The Negative Impact Of Instagram's Impact On Social Media

According to recent study at Harvard, young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents(Photoshop). In recent years it has seemed that the media, and society in general are praising unrealistic beauty standards and claiming them to be ideal. Any person can take a quick look in a magazine, on the internet, or on television and see any number of pictures of people with extreme features that society claims make them superior. This has made an impact on today’s generation in such an extreme manner that “80% of 10-year-old girls have dieted and 90% of high school junior and senior women diet regularly.” (Photoshop). Girls and boys both, across the globe are striving have what they see as

Flawless images used throughout the media saturate young girl’s minds, highlighting superlative women. For teenage girls this is hard to ignore with the line between fantasy and reality skewed my mass media and stress placed on obtaining an idealistic body portrait. In modern, Western society children are constantly bombarded with images of a false nature: many of which are photo-shopped to remove ‘imperfections’. But one of the most outraging/staggering facts is that children are not unaware of the demeaning and derogatory methods used by the media with ‘81% of 10 year olds scared of becoming fat’ (World Health Organisation) showing that the prominence of the media is becoming ever more apparent.

In the Stephanie Hanes article, “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect”, Ms. Coontz says, “Girls no longer feel that there is anything they must not do or cannot do because they are female, but they hold increasingly strong beliefs that if you are going to attempt these other things, you need to look and be sexually hot”. The media is definitely responsible for this feeling young women all around the world are experiencing because female bodies are everywhere, advertising anything from food to cars. Eating disorders are the third most common illness affecting girls from 8-17. Researchers reported that women’s magazines promote 10 and a half more weight loss articles than men’s. A women’s worth should come from what is on the inside but the media portrays this differently. Victoria’s Secret launched a new line called “The Perfect Body”, with its advertisement showing ten super skinny models, in push up bras, twirling their hair, looking like Barbie dolls. Adverts like this and other ones are not just a harmless titillation, it is a deliberate projection of what ideal beauty is foreseen as. The image is so narrow, that most see it is virtually unattainable. Not only is this affecting young girls and overweight women, but skinny girls are wanting to be even skinner. In “Miss Representation”, it is explained how the media presentation of the

Due to the rising epidemic of poor body image among young females within Australia, body image has been identified as a top personal concern for the 6th year in a row (King, 2011). According to Mission Australia’s 2015 National Youth Survey, this is an increasing trend that had risen by 26.5% in 2015 (King, 2011). Poor body image refers to the negative way in which someone perceives their body, and a significant public health issue, particularly among young females aged 14 to 25 (BMC Public Health, 2016). It is associated with a range of detrimental outcomes, including eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia (BMC Public Health, 2016). The fashion industry’s infatuation with unrealistic body size and subsequent manipulation of societies

Instagram impacts user’s self-image and self-esteem. Young girls and boys are being shot down by users not liking their image, commenting, or even sharing one’s post. Americans check Instagram multiple times a day, because they are looking to see how many likes, or comments they get. If these users’ do not get a certain amount of likes that exceeds their expectations they think, “I’m I pretty enough?”, “is the picture taken well?”, or “does anyone like me?”. This breaks down young Americans emotional health and well-being. Americans today that use Instagram are commenting publicly about how their self-esteem was jeopardized because of this form of social media. For example, Michelle Linker states “I feel anxiety over how many likes I get after I post a picture. If I get two likes, I feel like, what’s wrong with me? Some people judge Instagram by deleting photos that don’t get enough likes” (Gajanan). This quote is an example of how Instagram effects user’s emotionally. Some users even check their “like” count multiple times a day once uploaded for

The advertising industry has always had an impact on the way females and even males see themselves, but in recent years the impact has taken a dangerous turn for the worst. More of the images shown are giving the idea that if people are not a certain size that it is unacceptable to this society. Girls are being taught to obsess over their appearance, their weight, and whether their bodies are “good enough.” Products are being advertised universally by women and men that are well above the average height and well below the typical weight. Although there are fashion models of every shape and size, the unrealistic body shown by most designers and publishers is bringing self confidence levels to an all-time low, in particular young people between

Everyone is exposed to the media, and what the media presents to the public can have a powerful effect on the viewers. The media holds an influence over many subjects. For example, the media is a medium through which many social problems gain attention and support. The media plays such a prominent role in the circulation of social problems, however the media is also the cause of social problems that are detrimental to today’s youth. The media presents and promotes an image of beauty that is practically unachievable. This image of beauty is most often targeted towards women through exposure to commercials promoting weight loss, perfection, and a distorted depiction of what the female body should look like. Women’s magazines have an average of sixty-three diet ads, while in contrast men only have an average of one (Myers & Biocca 110). Myers states that body image is a mentally constructed self-schema, consisting of three parts. The objective body image is their true physical appearance, and their

Social media such as Instagram has made life more simple and keeps people in touch even though they are thousands of miles away from each other. Even though social media has pros, it also has cons. It can cause mental health problems such as, depression and anxiety. With that being said, Instagram depicts a life that is impossible to keep up with. It shows photoshopped pictures of paid models with slim bodies, weight loss pills and supplements that is supposedly healthy for you, pictures of people traveling all around the world, and getting millions of likes. Such things do not exist in real life for most of the people. Young adults including myself see these luxurious lifestyles and start feeling anxious, and start questioning to

