Social media has become a great way to communicate, interact and share information with not only your friends and family but the entire world and has even evolved from having a predominantly teen and young adult audience to being a tool for people of all ages (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023). An example of such a platform is Instagram, where the content is generally created, publicized, and made popular by user interaction and activity (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). Although there are many positive to social media there are also many negatives to be considered such as the effects of comparing oneself to others that are believed to be better and more desirable (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). Another consideration is the idea of a ‘perfect body’ and the use of posing and editing software to create this ideal image of oneself that is then portrayed to the outside world as true, effectively continuing a toxic cycle of being ‘not enough’ (Glaser, et al., 2024; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). The harmful effects of such content have led to a need for social advocacies that express a ‘normal’ or ‘average’ body type and lifestyle to help show youths that there is not only one type of ‘ideal’ (Glaser, et al., 2024; Brathwaite, et al., 2023). Nonetheless, even though Instagram has its negative it is also a space where some have been able to explore and express their identity and have been able to freely develop and showcase their growth and achievement over time (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023; Ikegami, 2011, Glaser, et al., 2024). Therefore, while Instagram offers its users an opportunity and space to explore their identity, those expressions can have a negative effect on others who consume and are unable to immediately relate to some content (Glaser, et al., 2024; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023).
Social media’s recent growth and popularity has led to many platforms becoming a space to post and publicize, as well as source for, images and videos featuring a glamorous lifestyle or self-image (Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022). One of these platforms that features mainly images is the incredibly popular global social network: Instagram (Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022). As this platform has become widely known for a source of aesthetics and generally attractive images it has led many researchers to question the negative effects of this app when taking into consideration the human tendency to compare themselves to others (Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022; Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023). Multiple studies have been undertaken and completed where researchers requested and compared the information of Instagram users in an attempt to determine if more time spent on the app lead to a decrease in body image satisfaction (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022). These studies found that both women and men who spent more time on Instagram had higher levels of body dissatisfaction, regardless of their actual body mass index and shape as they continued to compare their physical appearance, lifestyle, belongings and features to that of, essentially, strangers (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). These studies have also found that women use the Instagram app more than men and spend, overall, more time on the app, checking, posting, liking and commenting and as such many results provided that this issue had a higher effect on women as more women were shown to have more and higher level of body dissatisfaction than men through their greater general use of the app (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Rosgonjuk, et al., 2023). As Instagram is an app that relies on users posting, editing, commenting, sharing and liking posts it opens and somewhat encourages its users to evaluate not only their own physique but also the physical appearance and lifestyle of others (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Rosgonjuk, et al., 2023). This form of engagement fundamentally relies on users further promoting, by liking and sharing, images that they find desirable and appealing which further perpetuates their body dissatisfaction and they are then in constant desire to achieve those physical attributes, appearance, items and lifestyles, especially as the more they interact with such content the more the algorithms expose them to such content (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Rosgonjuk, et al., 2023). When exposed to images of a user’s idea of a ‘perfect body’ people are proven to have a tendency to compare themselves more and more as well as continuing to subject themselves to such content through interacting with such posts and constantly aiming to one day achieve their chosen ideals (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Rosgonjuk, et al., 2023).
Instagram is a particularly good example of a social media platform that has created an environment where there is a pressure to only post images that are aesthetically pleasing and conform to the idea of a ‘perfect’ or ‘ideal’ body type (Glaser, et al, 2024; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). Many of the apps’ most popular users promote a ‘perfect body’ that they portray is characterized by health and fitness and that physical activity and healthy eating is all a person needs to achieve their emphasized attractiveness (Rozgonjuk, 2023). Although some of these users may put a lot of time and effort into their content and genuinely aim to increase awareness of healthy eating and an active lifestyle with intensely self-curated posts, due to the platforms underlying reputation for visually aesthetic content most users who view their content only consider the ‘perfect body’ they have been confronted with (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023; Glaser, et al., 2024). However, it also well known that photo editing software is commonly used throughout social media platforms, including Instagram, which causes the ‘ideal’ body that is being shown and portrayed as true and achievable to be a harmful lie (Rozgonjuk, et al, 2023; Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023). As everyone who is looking at the edited image and believing it to be real and ideal and therefore trying to achieve those goals after comparing their own lives and bodies to what is shown it continues to damage their self esteem and body satisfaction and can even lead to internalizing body image disorders, eating disorders and in more extreme cases a mortality rate (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023, Glaser, et al., 2024). This can be especially harmful to teenagers and young adults as the confrontation of a ‘perfect body; that is dissimilar to their own in addition to cultural, societal and peer pressures to achieve and look aesthetically appealing can directly affect their own image of their still growing bodies (Glaser, et al., 2024). Albeit such pressures and struggles are easily hidden through motivational colloquialisms such as ‘#goals’ and ‘fitspiration’ (Glaser, et al., 2024). Moreover, as a person’s identity is critically developed throughout their teenage and young adult years exposure to such content and pressures can significantly influence their identity development and what they perceive as important and ‘ideal’ (Glaser, et al., 2024). Yet many user have adapted to external and internalized pressures by learning to edit their posted images to show their peers and followers that they too are able to look and act and afford a certain way and lifestyle in an attempt to ‘fit in’ with the current trends (Glaser, et al., 2024).
