Braden Garcia

Samantha Gonzalez

ENC 1102

3/13/24

Literature Review Rough Draft

Social media presence has grown since the release of popular platforms such as

Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and snapchat. It is especially popular today with TikTok

having millions of users. One of the large topics on the platform is the fitness industry. Previous

research has shown a correlation between social media and the fitness industry. The effects of

how users react to the content, and how they compare their bodies to those they see on social

media. Many of the creators today can be categorized as narcissistic, or not actually promoting

health, rather using their platform as an ego boost. Research has been done on the topic, however

less research has been done on the dissuasion from the gym and how TikTok is making this

problem worse. This research reveals how social media negatively affects the fitness industry,

turning people away from the gym and increasing body dysmorphia.

Creators today rely on an internet personality that makes them different from the rest to

succeed. An example of this is the popular content creator on TikTok, known as Shizzy, who

makes fitness videos where he simply flexes in the mirror and makes odd faces. He has many

followers who I have found attempt to recreate and make related videos. This ties into Rachel

Mooney’s (2018) study, “The Impact of Social Media and Social Media Influencers on

Millennials' Motivation Towards Gym Usage." where one of the participants stated that a factor

that turned them away from the gym is that everyone is just obsessed by the way that they look.
It shows that more people are being dissuaded from the gym due to content creators like Shizzy

and his audience.

The effects that social media has on body dissatisfaction/ eating disorders is widely discussed.

For example, Mackenzie Norton, "Fitspiration: Social Media's Fitness Culture and its Effect on

Body Image" found in her survey that more than 40 percent of the 188 participants felt

negatively about their bodies after viewing those on social media. Another example, in Ariana

Farcai’s essay, “The Influence of TikTok and Social Media on Body Dissatisfaction and

Disordered Eating Behavior in College-Aged Women." (2023). It was found that college aged

women who viewed diet content on TikTok had significantly higher body dissatisfaction than

not. Also, women who viewed diet content on TikTok had significantly higher body

dissatisfaction than those who did not. This essay references the large audience, nearing 1 billion

monthly users, that TikTok has. A sizable portion of the content being food, health, or fitness

related. This is significant due to many already thin women have been extensively interacting

with weight loss content. This was shown in Anna Avilla’s study, “When the algorithm strikes

against you: an analysis of the impact of diet culture content on TikTok on the development of

eating disorders dissatisfaction among and body female undergraduates.” This is because being

thin has now been linked to being healthy. Foods are now being labeled as socially good or bad.

This is a problem due to the large popularity of TikTok, as many of its users are feeling more

dissatisfied with their bodies, on top of the problem that foods are being labeled as socially

acceptable or not. This is causing an increase in eating disorders, as backed by Avilla’s study.

On the marketing side of things, many useless products have flooded the TikTok shop,

and they are causing an increase in consumer waste. Products such as Ekko vision Creatine, or a

15-day Gut Cleanse, and people are attempting to get fast fitness results and weight loss, and this
is also a problem. For example, in Wainaina Kamau’s study, “Effectiveness of Content Marketing

Through Social Media Towards the Growth of the Fitness Industry in Nairobi.” She expressed

that social media marketing has caused an increase in activity in the fitness industry. However,

this is not always positive.

In conclusion, the growing popularity of social media correlates with over consumerism,

consumer waste, and a negatively changing fitness community. Specifically, the linkage between

TikTok and body dissatisfaction. As well as the increase in eating disorders and overall

discouragement from the gym because of social media.