ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role that Instagram plays in the increase of body image issues among teenage girls in Australia. Whilst body image challenges are not a new problem for female adolescents, the rise in popularity of the use of Instagram for this demographic and the online participation in the Platform’s community network are exacerbating this problem. This essay gathers evidence through the investigation of how teenage girls interact with Instagram, how they participate in Its online communities, and what content they are presented with and why. With the prevalence in the use of the Platform’s image editing and filter functions, adolescence females are becoming confused about which images depicted are authentic and which have been altered to appear flawless, resulting in dissatisfaction of their own appearance. In addition to this, ease of access, algorithms, and the infiltration of artificial intelligence (AI) are contributing to the demise of a healthy body image amongst young women.

Having a healthy body image is not a new problem that is facing teenage girls, however, social media platforms, such as Instagram, seem to be exemplifying this issue by promoting the use of filters and editing software of the user’s photos in order to have their selfies appear flawless (Tremblay, et al., 2021). Social media use is associated with increased body image concerns, depression, and disordered eating amongst teenage girls (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022). Insta-famous influencers and celebrities that teenage girls admire and aspire to be like, along with their peers and members of their virtual community groups, are posting photos of themselves which are being used as a comparison by these young girls to try and achieve unattainable perfection of digital beauty standards (Kleemans et al., 2016). Unbeknownst to the adolescent girls, more often than not, these images that they are comparing themselves to have been heavily edited and are vastly different to how they would appear in reality (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2019). The prevalence of ‘selfie-culture’ and filtered and edited images of females on the social media platform, Instagram, is correlated with an increase in body image issues amongst teenage girls in Australia and other countries. The inability to differentiate between edited and unedited images, participating in online virtual communities, the increase in accessibility to social media platforms, algorithms and the infiltration of artificial intelligence are all strong contributors to the demise of adolescent girls’ body confidence.

Instagram is creating the perfect storm for body issues with adolescent girls making upward social comparisons without realising that they are comparing themselves to unrealistic ideals of edited selfies (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022). Adolescence is an important time for physical, social, cognitive, and emotional changes in a young female’s life, and this is also a key time for identity formation (Papageorgiou et al., 2022). Particularly for young girls, this time is when social media platforms, such as Instagram, begin to be used frequently to view and share content with friends and strangers alike, hoping to gain acceptance and approval from other viewers, forming their identity and developing a feeling of belonging (Papageorgiou et al., 2022). Instagram’s appeal to this demographic is strengthened by the platform’s offering of a large variety of free photo filters to ‘enhance’ and alter the user’s images in order for them to appear flawless and more desirable. However, reports show that manipulating photos leads to lower self-esteem, particularly in girls with a higher tendency to make social comparisons (Kleemans et al., 2016).  At a young and vulnerable age, body dysmorphia and other related body image distortions may occur from the acceptance of sociocultural norms during the teenage years and identity formation. This is exacerbated when selfie filters are involved (Tremblay et al., 2021). Body dysmorphia disrupts aspects of personal identity.

Filters that airbrush skin, slim waist size, and plump lips present an idealized version of the user’s self that fit the realms of the ‘digital beauty standards’, leaving the teen dissatisfied with their real self (Tremblay et al., 2021). This filter façade blurs the line between reality and Instagram and raises the importance of the need for teenage girls to be able to distinguish between the two. Tiggemann & Anderberg’s study showed that showing young girls real photos vs Instagram photos had an immediate positive reaction and reduced the negativity that appearance-based social comparisons have. The study concluded that showing adolescence girls the vast difference between edited and unedited images actually had the potential to increase women’s body image satisfaction and could be used as a tool in promoting a healthy body image and challenging societal beauty ideals (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2019). The study further found that when adolescent girls were shown a heavily edited photo of one of their peers, they could easily identify that the photo had been edited. This demonstrates their understanding for ‘reality versus Instagram’ and that the danger of body issues are arising from the unrealistic comparison that comes from a celebrity or someone else that they didn’t know personally (Kleemans et al., 2016).

The posting of adolescent girls’ selfies on Instagram act as an invitation for feedback in an open-forum.  Whether the feedback is perceived as ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ comments, the fact that the attention is drawn to her appearance at all places value and importance on this and can risk leading to mental health and body issues (Delanty, 2018). Women’s perceptions of their bodies, and ultimately their self-worth, is affected by image-centric platforms like Instagram (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018). Community itself has been redefined by the internet where users can communicate, interact, and share photos and knowledge with no geographical barriers or limits (Delanty, 2018). These communities are no less real than traditional ones, however, perhaps what is distinctive about virtual communities, such as Instagram, is the greater role it gives to communication (Delanty, 2018). Virtual communities mean that internet users can now hide behind keyboards and hide their true identities on Instagram. These virtual communities can often be thin and fragile, based on weak ties, and often interactions are anonymous, opening adolescent girls up to more harsh and negative comments than they would most likely receive during face-to-face interactions (Delanty, 2018). Hampton & Wellman (2018) argues that social media and social relationships has led to a loss of community and the moral panic that surrounds this. Feltman & Szymanski’s study shows that, interestingly, neither positive or negative appearance-related commentary linked back to the way that females felt about their bodies, suggesting that social media commentary may not have a significant influence (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018). Even so, “although this may seem counterintuitive, even positive appearance commentary focuses a female’s attention away from how she feels and onto how she looks” (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018, p. 313).

