What are Instagram's Negative Affects Regarding Body Image of Teenage Girls? by Alexa Augustyniak

Instagram and Body Image in Teenage Girls

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:21:45 UTC

Citation:

Milmo, Dan and Clea Skopeliti. “Teenage girls, body image and Instagram’s ‘perfect storm’ - The suffering of the photo-sharing app’s users came in focus this week with the leak of Facebook’s internal research ‘I felt my body wasn’t good enough’”. The Guardian. September 18, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/18/teenage-girls-body-image-and-instagrams-perfect-storm

Eating Disorder

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:22:40 UTC

Instagram causes eating disorders in teenage girls as a result of body dissatisfaction from what they see on Instagram. The image of the perfect body shown on social media causes women the desire to reach the thinness level through an eating disorder. On the other hand, Instagram simultaneously provides one of the most successful venues for the prevention of eating disorders.

Citation:

Thompson, Kevin and Leslie J. Heinberg. “The Media’s Influence on Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders: We’ve Reviled Them, Now Can We Rehabilitate Them?”. The A Journal of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. 1999. https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/0022-4537.00119?src=getftr

Ideal Body Image and Beauty Standards

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:43:25 UTC

Instagram sets the standard for the ideal body image: women have to be slim and men have to be muscular. In young teenage girls, it was found that they are more likely to idealize a thin body. Idealization of a body causes negative feelings, self-discrepancy, and social comparison. Also, emotional stress and anxiety. To have a thinner body is the idea of the perfect storm teenage girls are stuck in. They feel like they have to be perfect because of what they see posted on Instagram.

Body Image Issues

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:44:09 UTC

Instagram makes users who are teenage girls desire to have thinner bodies as a result of comparing themselves to unrealistic beauty standards. They negatively view their body. In a study, the results were that users of Instagram were more likely to desire a “thinner body” after using the app. This shows that Instagram is causing users to want to change their bodies and appearances as a result of seeing unrealistic body standards and questioning their body image. This extends the complexity of the idea from the source that mentions how 40% of teenagers felt unattractive after using the app.

What is the brain activity that provokes strong emotions?

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:45:58 UTC

In the early 2000s, it was brought to researchers that there is brain activity provoking strong emotions in teenagers. The limbic system in the brain evokes a strong emotional response. It is proven that adolescents will by swayed by emotions and let them take over. Adolescents rely heavily on the emotional part of their brain causing them to be overbeared by the emotions and letting them influence their decisions. Also, self-regulatory parts of the brain are still maturing, causing them to be more vulnerable. Through societal expectations, teenagers are exposed to the media and it easily influences them and causes them to feel emotions. Because of the way the adolescent brain works, teenagers are more likely to experience these heavy emotions, weighing out rational solutions causing them to develop eating disorders and constantly stimulate themselves to compare their bodies with the ideal beauty they see when scrolling through Instagram.

How does Instagram promote social comparison?

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:46:17 UTC

It is mentioned that Instagram is the most widely used in the study. The relationship between Instagram and social media comparisons regarding appearance results in a negative body image and body dissatisfaction. Social media use causes the use of social comparison, which leads to body dissatisfaction, ultimately contributing to adverse mental health effects like anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. This extends the complexity of the idea from the source that mentions how bad social comparison is on Instagram because of its algorithm that gets one stuck in a storm of harmful content.

Opinion

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:53:34 UTC

I agree that Instagram promotes the idea that everyone has to look their best all of the time. Celebrities are constantly showing off their bodies, setting the example of the unrealistic body and beauty standards that teenage girls desire to reach. This constant barbarization of what teenage girls are supposed to look like and the idea that they have to be skinny to be pretty or get a boyfriend can provoke unhealthy eating habits like anorexia and Bulimia. I see it, particularly in advertisements on television and from celebrities on social media like Kim Kardashian or Bella Hadid. As for Instagram promoting body positivity, it is hard to feel those emotions when it comes to one's own body, and it is easier to fall into the perfect storm of the body image accepted and desired by society. Although, it is a little extreme to assume every teenager will have an eating disorder.

Main argument of article

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:58:17 UTC

This informed nonfiction newspaper article by Milmo and Skopeliti from The Guardian describes how Instagram is negatively affecting the mental health of teenage girls. It provokes eating disorders, constant social comparison, body image dissatisfaction, and poor mental effects like depression and anxiety. Instagram focuses on body and lifestyle, which targets teenage girls to have negative mental effects like suicidal thoughts and body dysmorphia. It is meant to educate the parents of teenage girls to spread awareness of the negative body image, anxiety, and depression Instagram can cause. This can help promote body positivity.

