the past 10 years, mass media and the access to social networks has evolved substantially causing the effects of negative self-image and what is considered beautiful. Body image expectations for both African-American male and female share the battles of society’s expectations, yet African American women body images come with a stricter and more unhealthy stigma; growth of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter brings these expectations of self-image into our homes and our children minds. “The Internet is easily the most pervasive form of mediated communication that we encounter in our lives. Even

Many people have a habit of asking others on the internet for opinions on what they look like. This creates body image anxieties. At the same time, women were being more objectified in media, with an extreme emphasis placed on their bodies (Klein). Some people believe that the answer to body anxiety is to give a bigger range of body examples in the media. Dr. Phillipa Diedrichs, University of West of England’s Centre for Appearance Research, said,“The more time spent on Facebook, the more likely people are self-objectify.” Media is everywhere, so telling them to ignore it is not going to work. Steps could be taken to help girls to not compare themselves to the unrealistic

As this generation has easy access to social media, culminating to 95.9% of girls having access to the internet, it is no wonder that these girls have easy access to view these “ideal” images. There is a cause and effect, which can be seen through sites like Facebook and Instagram, as users are more prone to body obsession than non-users. Second, no one is immune to these beauty ideals, even the women who started it all. The women who post these photos, have internal problems as well, such as eating disorders and unhealthy fitness habits. These “role models” are achieving these beauty ideals in unhealthy ways, which is not a positive message to send to viewers. Third, we have massive studies and data to show the damages of social media, but it is the individual stories that people can

As technology editing tools have become even more prevalent, many feel the need to excessively use photoshop before they share an image online. In a pervasive world where images of unrealistic standards fuel the media on how one should look, social media has one of the most significant impacts on body dissatisfaction. Throughout the last decade, social media has become one of the most common and favored ways for people to communicate, connect, and share. Thus, there have been many debates and discussions on whether the media has a positive or a negative impact on the way an individual perceives him or herself. As the rapid growth of smartphone usage among adolescents and adults has increased, social media has become an essential part of one’s daily life. In today's society, when most adolescents and adults turn on their smartphones, often times, the first thing they will refer to is a social media site. It has become a place where they are exposed to news, images, and expectations. Often times, these images, ideals, and expectations are ingrained in their brain and bombarded with what is considered to be beautiful. Moreover, these unrealistic standards will often lead to a form of comparison, influencing them to take extreme measures. Although social media serves as a platform where people can connect, communicate, and share, it has a negative impact on one’s body image, because it can lead to a lack of self confidence and severe

Instagram has been introduced to the community around 6 years ago as a social networking app for sharing photos and videos from smartphones. Along with the growth of technology and the Internet, Instagram is now gradually become more and more popular in many social media websites, especially for teenagers. However, many types of research and studies state that Instagram may cause several negative effects on the individuals who use them usually. As the report “Instagram Is Killing Teen Girls’ Self-Esteem”, the author states that almost every girl teenager feels isolated and unsatisfied with what they have. Indeed, they often feel envious and have inferiorities when they see someone have a beautiful dress or living a luxury life (Kohli). Moreover, Instagram users often compare their lives to other people on social media and try to build the perfect platform on social media. If teenagers overuse Instagram for most of their time, it may lower the self-esteem of teenagers, damage the body image, lifestyles, or even affect the mental systems in life satisfaction.

In the article “Net Girls: The Internet, Facebook, and Body Image Concern in Adolescent Girls” Marika Tiggemann, Ph.D. and Amy Slater, Ph.D. (Clin Psych) questioned whether there is a connection between internet use and adolescent body image concern. These researchers also focused their study on one specific social networking site, Facebook.

Approximately 14 million U.S. teenage girls don’t like how they look. The number of women who feel confident in their bodies is dwindling quickly and is being fueled by edited pictures they are comparing themselves to on social media. The Time magazine article “How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror” by Rachel Simmons tells of the risk for everyone to feel self-conscious about their bodies. However, those most at risk are teenage girls who spend a significant amount of time on any form of social media. In response to the article, I agree with the negative effects social media has on the body image of teenage girls because I have seen girls trying to change their bodies. I also see the effects logos and pathos have on the strength of the article and what would make it a stronger and more credible source for information on teen body image.

