Schools Section: Part 8

A youth perspective: body image influences young people describe

The link between social media and body image

A growing body of research indicates that a link exists between social media use and body image concerns (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016; Tiggeman & Slater, 2013). To an adult observer, this is not surprising. Young people today are exposed to a nearly constant stream of “perfect”, flawless images online. Users often carefully manage their presentations online and create ideal images, which can differ significantly from their real selves (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011; Goodings and Tucker 2014).

It is not unusual for young people to edit their own photos. The use of filters and photo-shopping apps can make it very difficult for young people to feel content with their real selves.

Time spent online and on social media can increase exposure to beauty ideals, media messages and negative influences to body image.

As with anything however, there are pros and cons. Demonising social media and the internet is not helpful when encouraging students to develop healthy online behaviours and moderate time online. In reality, all we can do is steer them towards the positive content and away from the unhelpful stuff.

CHALLENGING SOCIAL MEDIA PRESSURE TO BODY IMAGE

Advice for promoting media literacy in students who are already using social media

Nobody’s life is like social media.

Talk to students about social media, about the types of images we see online (fun events, nights out, holidays, people dressed up, people who appear to be happy and having fun) and also what we don’t see (people tidying, making meals, emptying the dishwasher, relaxing in their comfortable clothes, people watching TV or on their phones). Help students to realise that most of the things we do everyday are not posted about on social media. People post the highlights on social media so we see a stream of images of people having a fantastic time but nobody’s life is like that all the time. Encourage students to think of social media as a ‘highlights reel’ and not representative of real life.

Notice how social media makes you feel

Young people recommend tuning in to how the different types of social media and pages you follow or people you are friends with on social media make you feel.

Youth Panel Tip: If a post makes you feel like changing yourself or makes you feel less happy with who you are, notice that. If every time you see a post from a particular person or page it makes you feel bad, notice that. Do you really want to see these posts all the time?

Advice from youth participants in focus groups with Bodywhys is to hide or unfollow pages or people who make you feel bad. They admitted this was more difficult with people they knew as their friends may notice that they no longer comment or like their posts but it could be helpful to discuss options around this with them – the discussion itself may prove beneficial in alleviating some of their angst.

It is empowering for young people to realise that they can shape their own social media pages so their time online is inspiring rather than draining.

Encourage students to reflect on the pages they follow and why. Are they following celebrity or sports pages because their friends do or because of their own interest? Encourage students to follow pages that are of genuine interest to them so that they get the most out of their time online.

Likes! Think about what YOU like instead of focusing on what other people like

This emphasis on appearance and external validation on social media can put a lot of pressure on body image. Posting and waiting for ‘likes’ can also leave us dependent on external validation from others, which will negatively impact our sense of self and self-esteem.

In focus groups conducted by Bodywhys the youth participants realised that a lot of the time we spend on social media is focused on what other people like – noticing how many likes your friend has, thinking of what to post that might get likes and noticing who has or hasn’t liked your posts. Young people indicated getting very ‘caught up’ thinking about who hadn’t liked their posts – particularly if a friend or someone they were attracted to, seemed to have been online and liked everyone else’s post but had not liked theirs. They indicated that this could play on their minds and make them doubt themselves for much longer than the amount of time they had spent online.

Realising the amount of time they devoted to likes empowered the young people to start to focus on what they like instead – to follow pages of genuine interest to them, to spend time figuring out what they like and to focus more on doing things they like. You could encourage your class to discuss how they could support each other in trying different things so they have plenty of interests and are less consumed by social media.

Stay away from social media if you are not in good form

Young people indicate that social media can cause them to compare themselves to others, which can result in them feeling bad about themselves. The risk of this occurring appears to increase if they are not feeling good. Encourage young people to consider other activities which might be helpful to engage in rather than spending time on social media if they are feeling down.