Social media use has skyrocketed over the past decade and a half. Before social media’s gain of popularity, teens had about a handful of moments each week where they compared their bodies directly to their peers’. Media is infamous for having a significant effect on teenage girls. 

 Studies have shown a link between consistent media use and negative body image issues. Including dieting, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Mass media is often criticized for presenting unrealistic appearances ideals that contribute to the development of negative body image. Whether it’s the influence on their choice of friends, school, or their self image, the media has played an important role in affecting those decisions. 30 million people will experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives. 20 million women, 10 million men in America. Affecting any age, gender, race, ethnicity, or even socio-economic group. It can have an affect on adolescence, young children, older adults; Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is believed to be one of the most common eating disorders, especially in the United States. 

Social media is one of the greatest communication tools, it has changed the way we engage with one another. Social media platforms allow us to connect and communicate with anyone, anywhere — whether it’s by posting a picture, sending a tweet, or updating our status. Our lives will be on full display, as much as we desire it to be. Social media alone is typically not the sole cause of developing an eating disorder, it can play a significant role for those susceptible to eating disordered behaviors, anxiety, and depression. Many would say social media does in fact have a link between eating disorders, which is why it’s more common nowadays. Is it really true? Does social media have an impact on today’s society? Or is it just because they are bringing more attention into this major situation?

Social media is often seen to find a way to cure an individual “boredom”. Although many experts seem to claim otherwise. There’s multiple studies that focus on how people react when it comes to social media. Media is seen to be addictive, trigger more sadness, less well-being, comparing lives with others is mentally unhealthy, leading to jealousy, and a vicious cycle, we tend to get caught in the delusion of thinking it would help. Experts have not been in total agreement on whether internet addiction is a real thing, let alone social media addiction. Nottingham Trent University (2011) had conducted a study, looking back over earlier research on the psychological characteristics, personality and social media use. Authors, Daria J. Kuss and Mark D. Griffiths both concluded, “it may be plausible to speak specifically of ‘Facebook Addiction Disorder’… because addiction criteria, such as neglect of personal life, mental preoccupation, escapism, mood modifying experiences, tolerance and concealing the addictive behavior, appear to be present in some people who use [social networks] excessively.”. Swansea University (2017) also conducted a study, confirming people tend to undergo a certain kind of withdrawal. Finding people tend to experience psychological symptoms of withdrawal when they stopped using (went for all internet use, not just social media) — Study author Phil Reed said, “We have known for some time that people who are over-dependent on digital devices report feelings of anxiety when they are stopped from using them”. All in all, people tend to experience measurable physiological effects when social media is taken away from them. Studies have not proven there’s in fact a way someone may become social media addicts, anecdotal evidence suggests that it may be. 

Social media has always had the issue of participating in showing false images of what a healthy body seems to look like; no scars, no fat, no stretch marks, no acne. Media outlets showing what the “perfect” body looks like, is causing a negative impact to every woman, in every age group. But, mainly ones from the age of 19 to 25. “The mass media play an outsized role in the communication of cultural stereotypes about the aesthetics of body image. Bandura’s (2009) social cognitive theory, the mass communication-focused cultivation model, and the sociocultural perspective on body image assign central importance to media, emphasizing that exposure to media messages can impart unrealistic images of female beauty.” (P. M. Perloff). It’s no secret the media sends out false hopes of how a body should look like, even how it should be maintained. Media sends out many bodys that have been photoshopped throughout times. “Today’s adolescents live in a world surrounded and defined by media. They are heavy users of media many of which proffer unhealthy and unrealistic body images for adolescent viewers. Television, internet, music videos, magazines, and movies all feature unrealistic, unattainable icons of beauty and desirability.” (M. J. Hogan & V. C. Strasburger). Since the media has been around, more common since 2010, many adolescents have been surrounded by it. They would see what their parents are watching, older siblings, and relatives, hear what it is that they’re trying to broadcast — they would develop the idea that the ideal look is the perfect look for them, they need to look like that, they need to feel like that and so on. “A growing collection of literature demonstrates a consistently positive correlation between young women’s mass media consumption and body-related cognitions and behaviors, in particular eating disorder symptomatology and poor body image.” (K. Harrison & V. Hefner). Social media tends to send out false views of how people should look, with women consuming these types of behaviors, these types of images, they will start to convince themselves that what they need to look like. Nonetheless, women who spend more time on social media, have a high possibility of suffering a certain type of eating disorder, whether than someone who does not spend as much time on social media.