An overwhelming amount of content that contains similar content, body types and lifestyles that can be unattainable for some and sometimes purely unrealistic has led to a need to body positive movements and advocacy throughout social media (Glaser, et al., 2024; Brathwaite, et al., 2023; Ghosh, 2023). Instagram is one of many platforms that hosts many user-generated body positive advocacies which aim to spread positive body image and ideals and showcase multiple different body types and beauty standards and broaden the idea of a ‘perfect body’ (Brathwaite, et al., 2023; Ghosh, 2011). This has also gone beyond into an older generation od advocates expressing their lives as older women and the idea of ‘ageing gracefully’ with the intention of adjusting societal and inline stereotypes that old women and frail and weak (Ghosh, 2023). Another movement towards body positivity has been users posting themselves with out posing or showcasing what society would normally pressure a person to hide on purpose, such as body fat, wrinkles and cellulite (Glaser, et al., 2024). There have been studies which compared the effects of body positive posts on youths which resulted in some appreciating the diversity of the body positive posts and bettering her own idea of her body image which was the intended us of such a post, positive influencing their development and body positive identity (Glaser, et al., 2024).
Although Instagram has its downsides it also has some great positives, such as a space for people to express themselves and their interests and showcase their development and ways they have achieved their lifestyle or aesthetic goals (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). Instagram is also an environment for users to create and develop their own identity’s which some users have taken full advantage of and have created entire accounts that represent themselves and what they believe is important to them (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023; Ikegami, 2011, Glaser, et al., 2024). Users are able to lean into the concept of a networked self and open themselves up to the digital environment and find likeminded peers and continue to adapt and express themselves through platforms such as Instagram (Ikegami, 2011; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). Instagram has also been one of the social media platforms to offer job opportunities to their influencers which allow them to work with brands, big and small, and increase their exposure and promote what they believe in as they choose through things such as brand based engagements and personalized codes for discounts and gifts (Shen, 2024).
The interpretation of Instagram posts can depend heavily on a persons cultural, social and internal pressure regardless of the intention of the post itself and can cause more harm to a persons developing identity or further perpetuate a persons developed self-image (Alfonso-Fuertes, et al., 2023; Legkauskas and Kudlaite, 2022; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). However, it does not help when what is posted on Instagram that is meant to represent a realistic and healthy body has actually been edited and altered to fit into the current body trends (Glaser, et al., 2024; Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023; Brathwaite, et al., 2023). Increasing amounts of content portraying one type of body image and lifestyle has led to users joining forces to create and continue body positive and diversity movements to help develop a more body positive and diverse societal identity rather than focusing on one ‘ideal body type’ (Glaser, et al., 2024; Brathwaite, et al., 2023; Ghosh, 2023). Nevertheless, although much of Instagram can be harmful to the identity development of youths there are also good opportunities and a free digital space for self-expression (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023; Ikegami, 2011, Glaser, et al., 2024; Shen, 2024).
Reference List
Alfonso-Fuertes, I., Alvarez-Mon, M., Rafael Sanchez, d. H., Ortega, M. A., Alvarez-Mon, M., & Molina-Ruiz, R. (2023). Time Spent on Instagram and Body Image, Self-esteem, and Physical Comparison Among Young Adults in Spain: Observational Study. JMIR Formative Research, 7https://doi.org/10.2196/42207
Brathwaite, K. N., DeAndrea, D. C., & Vendemia, M. A. (2023). Non-Sexualized Images and Body-Neutral Messaging Foster Body Positivity Online. Social Media + Society, 9(4)https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231207852
Glaser, H. C., Jansma, S. R., & Scholten, H. (2024). A diary study investigating the differential impacts of Instagram content on youths’ body image. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 458. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02960-3
Ghosh, M. (2023). Female Instagram elderly influencers countering the ageing narratives. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 804. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02323-4
Ikegami, E. (2011). Visualizing the Networked Self: Agency, Reflexivity, and the Social Life of Avatars. Social Research, 78(4), 1155-1184. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/visualizing-networked-self-agency-reflexivity/docview/1010360723/se-2
Legkauskas, V., & Kudlaitė, U. (2022). Gender Differences in Links between Daily Use of Instagram and Body Dissatisfaction in a Sample of Young Adults in Lithuania. [Spolne razlike u povezanosti izmedu svakodnevnoga korištenja Instagrama i nezadovoljstva tijelom na uzorku mladih odraslih osoba u Litvi] Psychological Topics, 31(3), 709-719. https://doi.org/10.31820/pt.31.3.12
Rozgonjuk, D., Ignell, J., Mech, F., Rothermund, E., Gündel, H., & Montag, C. (2023). Smartphone and Instagram use, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders: investigating the associations using self-report and tracked data. Journal of Eating Disorders, 11, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00865-1
Shen, Z. (2024). Shall brands create their own virtual influencers? A comprehensive study of 33 virtual influencers on Instagram. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 177. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02698-y
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.