PSYCHCENTRAL

How does social media affect body image?

Unrealistic BEAUTY STANDARDS
Social media platforms often feature images of people with seemingly
perfect faces and bodies, often using filters and photo editing tools to
enhance their appearance. This can create unrealistic beauty
standards, leading to body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem in both
women and men. In fact, social media filters have led to a condition
known as “snapchat dysphoria,” in which people become desperate to
look like the filtered version of themselves. The authors of a 2018
research paper Trusted Source state that several plastic surgeons have
shared that they’ve encountered people requesting to look like a
“filtered” Snapchat picture.

COMPARISON AND COMPETITION WORSENING OF BODY-IMAGE DISORDERS

Social media can create a toxic culture of comparison and
competition, where individuals compare their bodies to others and
strive to meet the same beauty standards. Many people tend to post
only their best photos, which may not be representative of their
everyday appearance. For both men and women, this can contribute
to negative body image and even lead to mental health issues, such as
Social media can make just about anyone feel like they don’t measure
up, but it’s even more detrimental for people with eating or body-image
disorders, such as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). According to the
International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), this is a serious condition
affecting about one in 50 people in the United States. People living with
BDD are typically preoccupied with at least one nonexistent or slight
defect in their physical appearance, and experience repetitive and
compulsive behaviors around their appearance, such as mirror

CYBERBULLYING
depression and anxiety. checking and reassurance seeking. These symptoms can be excessively
worsened by social media. Research shows that sexual minority men
experience elevated rates of psychiatric disorders for which body
Social media can be a breeding ground for cyberbullying where dissatisfaction is a central component, including eating disorder and
people are attacked for their body size, shape, or appearance. This BDD.
can have a damaging effect on body image and self-esteem. A 2018
Pew Research Survey found that 59% of U.S. teens have personally
experienced cyberbullying. This includes offensive name calling and
the spreading of false rumors, among other types of bullying.
 PSYCHCENTRAL
How does social media affect body image?
BODY POSITIVITY
Health and fitness inspiration
Social media can provide inspiration for leading a
When social media is used in a healthy way, it can be a
healthy and active lifestyle. There are numerous
platform for promoting body positivity, where people share accounts promoting healthy living, exercise, and
images of their bodies as they are, promoting self-love and nutritious food choices to encourage people to take
acceptance. Body-positive content often portrays non- care of their bodies.
enhanced, non-sexualized images of people with diverse
bodies. These images feature various body shapes and sizes, Community and support
races, physical abilities, and gender identities. In a 2021 study,
researchers looked at whether body-positive social media can
Social media can host supportive communities for
lead to improvements in body image. The experiment involved people working through body image disorders.
233 female-identifying participants who were randomly Support groups and online communities can provide
assigned to one of the following groups: The body-positive empathy, understanding, and encouragement to help
group: This group viewed a number of Instagram images people in their journey toward body positivity.
reflecting the body-positive movement. The body-positive
group with captions. This group viewed the same Instagram
images, but with accompanying captions and hashtags. The
control group. This group viewed a series of Instagram images
containing only cityscapes, without people and without
captions. Based on the findings, participants who observed
body-positive social media—either with or without captions—
experienced improvements in body satisfaction. These effects
were slightly stronger for the images with captions, suggesting
that words and phrases reinforcing these ideals may intensify
the positive impact.
 significantly improves body
image in teens, young adults

Redu WASHINGTON — Teens and young adults who reduced

their social media use by 50% for just a few weeks saw
significant improvement in how they felt about both their

cing
weight and their overall appearance compared with peers
who maintained consistent levels of social media use,
according to research published by the American
Psychological Association.

social
“Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development
of body image issues, eating disorders and mental
illness,” said lead author Gary Goldfield, PhD, of
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

medi
“Youth are spending, on average, between six to eight
hours per day on screens, much of it on social media.
Social media can expose users to hundreds or even
thousands of images and photos every day, including

a use
those of celebrities and fashion or fitness models, which
we know leads to an internalization of beauty ideals that
are unattainable for almost everyone, resulting in greater
dissatisfaction with body weight and shape.”

However, much of the psychological research on social media, body image and mental health is correlational,
according to Goldfield, so it is uncertain whether people with body image and mental health issues spend
more time on social media or if social media use leads to greater body image and mental health issues.

A m e r i c a n P s y c h o l o g i c a l A s s o c i a t i o n
Reducing social media use significantly improves body image in teens, young adults
To better understand the causal effects of reducing social media use on body image, Goldfield and his colleagues previously conducted a pilot study with
38 undergraduate students with elevated levels of anxiety and/or depression. Some of the participants were asked to limit their social media use to no
more than 60 minutes per day, while others were allowed unrestricted access. Compared with participants who had unlimited access, participants who
restricted their use showed improvements in how they regarded their overall appearance (but not their weight) after three weeks. Due to the small sample
size, though, the researchers were unable to conduct a meaningful analysis of the effect of gender.

The current experiment, involving 220 undergraduate students aged 17–25 (76% female, 23% male, 1% other) and published in the journal Psychology of
Popular Media, sought to expand the pilot study and address the gender limitation. In order to qualify, participants had to be regular social media users
(at least two hours per day on their smartphones) and exhibit symptoms of depression or anxiety.

