How Does Social Media Influence On Body Image

A body image is a subjective combination of all the thoughts, emotions, and judgments that an individual may perceive about his or her own body. Each individual has a unique perception of his or her own body. This image is strongly influenced and often times skewed due to the increasing pressure created from outside, societal factors. With a world that is continuously creating new forms of social media and entertainment, individuals are constantly exposed to images that supposedly define bodily perfection and are then expected to resemble these images in order to fit in and/or please society. The expectations that have been put in place by society has created unwanted pressure on individuals who feel as if they need to resemble these images to get society’s approval.

Throughout the years, the definition of beauty constantly changes. In our society today many children are told to be true to themselves, to be unique, to be who they are, etc.; But on the other hand social media and the celebrities on there are a constant reminder that there is a certain type of beautiful. The juxtaposition between being yourself and being what is “beautiful” has consistent grey areas and blurred lines making it almost impossible to keep up with what’s “beautiful”. The media, whether intentional or not, portrays this certain body image that you have to be in order to qualify as beautiful.

1. Body image (how you think you look to other people) is an important part of your self-concept and self-esteem. This is especially true during adolescence. Because of the rapid changes taking place, many adolescents are dissatisfied with their bodies. Think back to high school. How did you feel about your body? How do you think these early adolescent feelings have affected how you feel about yourself now?

Body image may be viewed as the way people see themselves and even imagine how they make look based off how they may feel about themselves. Yet it could also be viewed as the way other people see you. Body image, in medicine and psychology refers to a person 's emotional attitudes, beliefs and views of their own body (Positive and Negative Body Image). According to Positive and Negative Body Image, a negative body image develops when a person feels his or her body does not amount up to family, social, or media standards. Many people feel as if they don’t measure up to the belief of others. People who have accepted the way they look often feel good about their image and would be considered to have a positive body image. One’s appearance may not be measure up to how their family expects it to be or how it is perceived to be in the media, but once people learn accept and be proud of the way they look they’ll be better off in the long run. When a person is measured against the standards of the beauty seen frequently in the media and it doesn’t compare to how they feel about themselves it become discouraging. Having said that, long-lasting negative body image can affect both your mental and physical health which could lead to eating disorders down the road.

Although different adolescents may view their body image differently, the way the adolescent views their body image may influence their school performance and their interaction with family members. Some adolescents may view their body as inadequate compared to what the media portrays as the perfect body. These perceptions may affect school performance because these adolescents may

Crain, Madison. "How Social Media Affects Body Image." The Crimson White. The Crimson White, 07 Mar. 2016. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

This source is an online article published by a website named Bustle (very similar to Buzzfeed), which covers a wide range of current topics, such as the presidential debate, the newest fitness trends, and more importantly to my topic, Health. In this particular article the author Erin Mckelle Fisher addresses the popular body positivity movements across the media currently, and this includes the Fatkini, the perfect body, I’m no angel, the Dove campaign for real beauty, lose hate, not weight, love your body, the what’s underneath project, and many more social media campaigns with the mission of spreading body positivity. Under each hashtag there is a link to an Instagram page for each campaign, and there is a description of the mission, and who the creator was.

Due to the increase in popularity of social media, today’s generation is bombarded with unrealistic standards when it comes to beauty. When young people today first turn on their cellphones, more often than not, they refer to a social media site. Whether it’s the ever-popular Instagram, where people can post pictures and followers can “like” to show their approval or post comments. Or, whether it’s Twitter, where people can post witty or inspiring or informational things for their followers to see and can be retweeted or favourited. Or they could click on the little blue Facebook icon, where all of the above can happen. These are some of the most popular social media outlets today because young people are

The media has a significant influence on our point of view, especially on teenagers who are still forming their values. Can you see the real you in the mirror? Body image is based on the definition of beauty. However, it used to be twisted by media. In the past, we were told to lose weight to fit in whether it is healthy or not. When you turned on TVs or opened magazines, all you could see was skinny girls wearing skinny jeans. Thus, you stopped eating donuts and went on a diet only because you felt ashamed which is entirely unnecessary. Pursuing unrealistic thinness was exactly why eating disorders increased. Nonetheless, something has changed. We have replaced “skinny” with “fitness” and take health more serious. In fact, there is a standard

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

Body image refers to the way people see themselves as well as the way they feel about the way they look and the way individuals think people perceive them. Males and females all come in different shapes and sizes which is ultimately the reality of the world we live in. hence this demonstrates that it is unrealistic to represent only one body type as beautiful. The world is unique for a reason, so that we all do not look the same and so that we can embrace our differences. Many teenagers need to accept themselves to have the ability to accept their body for the way it

There are many controversial thoughts on whether or not the impact of media's portrayal of body images is the reason teenagers have a lower self esteem. Body image is portrayed differently in every culture to show what they perceive as beauty. In society today, teenagers are tremendously affected by the media’s perception of body image causing teenagers to have lower self-esteem because of body image, cosmetic surgeries, and international media.

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

Body image dissatisfaction is arising in modern society, amongst all sexes due to the media promoting ideal bodily features. Western culture has consistently emphasized, through the media that the ideal body figure for a woman is to be thin (Thompson &

The media influences body images. Having the perfect body image is posted everywhere from the television networks to magazines. Social media such Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, have a significant role in an adolescent's life. Anyone in the social network can post videos such as makeup tutorials, ads, dieting supplements. One example of how adolescent react to celebrities is when Kylie Jenner posted on social media on how she gets her big lips.Using a cup and putting it around your mouth, leaving it like that for about five minutes. Saying after, your lips are