Negative Effects Of Social Media

We see ‘ideal selfs’ on the television, so when we log into Facebook, or Twitter, we too create ‘ideal selfs’. If we look at media creating negative self-esteem, the main demographic it effects is women aged about 14-18. Girl Guiding, an organization created for promoting girl’s voices and opinions to be heard conducted a survey, called the Girl’s Attitude Survey. This survey included girls from 11- 21. In 2009, 36% of girls from 11-16 were unhappy with their looks. 1 in 6 girls said they were worried they would develop an eating disorder. They asked girls from 10-21 what aspect they would like to change about themselves. 33% of girls 16-21 wanted to be thinner, compared to 17% of girls 11-13. 66% of girls 16-21 have watched what they were eating, or cut down on their diet. In 2013, 87% of girls from 11-21 thought they were judged more on their appearance and looks than their ability. 80% of the same demographic believe that the media places too much discussion on the bodies and weight of girls and 71% of girls say they would like to lose weight. 31% of girls from 16-21 considered cosmetic surgery, and 47% of girls from 11-16 are unhappy about their looks. You can see that through the years, girls have become more body conscious, and mostly in a negative way.

Social media plays an important role in the lives of teenagers and potentially young women. It can actually be a big influencer on their decisions being as it’s a place to express yourself in many ways even if those ways put off negative connotations to those around. Daily on social media you typically see a lot of ads, people who you might perceive as “beautiful” or “pretty”, along with statuses and pictures that talk about how the “perfect” relationship or person should be. As a teenager myself, I recognize that a lot of young girls struggle with finding themselves and wanting to be different. Females in general have a hard time This current generation of teenagers are more concerned with social media sites like facebook, instagram, twitter, and snapchat. More people are concerned with the number of likes or favorites they get rather than actual important or real world things. For a teen that struggles with self-esteem issues, it could be confusing to see a lot of “pretty” girls and not know why you don’t or can not look like them. Social media when used addictively has negative or harmful effects on young girls self-esteem.

Media is everywhere, and what the sources contain effect people from all walks of life but the issue of body image is one thing that seems to stay in constant attention. Psychologists found there was a strong association linking social media use to body image concerns, dieting, body surveillance, a drive for thinness, and self-objectication in adolescents. One study found that female college students who spend their time posting, commenting on, and comparing themselves to photos on Facebook were more likely to link their self-worth to their looks (How Social Media Is a Toxic Mirror by Rachel Simmons). Even though girls report more body image disturbance then boys, it has been shown that both genders are equally

The most popular social media outlet Facebook has been linked to body image according to recent research. Several correlational studies have examined the relationship between social media usage and body image. Studies on pre-teenage girls and female high school students have found that Facebook users report more drive for thinness, internalization of the thin-ideal, and body surveillance, self-objectification, and appearance comparisons than do non-users (Fardouly and Vartanian). Teens that subject themselves to Facebook are influenced by the images that they see. These “ideal images” motivate teens to pursue ways of achieving these “ideal body images”.

Media is an innovative and useful tool in a today’s constantly connected society, but in a world that is becoming increasingly self-obsessed, with countless selfies and continual status updates, women are being pressured more and more every day to achieve perfection. Even though the issues involved in social media are rarely discussed and usually ignored, it is hard to deny that the expectations pushed upon women today are unrealistic and excessive. The standards given to girls starting as early as 5th grade can lead to issues such as eating disorders and excessive exercise, and are detrimental to the health of those that are subject to today's harsh benchmarks. Even in the midst of these challenges, the sufferers of these eating disorders

It is common to have some sort of social media this days, especially for teenagers. However, it occurred to me one day that many media platforms have set “perfect” body standards. This led me to wonder about the extent the internet affects the perception of body image in teenagers.

Teenagers that spend more time on social media, viewing other people’s profiles and statuses, are likelier to have lower self-esteem than teenagers who spend a small portion of time on social media. The operational definition for self-esteem is one’s appraisal of the value of the self. A teenager is a person aged from 13 to 19 years. Social media is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking; in this study it is Twitter and Instagram. When people spend a large amount of time scrolling through social media, they are at an increased risk of comparing themselves to others. This can result in teenagers having negative body image, leading to eating disorders or other illnesses. While it is more commonly known for women

Why are we so pressured to be perfect, especially with social media? Why now? What has changed? While advertising has existed for decades, teens, specifically females, have never felt this much pressure to have the “ideal body.” Social media, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, have overtaken a substantial part in teenagers’ lives. Everyone wants to earn the most likes, have the most followers, and receive the most retweets, which stimulates a great deal of psychological pressure. A social media subcategory of advertising has become the main contributor to poor self-image in young adults today. While this phenomenon affects each teenager differently and to varying degrees, young women tend to feel the most detrimental effects.