For the first week of the experiment, all participants were instructed to use their social media as they normally would. Social media use was measured
using a screentime tracking program to which participants provided a daily screenshot. After the first week, half the participants were instructed to
reduce their social media use to no more than 60 minutes per day. At the start of the experiment, participants also responded to a series of statements
about their overall appearance (e.g., “I’m pretty happy about the way I look”) and weight (e.g., “I am satisfied with my weight”) on a 5-point scale, with 1
indicating “never” and 5 “always.” Participants completed a similar questionnaire at the end of the experiment.

For the next three weeks, participants who were instructed to restrict their social media use reduced it by approximately 50% to an average of 78 minutes
per day versus the control group, which averaged 188 minutes of social media use per day.
Participants who reduced their social media use had a significant improvement in how they regarded both their overall appearance and body weight after
the three-week intervention, compared with the control group, who saw no significant change. Gender did not appear to make any difference in the
effects.

“Our brief, four-week intervention using screentime trackers showed that reducing social media use yielded significant improvements in appearance and
weight esteem in distressed youth with heavy social media use,” said Goldfield. “Reducing social media use is a feasible method of producing a short-term
positive effect on body image among a vulnerable population of users and should be evaluated as a potential component in the treatment of body-image-
related disturbances.”

While the current study was conducted as a proof of concept, Goldfield and his colleagues are in the process of conducting a larger study to see if
reduction in social media use can be maintained for longer periods and whether that reduction can lead to even greater psychological benefits.

A m e r i c a n P s y c h o l o g i c a l A s s o c i a t i o n
How does
social
media
Social media can have an impact on your
body image and relationship with food,
due to increased exposure to thin and
toned body types and particular diets
Studies show that 88% of women compare
themselves to images they observe on
social media, with over half of them
emphasising that the comparison is
unfavourable.
Studies also show that 65% of men
compare themselves to images they
observe on social media, with 37% of them
indicating that the comparison is
unfavourable.
This is extremely problematic as this can
lead to lower self-esteem, an unbalanced
diet, deficiencies of vitamins and minerals
and possibly eating disorders.
emotion
matters
Visual body processing of others’ bodies also involves
processing of your own body, and body image is related to
perception and mental representation of a body.
It is crucial to acknowledge that how you experience your
body might not always reflect reality. A distorted perception
of your own body can manifest as body image distortions,
which might result in eating disorders.
BODY IMAGE
influence
body
image?
Social media allows you to feel like you
have a personal connection to the people
that share certain content (e.g. thin/toned
bodies and healthy food) which makes it
easier to be influenced.
The selected exposure and influence of
particular content can make you believe
that a thin/toned body type or a certain
diet is more natural than it actually is.
On social media, particular body types are
prioritised as ideal body types and this
may lead society to view these body times
and specific eating behaviours as more
attractive and healthier than other ones.
This also encourages the objectification of
bodies, whereby bodies that are observed
on social media are processed like objects
and not human bodies.
 These social norms may impact how you view your body because humans have
a general need to gain approval from others and avoid their disapproval. As a
result, might conform to the social norms related to appearance. Social media
THE
BODY
users often choose to share the best parts of their life with the world. We may
begin to feel that we are not good enough, compared to the people we see on
Instagram. This experience, coupled with photoshopped images promoting
thin ideals, can lead us to feel that by having the ‘ideal’ body image, we may
On social media, and especially on Instagram, it
feel more worthy and happier in ourselves.
is expected that you will remember images
more than words due to the image-focused
nature of the social network. You are likely to be

emotion
exposed to different trends on social media that
can have a damaging effect. For example, the
#fitspiration tag on Instagram is used to show

matters
pictures of thin and toned body types. Although
the intention of this tag is to inspire you to
become more healthy and fit, research on the
#fitspiration tag on Instagram shows that these
objectifying features of bodies have a negative
impact on people’s body image and self-esteem.
The effects of social media on your body image can lead to serious negative consequences for your psychological and physical wellbeing. Recently, the “eating healthy movement” has
Our thinking patterns can become hijacked and we may begin to notice exaggerated or imagined flaws in our physical appearance. This is
also become popular on Instagram. This might
called Body Dysmorphic Disorder, where we may find ourselves constantly checking for flaws, and finding it hard to shut out negative
be well-intentioned on the surface, but can have
thoughts about our bodies. We may also develop disordered eating behaviours, in an attempt to reach our idealised body shape ideal. We
negative consequences for your physical health.
may struggle with Anorexia Nervosa, where we may try to lose weight by restricting the food we eat and overexercising. The healthy eating
movement on social media has also been linked to Orthorexia Nervosa, which is characterised by an obsession with healthy eating and Some influencers might not provide any
limiting ‘bad’ foods, which can lead to malnutrition. Eating disorders can lead us to isolate ourselves from our friends and families, because scientific evidence when they encourage you to
we may not feel understood. We may find ourselves spending more time on social media, and falling deeper into a cycle of negative cut out particular food groups, or to follow a
comparison, guilt and low self-worth, and further eating disordered behaviour. There may also be negative consequences for your physical certain diet to achieve an ideal body type, which
health. Cutting out food groups can also result in an unbalanced diet and deficiencies win key minerals and vitamins. Malnutrition can can lead you to forming uninformed and
cause our bodies to crave certain foods for energy. In addition to psychological symptoms, nutritional deficiencies can lead us to feeling unhealthy eating habits.
exhausted, dizzy and unable to concentrate. In serious cases, malnutrition can cause us to develop fragile bones, hair loss and more.
CARTOONS

matters