social media vs reality

If you mindlessly scroll through Instagram or Facebook whenever you have free time, you’re not alone. But have you ever wondered how all those images of other people’s bodies could be affecting how you view your own?

Social media is an important part of the lives of young people around the world. In Australia, approximately 72% of people actively use social media. In addition, young female users browse social media for around 2 hours every day. The most popular social media sites for young people are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube which are mostly image-related.

There has been talk for years about mainstream media affecting the body image of millions around the world but now with the new access of social media reaching a wider audience it has become a more serious issue.

There are benefits of social media such as increasing voter participation and facilitating political change, reducing social isolation, quick distribution of public health and safety information, disarming social stigmas like anxiety and depression, academic research, interacting with friends and family and professional networking sites. Although these benefits exist there are extreme negative outcomes that result from social media. Research shows there is a link between spending more time on social media platforms and greater body image concerns and eating disorders among young men and women.

Social media can be toxic for body image. It is highly visual and interactive, and appearance is central to success. Appearance comparisons is the most prevalent driver of the link between social media and body image concerns. Scrolling through social media sites we are faced everyday with the best selected, edited images - and the appearance-related comments - of celebrities, social media influencers and friends/family that presents an idealistic appearance to often young users.

An Australian study was done in 2018 by the Butterfly Research Institute called the 'insights in body esteem' report where Australians were asked to share insights into the perceptions of their bodies and how this impacts on their day to day life. 

The findings of this survey were:

• Over 40% of people are dissatisfied with their appearance.
• 73% of people wished they could change the way they look.
• 41.5% of people most of the time or always compare themselves to others on social media
• 48.6% felt pressure to look a certain way.

These statistics show the amount of people actually experiencing negative thoughts about their appearance and the pressure that social media has put on this.

People spend a great deal of time trying to perfect their feeds, constantly thinking about their next “selfie” opportunity and planning the right pose to capture their best and most attractive self. People often edit and add filters to their selfies, take many photos before choosing one to post and worry about the reaction of others. Due to the interactive and sometimes anonymous aspect of social media, feedback is instant and unfiltered meaning its filled with negative feedback and criticism. This creates greater pressure on appearance and competition with other users. The greater the effort and concern around creating and posting the most attractive pictures, the greater the body image concerns become.

Because there is such a large number of models, celebrities, advertisements, shows, and movies that portray the “ideal” yet unattainable body, there is no simple solution to stop the media’s influence and help people develop a better body image. One solution made was to make images more realistic by limiting the use of Photoshop or putting labels to warn readers that pictures have been manipulated which would help people have a more positive perception of their own bodies. Another solution that has been brought up is banning excessively thin models and using real women in fashion and social media as people would no longer be comparing themselves to something that isn’t realistic. These solutions and many others, if implemented correctly, could have a positive influence in peoples perception of their own body image and move towards reducing the numbers of people dissatisfied with their body and comparing their bodies to these different social media influencers.