Media has shaped us to believe that fitness is only based on looking attractive rather than becoming healthy. Fitness benefits us in many ways, It controls weight, prevents health diseases, boosts energy and promotes better sleep. As for body image, it is a picture in one’s mind of how they want their body to appear, which sometimes affects mentally; thoughts and feelings. Majority of SNS users are affected negatively by these thoughts, of not having the style the media has. Lots of young teens face challenges to be attractive from what they see on the media, such as low self-esteem, depression, poor health and self isolation from society (Deighton-Smith, & Bell, 2018). Also comparing themselves with their friends (Zimmer-Gembeck, Hawes, & Pariz, 2020). This all starts by facebook usage which influences womens internalization of beauty ideals, this relates to satisfaction of a female’s body and self-esteem (Strubel, Petrie, & Pookulangara, 2018). Media manipulates us, making us think that they want better for ourselves when they just want more SNS users on their platform. It sets a trend which the social media algorithm follows. They don’t care for how the individual will achieve their body goal. They promote people with toned bodies when really they want more viewers on their app. Earning themselves money with advertisements. Magazines also have included slim models on their covers for many years. They want young female teens to portray their ideal body image because it looks attractive. They have also ignored the views of oversized females since society doesn’t accept it. They have never included model diets to society. Such a topic should be cared for. In the past body image wasn’t looked at the same way as today. The mindsets were changed due to the media. Now people are more specific to having the right features and nice body. As females, like myself we need to look attractive and have the right body image according to the media. We should be dieting ourselves in a healthier way and be able to eat what we enjoy. Being skinny shouldn’t be a person’s goal, it should be being healthy. Moving forward in future years this idea will advance where people will be having surgeries to make themselves look better. I care for this topic because when I was a social media user, I looked up to having the ideal body by eating less. But ever since i deactivated social media platforms i feel free, more like im living in reality than expectations of i want to look like.
Fitness benefits us in many ways; controls weight, prevents health disease, boosts energy and promotes better sleep. The fitness movement on social media began by influencers from youtube putting out work out program videos for free. The trend began when the audience acknowledged the body shapes people maintained by following these workouts. Majority of the influencers were uploading these videos to benefit others by staying healthy while others profit off of merchandise. The gym memberships were constantly increasing due to this movement. Diet is the main source for staying fit. Some women start eating less to have a slim body. Bad diets can lead to both mental and physical issues. Eating less can lead to negative behaviors such as lack of sleep, stress and change of mood. Many people tend to cheat their way into getting fit by taking different supplements to gain muscles like steroids and different oils. Seems people want to see change quicker that they don’t see how it can be damaging to their health. Another way people cheat into deceiving themselves is catfishing people by photo editing apps. People tend to upload images of themselves that they find most attractive or alter their own appearance to meet their standards. Photo editing behaviors in relationships between internalization, media pressure, and body satisfaction in the SNS environment.(Lee, & Lee, 2019). They have stated that photo editing apps create negative media pressure that leads to body dissatisfaction. These beauty ideals make us compare ourselves with others. It can be thoughts of not having curves or weighting less and even doubting how you would look like in a dress. Societal beauty ideals relate inversely to the women’s satisfaction with their bodies and self-esteem.(Strubel, Petrie, & Pookulangara, 2018). Many of these dissatisfactions come from apps like facebook, the ads they put about skin, facials and hair related products which gives the users doubts in themselves. Even though both genders face doubts, it mostly affects women’s mood and behavior. Participants in general will face more negative moods on the platforms they usually go on rather than being told what to see. (Fardouly, Diedrichs, Vartanian, & Halliwell, 2015). On the other hand, the media does encourage us to workout to get that ideal body. We get a better knowledge on what people are attracted to. We also learn more things and engage in body positive conversations with other users. It can influence people on what types of food they should consume to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Fitness and food related accounts can inspire many people. However People get influenced simply by overthinking and comparing themselves to others. Negative body image can cause eating disorders. This leads to psychological addiction to social media needing to spend countless hours on it and even risks of depression, anxiety and self harm. It is important that we are aware of what we use social media for and how it affects us. So does social media impact body image?
The present studies have analyzed that media users are negatively affected by idolizing slim figures, causing them eating disorders and low self-esteem. First thing that was identified on the media was what kind of body image posts were sns users posting. With their study, they found that common types of images were used: people include text posts 42.37%, exercise related posts 31.67%, diet-related posts 25.21% and with the highest percentage, 52.01% for people included, themselves.(Deighton-Smith, & Bell, 2018). With the images they conducted a sign that the appearance has more influence and objectifying has more of a false view of fitness. Deighton-Smith and Bell reported, “Risks to health may reach clinical levels when negative body image leads to low self esteem and self worth, depression and disordered eating.” (Deighton-Smith, N., & Bell, B. 468). Meaning that people may face high levels of health problems without being conscious of it.With their research they also identified the percentage for genders posting on media. These included 68.27% of women, which were featured more than men, 31.45%. After the gender analysis it was clear how men showed their masculent selves; their arms, chest and half body posts. As for women their toned bodies, hips and revealing clothes. Some individuals when working for their ideal body don’t focus on the way they eat. They think eating less will contain less calories and less fat. Most of these people acknowledge their eating disorders but believe this to be a choice and not a disorder. They tend to overlook the actual problems. Influencers that are anorexic and feel good about their bodies receive negative feedback for the way they influence others. So this argument isn’t for only oversized sns users. Media does affect eating disorders and body image.(Holland, & Tiggemann 2016). Everyone cares for the way they present themselves and the thoughts can affect people emotionally and their behavior in society. This is because they compare themselves with others and doubt what they don’t have. Subscale scores interacted with general social media use have explained that it does add to appearance anxiety. (Zimmer-Gembeck, Hawes, & Pariz, 2020). Not only do they compare themselves to their friends but also models from magazines and tvs. According to one of the studies, “It was found that highly restrained students exposed to commercials with slim models and diet-related products ate less food.”(Anschutz, Van Strien, & Engels, 2008). Commercials are a way to grab our attention and make us persuade in to either buying the items or having that subject. The more we get inspired by it, the more users follow that lane.
In conclusion negative body image can lead to severe mental health problems. In order to maintain a healthy diet you have to have self love and respect. Another great way to stop comparing yourself to others is considering taking time off social media and focus on yourself. Though body dissatisfaction is influenced by many other factors it is important to acknowledge it. We should care about this topic because it has impacted people’s lives. The new generation focuses on caring about their appearance, they should be taught early in the age that caring for it will only let their self-esteem be low and will impact the way they think and act in general. Studies have shown a sign that appearance has more influence and objectifying has more of a false view of fitness. Media users should be educated in not feeling objectified or having to compare their bodies to others.
References
Anschutz DJ, Van Strien T, & Engels RC. (2008). Exposure to slim images in mass media: television commercials as reminders of restriction in restrained eaters. Health Psychology 278, 401-408.
Deighton-Smith, N., & Bell, B. (2018). Objectifying Fitness: A Content and Thematic Analysis of #Fitspiration Images on Social Media. Psychology of Popular Media, 7(4), 467-483.
https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fppm0000143
Harper, B., & Tiggemann, M. (2008). The effect of thin ideal media images on women’s selfobjectification, mood, and body image. Sex Roles, 58, 649– 657.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-007-9379-x
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13, 38–45.
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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144516300912
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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10410236.2012.755602
Zimmer-Gembeck, M., Hawes, T., & Pariz, J. (2020). A Closer Look at Appearance and Social Media: Measuring Activity, Self-Presentation, and Social Comparison and Their Associations with Emotional Adjustment. Psychology of Popular Media.