Adolescent girls find it hard to disconnect from these communities and images on Instagram due to the pervasive and easy access that social media platforms allow through highly personalized technological devices, such as mobile phones (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023). So much so that the distinction between real and imagined community becomes a false one, with young girls taking the images they see on Instagram as real, when in fact they have been edited and filtered (Delanty, 2018). With popular social media platforms, such as Instagram, being installed on the vast majority of the population’s, including teenage girls’, smart phones, the access to filtered and edited images and shared communities are too readily accessible (Rozgonjuk, et al., 2023).  Rozgonjuk et al.’s (2023) study finds that the amount of time that adolescent girls used their smartphones directly correlated with eating disorder symptomatology and poor body image. Choukas-Bradley et al. (2022) claims that social media use is associated with increased body image concerns, depression and disordered eating amongst teenage girls. Having the Instagram app on their mobile phones allows for more regular social media use and, in turn, comparisons to ‘ideal’ images, resulted in decreased dissatisfaction of their bodies (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2019). Furthermore, the latest smart phones have high quality cameras installed for users, including adolescent girls, to have on hand to take selfies with ease and then share on Instagram (Rozgonjuk et al., 2023). This pervasive connectivity and selfie tools provide temptation for these young girls to participate in ‘selfie-culture’; and compare their images to others on Instagram, often leading to ongoing body surveillance and self-objectification, opening themselves up to commentary and criticism (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018).

There is an increasing number of Instagram’s filters and the advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) on social media platforms, all that are on offer to adolescent females, raising the question around who is ethically responsible for the body issues of these young women. Social comparisons and internalisation of sociocultural image ideals are key processes by which Instagram use affects body image (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022). Algorithms and filter bubbles are heavily used by Instagram and are designed to ensure personalised content of interest is presented quickly and easily to social media users. Instagram uses these tools to entice and hook adolescent women into spending long periods of time scrolling through images of their peers and female celebrities, who appear to look perfect, but usually with the help of filters and editing software (Tremblay, et al., 2021). The societal concern around the effects of manipulated images in social media is justified, especially for the girls with higher social comparison tendency (Kleemans et al., 2016). Filter bubbles are pervasively exposing these young women to images of perceived perfection by keeping their online Instagram use surrounding by like-minding accounts and channels (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018). The introduction of automated selfie filters mean that these young women are having these filters applied in the first instance, and then having to remove the filters manually, only to be constantly reminded of the unobtainable beauty that they don’t possess in real life (Tremblay et al., 2021). The removal of these automatic filters, together with bigger transparency around which images used filters, would be beneficial to lowering the expectations of these digital beauty standards. Education around distinguishing whether images presented on Instagram are real or heavily edited is one way to navigate around body issues amongst adolescent females (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2019). In a 2022 study, it was concluded that developmental factors, such as age, play a large role in identity implications of social comparisons on Instagram during adolescent years (Noon & Schreurs, 2022). Furthermore, the study demonstrated that support is required from adults in teaching these young females how to navigate the platform in a way that is safe for their mental wellbeing (Noon & Schreurs, 2022).

Whilst body issues amongst adolescent females may not be a new problem, selfie-culture with filter use and online image sharing on Instagram is certainly exacerbating this problem by drawing attention to one’s own image by way of comparison (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018). The rise in popularity of filters on Instagram has created confusion amongst young girls around what is real and achievable, and what is clearly edited and unattainable (Tiggemann & Anderberg, 2019). Adolescent girls are participating in communities and social networks on Instagram that share the same emphasis and importance on one’s appearance and selfie-culture as they do (Choukas-Bradley et al., 2022). Advances in technology mean that Instagram and having a high quality phone camera is on hand via young girls’ mobile phones, and images of women with ‘ideal’ appearances are being presented to them unwillingly with the use of algorithms and filter bubbles from Instagram (Rozgonjuk  et al., 2023). Because of the expanding frequency of image-sharing online, adolescent girls may need support to develop their self-esteem and become more educated participants in digital image sharing. This includes being able to identify when images have been edited or filtered and understand that they are unrealistic and unattainable, in turn resulting in a healthier body image (Papageorgiou et al., 2022).

References

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