Socio Cultural morals of feminine beauty are put in all forms of favored media, battering women with images that portray what is advised to be the impeccable body.These morals of beauty are almost completely far-off for most women; a majority of the models advertised on television and in advertisements are below what is considered healthy body weight. Mass media 's use of unrealistic models says an implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must be unhealthy.The media puts an image of beauty that is unattainable. They do this by showing very unhealthy stick-thin girls with “flawless” attributes. In the bad world of marketing, the companies that make an item to sell, like makeup, depend on the insecurities of females. The companies use skinny girls with a perfect complexion of the skin and a killer smile to flaunt around with the product they are willing to sell. When women see this, they think to themselves, “ I wish I can look like her.” or “Why can’t i look like that?.” Because we only display skinny girls in our media, they feel as if that is how they should be and look like. The media contradictorily influences girls’ perception of body image, which can cause eating disorders and low self-esteem. Dove surveyed 1,027 women with the ages of 18 and 64. The results showed that women are more than twice as likely to say that their conception of beauty is shaped by “women in the public domain” and social media (29 percent and 25 percent, respectively)

The unrealistic standards of beauty is hurting this generation of what the media and society thinks a girl has to look like, for many years the media has been trying to construct the ideal image of what a “perfect woman” should look like. They believe there only beautiful if they have long legs, great hair, and curves in the right places (HuffingtonPost2017). Which is not the influence that we want to carry down to future generations of girls who feel like they must live up to the expectations of girls who have the “perfect body”. With media apps being popular in the 21st century, there was a survey done on some of the top media apps, their study #statusofmind surveyed almost 1,500 young people aged 14 to 24 on how certain media apps impact health ( CableNewsNetwork 2017). Body images statistics say 80% of woman say images,

The problem I am addressing is how to help teenage girls resist pressure from advertisers to look thin. I will be proposing ways to change people’s specific attitudes and behaviors that will potentially close a gap between what is happening and what should be happening. The goal is not to educate or increase awareness about this issue because it is a very widely talked about topic. The ‘problem’ is that teenage girls (who) should not be peer pressured to look thin (what) in today’s (when) society (where). What is happening today is that teenage girls have this societal pressure to look thin. This is mostly due to companies and advertisers putting out campaigns with smaller, thinner models and celebrities. With the rise of technology, people are becoming more and more influenced by what they see on television, the Internet, and social media. Teenage girls see these beautiful, thin celebrities and aspire to look like that. Girls are more vulnerable than ever today and some will do just about anything to give in to the pressure and try to look like someone else. What should be happening is that companies and advertisers should use a more diverse group of woman when putting out campaigns. Beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. They should be embracing the diversity throughout the world and show that off when advertising. This is impacting mostly teenage girls as their bodies are changing and as they are trying to figure out who they are. However, this pressure is not just

Society shapes the individual in many ways, more than one realizes. Advertisements highlight what a desirable body is and individuals unknowingly believe it to be true. “Advertisements emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women”(Body Image and Advertising, “Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising”). Young female teenagers all over the world care about their physical appearance and want to look attractive and be the most beautiful girl out there. “Being thin, toned and muscular has become associated with the hard-working, successful, popular, beautiful, strong and the disciplined” (Live Life Get Active, “Body image, self-esteem and the influence of society”). By labeling thin women as beautiful, advertisements recklessly label fat people as lazy,

The media portrayed unrealistic images of models that send a harmful message to young women. It’s reflecting on our society by ‘inspiring’ young teens to achieve this look; as a result, the use of dangerous behaviours and extreme weight loss. Therefore, females are dominating the media and influencing young woman in the wrong areas. Therefore, The Fashion Industry is influencing young teens to compare themselves to other women. Young teens are becoming more interested in becoming like someone they admire rather than, become their best version of themselves. (Body size, Measurements, Meal Plans) The fashion industry is prompting extreme thinness and it’s confirmed in studies that unhealthy weight control is a severe issue in the Fashion Industry. (use of laxatives, Drugs, Extreme exercise, and Starvation) There are steps that can be taken to decrease the expectations of models. “Data shows that the American

Social Media is a world that is hard to keep up with and is constantly changing. There is new technology and features that are added to apps that are attracting younger populations every year. I babysat for a seven-year-old boy named William who would constantly ask to see my phone so he can take a picture of himself to make sure that he still looks good. A research question that a sociologist might ask is: How does Instagram use affect the self-esteem of young adults? Instagram use would be the independent variable since it is not affected or influenced by anything. Self-esteem is the dependent variable since the degree of self-esteem changes with the use of Instagram. My hypothesis would be, increased amount of Instagram use amongst young adults can negatively impact one’s self-esteem. For example, if a post is obtaining hundreds of likes, the person that originally posted the picture will start to feel popular and their self-value will increase. However, when there are no responders to the post it degrades the persons self-value and makes them feel less important. Self-worth of the adult is affected by the number of hours they put on posting, checking updates, and following other users.

The mass medium that use and rely the most was Instagram. Instagram is an convenient way to share the life with friends and family by using simple steps which is a snap a photograph then pick a filter o the app and convert the picture into a memory for life ("FAQ • Instagram", n.d.). The main function in Instagram is to make association with individuals who see the world in the beautiful ways, the users can discover about inspirational quotes and pictures to improve in their goals. Plus, it is also an straightforward instruments of giving incredible feedback whenever the users post something on using their account (Mitchell, 2012).