Key terms

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 19:58:29 UTC

Esteem-damaging: Extremely critical of oneself causing low self-esteem
The perfect storm: The idea of being stuck to constantly obsessing over obtaining the ideal body image
Body image: The thoughts and feelings one has about their body
Instagram: Photo and video-sharing social networking service
National Eating Disorder Association: Provides free peer support to anyone struggling with an eating disorder
Mental health: Psychological and emotional well-being
Social Comparison: Identifying similarities and comparisons

Background Information

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 20:27:43 UTC

Posts on Instagram make teenage girls more likely to have an eating disorder and harm their bodies as a result of body image dissatisfaction and the desire to be thin like the ideal model of women they see on Instagram. They want to look more like those women and reach the nearly impossible beauty standard, which ultimately causes them to have an eating disorder. Instagram causes negative body image because it focuses on appearance and the idea that everyone should always look their best, causing pressure and the need to look good like the ideal standards that are out on social media. Teenage girls experience these strong emotions because of the way the adolescent brain works within the limbic system. The media has the dominant role in influencing beauty standards and what the ideal body is. This causes self-discrepancy of the ideal body versus one's own body.

Bella Hadid showing off ideal body image

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 20:41:09 UTC

This provokes teenage girls to have eating disorders, social comparison capacities, and body image issues.

Lizzo promoting body positivity on Instagram

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 20:45:30 UTC

Although Instagram sets ideal body images and standards to follow promoting bad mental health effects and eating disorders, it is more complex because Instagram also offers a wide platform to promote body positivity.

Opinion

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 20:51:05 UTC

I think the minds of adolescents also play a role in the negative effects Instagram causes on teenage girls. The brain activity within teenagers contributes to why they feel such strong emotions that lead to anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. I think the maturing brain works differently because I occasionally do not feel pretty enough when looking at girls on Instagram in comparison to my mother who does not think about herself in any way when looking at Instagram posts. Being a teenager provides those strong emotions because of brain activity.

Opinion

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 21:04:21 UTC

I think that Instagram sets the bar for what girls are supposed to look like. When scrolling through, I find myself socially comparing myself to the celebrities I see. It is hard to not feel negative emotions when realizing the body image I see from others differs from my own.

Opinion

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 21:12:53 UTC

I think that social comparison is inevitable when utilizing social media from a teenage girl's perspective. They want to be beautiful and liked, and they are easily influenced causing them to want to look like the ideal image of beauty they see on Instagram.

How can we change body image issues in teenage girls?

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 21:19:53 UTC

Promoting change is important to solve this issue regarding body image issues in teenage girls as a result of Instagram. In the article, it mentions how parents, educators, and politicians should be the ones guiding teenagers to make healthy decisions. But that is not the only argument offered in the article. It also gives another solution for change through teenagers making the initiative for themselves by posting realistic content about the world to build their confidence back up. In my opinion, I think the solution is for parents to teach their children they are beautiful no matter what they see on Instagram.

Anxiety/Depression/Suicidal thoughts

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 21:22:43 UTC

Instagram targets teenage girls, causing them to have body dissatisfaction and negative body image. This causes other mental health effects. It can cause teenagers to have anxiety, depression, or even suicidal thoughts. Instagram's standard of having a perfect body can be damaging to the mental health of teenage girls in such a vulnerable and troubling time of life. I think this is true for some teenagers, but not all. I personally have not experienced depression because of Instagram, but I know it is true for others.

Opinion

aia66_ — 2023-11-20 21:30:24 UTC

I think body image issues are inevitable when using Instagram. Seeing thin and beautiful girls set an unrealistic beauty standard, causes teenage girls to feel negative emotions regarding their bodies. When I scroll through Instagram I tend to catch myself thinking how I wished my body looked like hers or I wish I was as pretty as her, and then I feel badly about my own body.

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 22:37:28 UTC

Kim, Hye. “What do others’ reactions to body posting on Instagram tell us? The effects of social media comments on viewers’ body image perception”. New Media & Society. 2021. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444820956368

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 22:45:27 UTC

Arain, Mariam, et al. “Maturation of the adolescent brain”. National Library of Medicine. April 3, 2013. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 22:48:14 UTC

Jung, Jaehee, et al. “Social media usage and body image: Examining the mediating roles of internalization of appearance ideals and social comparisons in young women”. Science Direct. October 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563222001790?fr=RR-2&ref=pdf_download&rr=829c798e7ec81885

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 22:59:44 UTC

Maes, Chelly and Laura Vandenbosch. “Adolescent girls’ Instagram and TikTok use: Examining relations with body image-related

constructs over time using random intercept cross-lagged panel models”. Science Direct. June 2022. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144522000791?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=8269e8c0ee0c0f8c#bib1

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 23:38:08 UTC

Hadid, Bella. “New @victoriassecret campaign out now. 🖤 #victoriassecret”. Instagram, July 5 2023, https://www.instagram.com/p/CuVjl1etpGc/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Citation

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 23:42:23 UTC

Lizzo [@lizzobeeating]. “The body-positive movement is the body-positive movement, and we high five. We're parallel. But my movement is my movement. When all the dust has settled on the groundbreaking-ness, I’m going to still be doing this. I’m not going to suddenly change. I’m going to still be telling my life story through music. And if that’s body positive to you, amen. That’s feminist to you, amen. If that’s pro-black to you, amen. Because ma’am, I’m all of those things.” - link in bio. @allure”. Instagram, March 6 2019, https://www.instagram.com/p/BurBA2FAlQv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Citation of words

aia66_ — 2023-11-21 23:47:16 UTC

Oxford English Dictionary Online, oed.com.db29.linccweb.org/view/Entry/ 178498?rskey=KMsv72&result=1#contentWrapper

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