Social media tends to advertise a certain body type in particular; thin body ideal. There’s multiple literature on mass media that tend to focus on the effect on body image concerns of young adult women, but, there has been a small amount of little theoretically-driven research on processes and effects of social media on young women’s body image and self perceptions. “– Experiments have demonstrated that exposure to thin-ideal media images increases women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies, as well as negative effects. — Media exposure predicts body dissatisfaction, thin body ideals, and eating disorder symptomatology among preadolescent girls and young women.” (P. M. Perloff). Media has an effect on people’s ideologies leading to body dissatisfaction. Experiments have proven that women are more likely to experience body dissatisfaction after being on social media. “Studies have revealed that the increase in thin models and actresses from 1910 to 1930 and 1950 to 1980 was accompanied by an increase in disordered eating” (M. J. Hogan & V. C. Strasburger). The media seems to advertise models with a thin body, leading many women or any age to consider that to be the only way they would be “beautiful”. “An increased drive for thinness is a particularly robust outcome of media exposure, especially when the media in question are replete with images depicting and validating the thin female body ideal.” (K. Harrison & V. Hefner). When it comes to the “ideal” thin body type, women aren’t necessarily brought up thinking that’s how they need to look, this is an media ideal which is visibly proven that body image is constructed from several factors, but not limited to; individuals and media. It’s apparent that, women who tend to over-interalize the thin-ideal image tend to experience an increase in body dissatisfaction and decrease in self-esteem. If the mass media keeps advertising these unrealistic beauty standards, there will eventually be a high body dissatisfaction as well as an decrease in self-esteem. 

Since the media keeps advertising this certain body type, many corporations believe they can show women how these women maintain their figure. How they started looks like that, whether it’s brought to light or not; the media has had an impact throughout the years. Even though at one point we didn’t necessarily have social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tik Tok, media was once considered as magazines, newsletters and so on. These media outfits constantly showed the ideal women to be “thin” — with showing them, the media would show/as well as tell what they would eat in order for them to look like that. “Media images and messages offer powerful cues about how we need to look, what we need to eat, and what we must buy” (M. J. Hogan & V. C. Strasburger) The media is constantly pushing out “weight-loss” supplements, “hacks” they can do to lose a certain amount of weight within a time period. “Young girls are exposed to a great deal of adult-oriented programming and commercial advertising, and thus have many opportunities to witness portrayals of adult concerns like dieting and weight loss along with adult standards of attractiveness like the slim female body ideal.” (K. Harrison & V. Hefner). Even while growing up, we’re opened up to the idea of being “slim”, we can come across many advertisements, commercials, or even hear what other relatives are listening to. As the years go by, we’ve had this engraved in our minds. “– Ultra-thin images of feminine beauty, pictures of thin, sometimes photo-shopped, comparison others are widely available on social networking sites; sleek, slender images of female beauty dominate Thinspiration on Tumblr (sometimes with weight in pounds listed, along with before and after weight-loss images)”  (P. M. Perloff). Ultimately, there’s emphasis on body image, encouraging eating disorders and other dangerous behaviors, by showing participants losing as much as 30 pounds within a single week. This certain type of advertising is creating a disconnection between everyone who is being influenced. 

Social media is often used as a mental escape from reality, so much that it can be seen to be addictive for many people. The media sends out an unrealistic body expectation of many, heavily influencing this generation, especially young women, who might desire to look a certain way. These factors may intimately cause an unhealthy and unnatural eating habit which can do more harm than good not only physically, but mnetally as well. Eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating disorder have become much more common throughout the years, which many seem to blame the media for. Media was made as a form of entertainment, communication and so on. It shouldn’t have these effects on women. Many studies have found a strong link between consistent social media use and negative body image issues; dieting, self-objectification, and body surveillance. Although it may not be the cause for many eating disorders such as Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating disorder it’s proven to be the catalyst.

Swansea University. (2017, May 31). Internet withdrawal increases heart rate and blood pressure: Scientists find that internet withdrawal increases heart rate and blood pressure. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 21, 2021

Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD. Online Social Networking and Addiction—A Review of the Psychological Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2011

Perloff, R. M. (2014, May). Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns: Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research.

Hogan, M. J., & Strasburger, V. C. (2008). Body Image, Eating Disorders, and the Media.

Harrison, K., & Hefner, V. (2006, April). Media Exposure, Current and Future Body Ideals, and Disordered Eating Among Preadolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Panel Study