According to the article, “Low Self-Esteem at Crisis Levels for Girls,” “If the media did not have such a strong influence on today’s generation, then low self-esteem would not be in its highest percentile than all past decades” (Liebet). The issue of body positivity on social media is detrimental. Users of social media commonly say posting body-positive images online is uplifting and results in society’s acceptance of various body types. Although body positivity is improving society’s outlook on ideal bodies, it actually has harmful effects on society psychologically and physically and, therefore, should be protested.

In recent years, social media has flown to increasing popularity. People spend hours scrolling their Instagram feed “touching up” their pictures to put forth their best looks, updating their Snapchat stories and sending messages with funny faces to friends, trying to stay connected to the world. Social media stars have found a new array of followers and idolizers. All over the world, people inspire to be like that one person with 3,000 followers or 8 million comparing their dazzling looks to their own dull appearance. Although media can help connect the world, it also forces people to compare themselves to others; Social media is a toxic playing field for young women because these comparisons bring low self-esteem and a rise in mental illness.

There is no denying that social media: Instagram and Tumblr, has a significant influence on all of us. The current effects of social media have increased dramatically among young women aged between 15 and 25. As stated in the study by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) that the high exposure to social media portraying the thin-ideal body may be linked to body image disturbance in young women. They used a meta-analysis examined experimental and correlation studies testing the links between media exposure to young women's body dissatisfaction and the unconscious behavior towards having a thin ideal body. The results by (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008) support the claim that high exposure to social media images depicting the thin-ideal body is related to

Social media plays an immense role in the way that stereotypes about attractiveness is conveyed in regards to body image. As Gerbner and Gross wrote in 1976, the cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. The subjection to social media can cause an idealistic view amongst young girls and women alike. Among the mechanisms of human agency none is more central or pervasive than beliefs of personal efficacy (Bandura, 1997). This belief that these body types are achievable can lead to females being dissatisfied within their own skin. The result of the discontent can potentially lead to eating disorders. Body dissatisfaction occurs when views of the body are negative and involves a perceived discrepancy between a person 's assessment of their actual and ideal body (Cash and Szymanski, 1995 and Grogan, 2008). It is estimated that approximately 50% of adolescent girls report being unhappy with their bodies (Bearman, Presnell, & Martinez, 2006). Surveys have revealed that the exposure to social media can cause body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms’ and the concept that thin is “beautiful” amongst young girls and women (Botta 1999; Harrison and Hefner 2006; and Stice et al. 1994). With media influence, the question is the strength of the effect, studies indicate the effects are small in scale; they are likely to operate in accordance with particular differences in

In today’s society, the public is exposed to technology at even younger ages than ever before. Everywhere you go these days you see kids even as little as three holding their parent’s phones or even their own, watching videos or playing games. But as said in the article Does Social media impact on body image by Philippa Roxby, as kids start becoming teenagers their technological uses advance and they start to rely on social media sites for new sources of communication, and their main channel to the outside world. Based on studies conducted by psychologists they have come up with a conclusion that social media has a direct relationship to body image concerns. I believe that in today’s society we should focus on promoting self-confidence as most of the adolescents have a very low assurance of their own bodies. Although a study conducted in the article The Upside of Selfies: Social media isn’t all bad for kids by Kelly Wallace says that a survey which resulted in 52% of the teens saying that social media positively influences them. Even though social media platforms have some beneficial aspects such as they make people want to go on diets, exercise, and eating healthy, the teenagers don’t really look/understand the negative aspects of it. The impacts that are carried with social media are mostly negative such as fancying teenagers to lose confidence in themselves and has become a toxic mirror to them. The visual platforms impact

Social Media has a massive impact on a person’s self-presentation because of the different trends where everyone wants to fit in with society’s expectations of what we should look like. Celebrities are made to be our role models, however, magazines photoshop and make them more toned and a lot slimmer, which makes young people want to make their bodies more like theirs. This then leads to the modern generation becoming self-conscious because they feel they have to fit in and achieve an ideal self that fits in with those around them.