Body image and body positivity are hotly contested and flamboyant issues in today's society and more seemingly technologically-savvy general public. Many people are becoming more and more affected by the demeaning effects social media can have on one's body image. Social media, and especially its overuse, can affect how women view themselves, often times leading to mental health problems and even severe eating disorders. However, differences between body image and self-esteem must be stipulated. Both terms are are similar, but different. Body image is how one views and feels about their body, while self-esteem is how one views themselves as a person overall. Body image is just a part of the multiple aspects that self-esteem entails. Body image, however, is often referred to in a negative manner, even though positive body image does exist (this is also called body positivity). The question that begs to be asked, though, is what are the effects of social media use on body image in young women? There is a strong correlation between social media use and body image issues. With the increased number of social media applications for mobile use in western culture, the number of body image issues among young women has also seemingly increased (Perloff). Despite this correlation, social media alone does not cause body image dissatisfaction, instead, it contains the tools that allow for ideas of inferior body image and certain ideals to be fester.

Social media and media is used worldwide for multiple purposes, but it can create a toxic environment for many of the young people who use it. Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder, but our society has a tendency of setting specific beauty standards. Beauty standards are not only set in the United States, but all over the world. Television shows and magazines, such as Cosmopolitan set certain standards for young women around the world. Media platforms set nearly unattainable goals for young people, more commonly girls. These so called goals lead to multiple issues, such as medical disorders and reinforce gender roles, although, some will argue that media platforms are good because they allow us to connect to each other, many of

In today’s society, the Global Web Index implies that approximately twenty-two percent of girls between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four follow celebrity social media accounts. This may include the use of platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The social media industry has the ability to paint superficial images, which may cause young women to reach a standard that is unhealthy. Mass media and the entertainment industry are partly to blame for eating disorders among young females because the young women strive to be like their role models, have a pressure for their image, and lose self-esteem.

Social media could be leaving young people at a higher risk of maladaptive attitudes due to the promotion of unhealthy eating and exercising behavior on these platforms. There is an overwhelming body of research that finds that social media negatively affects young women’s idea of their body (Dignard, 2017; Kleemans, Daalmans, Carbaat, & Anschütz, 2016; Dittmar, 2009; Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). Accessibility and time spent on the internet is one thing that could be related to an internalization of the thin ideal, body surveillance, and drive for thinness in young girls (Tiggemann, & Slater, 2013). This is especially worrying when young women spend up 27 hours per week online, 14% of which is on social media platforms like Instagram (Ofcom, 2015).

On the topic of psychological changes, social networking causes depression in many young adults around the world. We see pictures and posts on instagram, snapchat, facebook, and on other social medias as we scroll through our feed and we start comparing ourselves to others and start criticizing ourselves. “I’m too fat”, “I’m too short”, “I’m so ugly”, these are the kinds of thoughts that run through our heads when we see pictures of others that are “better” than ours. One report says that girls feel like “Instagram easily makes girls and women feel as if their bodies aren’t good enough as people add filters and edit their

The effects of media on women’s body image has been a reality long before the conception of social media. When someone is idealized, it is only natural that one will gravitate towards the characteristics most define the idealized person. It is innate in humankind to continuously strive for self-betterment as it is a means for survival. If we perceive someone else doing better than ourselves we try to find out what they are doing that we aren’t. The perception of self is often measurement of how one feels about their life and the direction it is going. With the emergence of social media, the number of idealizations has heightened due to the degree of content that we are exposed to. The internet itself is an endless black hole with an infinite amount of information. Roughly a third of the world having some form of social media. In the United States alone, the population on social media is 78%.

Did you know that 68% of women in the United States use social media for health, fitness and beauty tips (Cohen)? Many women of all ages are dealing with the pressure that social media can put on them to have the “perfect” body. There are many different ways of dealing with this issue, that include positive and negative outcomes when dealing with this problem (Reed). Also, just like every story there is two different sides to this issue. Social media has been putting too much pressure on women to have “perfect” bodies or that they have to be in “perfect” shape all of the time. The many women who use social media for health purposes helps boost up the usage of different social media sites, but many bad effects can come out of this pressure that is put on women.