Reducing Social Media Use Significantly Improves Body Image in Teens, Young Adults (Article)

“A new study published today found that distressed youth who reduced their social media use by 50% for just a few weeks saw significant improvements in their attitude about their body image.

The research, published in Psychology of Popular Media involved 220 undergraduate students between the ages of 17 and 25. Researchers found that young people who reduced their social media use felt better about their appearance and weight.

“Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of body image issues, eating disorders and mental illness. Youth are spending, on average, between six to eight hours per day on screens, much of it on social media,” Gary Goldfield, PhD, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute said in a press release. “Social media can expose users to hundreds or even thousands of images and photos every day, including 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.”

“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,” Goldfield said.”

My Takeaways:

• According to this article, reducing social media use in teens and young adults has shown to increase body positivity and better feelings with one's body image, appearance and weight.

• Social media can expose an individual with content including celebrities, fashion models and fitness influencers promoting an almost constant stream of highly idealized body images which can influence one's expectations of what attractive bodies should be.

• It's important to realize social media is heavily influenced by editing, multiple photoshoots and filtering, that often promotes the ideal version of a person. Therefore images and content on social media will often be more idealized than the average person sees on a daily basis. Therefore social media exposure can skew our expectations of society and also promote unhealthy perspectives regarding body image and attractiveness.

How does social media affect self-esteem? Do you have experiences with social media affecting body images?

Full article is here!

#SocialMedia #Self-Esteem #BodyImage