Social Media and Body Image Research Paper

In a society that is constantly advancing, we are always around the media. Media refers to the multiple ways there is to communicate with others which might be news, movies, music, and the most common social media. As a result of this, questions about the media rise. One of the questions that arose was How does the media influence our thinking and our lifestyle? To make it clear, yes the media has an influence on our thinking and our lifestyles. With the constant exposure to media, it was bound to have an impact on the people in the society. The media influences our thinking  by creating certain beliefs about our bodies and causing body disatisfaction. The media also influences our lifestyles by causing body dissatisfaction problems and eating disorders. 

One of the most common ways that the media impacts our thinking is by imposing the believe of a “perfect body.” The “perfect body” is literally seen and talked about everywhere from movies to social media and even on the radio. This idea is instilled from a very young age and stays for years after that. Dittmar stated “"Body perfect" ideals are communicated early to children, for example through dolls such as Barbie, and girls as young as 5 to 7 years reported lower body esteem and a greater desire for a thinner body directly after exposure to such doll images (Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive, 2006). (Dittmar 2009) Even as a children you are pushed towards a harmful belief that your body is not considered perfect. The “perfect body” sets a certain standard for bodies to be considered perfect an a part of beauty. According to “The developmental effects of media-ideal internalization and self-objectification processes on adolescents’ negative body-feelings, dietary restraint, and binge eating,” “The mass medias portrayal of an ultrathin physique for women and a lean-muscular physique (i.e., musculature coupled with low body fat) for men is though to be behind body discontent and eating pathology [1620]” (Dakanalis et al., 2015) The standard is different between men and women . While the perfect body for men is being muscular and toned and for women it is mostly focused on body appearance and body weight, it has the same impact. The media idealizes these “perfect bodies” and so people feel the need to fit the sizes that society imposes on them. 

In continuation, this idea that a “perfect body” exists causes another shift in the thinking. Both men and women start to believe that their body is not perfect and become dissatisfied with their bodies. They start to spend time comparing their bodies to the bodies that were deemed perfect. They feel that their body will never be perfect. They start picking and constantly critizizing their bodies. They use hurtful words when adressing their bodies because they have been conditioned to believe that the way their body looks is not acceptable. The constant judging blinds them to the reality of what the body should be and lowers their self-esteem. 

When your thinking or mindset changes, your life changes as well. This is no different as the media affects lifestyles as well. One of the ways it affects a person’s lifestyle is by altering their eating patterns to try to become part of the “perfect body.” As I stated earlier the media affects thinking by the imposed belief that there is a “perfect body” and that they need to change to be perfect. That change in thinking will be represented in a change in lifestyle. In the pursuit of the “perfect body”, a lifestyle might change and become focused on fitting society’s unrealistic standards. 

In most media effects research the multidimensional construct of body image (Cash & Pruzinsky, 2002) is represented by various measures of what are essentially perceptual-emotional conclusions (e.g., "I look too fat to myself and others" + "I am disgusted by and ashamed of this" = "I hate how fat I look and feel"). For females "body dissatisfaction" results from - and feeds-a schema that integrates three fundamental components: idealization of slenderness and leanness; an irrational fear of fat; and a conviction that weight and shape are central determinants of one's identity (Levine & Smolak, 2006; Smolak & Levine, 1994, 1996)” (Levine & Murnen, 2009)

People are now focused on “fixing their body. When people try to perfect their body they might chose unhealthy ways to do so. Some of the unhealthy ways they chose to do this would through eating disorder such as aneroxia, bulimia, or staving / fasting. The worst part is that the media reinforces these unhealthy ways. In the book “Media and Youth a developmental perspective,” Kirsh stated 

 “Pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) websites are generally classified into two types: pro-ana, which promotes anorexia nervosa; and pro-mia, which endorses the bulimic way of life. Rather than viewing eating disorders as an illness, pro-ED websites laud disordered eating and weight control practices as an acceptable lifestyle choice” (Kirsh 2010 ). 

They are sacrifcicing their life for a standard. They are willing to do anything to achieve sizes that are unrealistic. 

 Furthermore, a person’s lifestyle can be affected by changing an active life to sedentary lifestyle which can then lead to obesity. Contrary to popular belief, media is actually one of the causes of obesity. People spend to much time on media and their lifestyle changes. Instead of walking or doing something productive, hours go into using media. This leads to a sedentary lifestyle. They have no exercise and no taking care of their health. 

As they are constantly on the media, they get exposed to unhealth eating. This causes people to create an unhealth eating. 

“Gantz and colleagues (Gantz, Schwartz, Angelini, & Rideout, 2007) found that when food products are advertised, 9 out of 10 times they promote nutritionally poor provisions: 34% are for candy and snacks, 28% are for cereal, 10% are for fast food, 4% are for dairy products, and 1% are for fruit juices, but none are for fruits and vegetables” (Kirish 2010)

Overall, the media has gained a certain type of control over society. It influences our thinking and lifestyles even when we do not realize it. It influences it by affecting what we think. One of the ways it affects our way of thinking is by imposing the belief of an ideal body. There can also be a change in the way we live life. The thought of an ideal body leads to living an unhealth lifestyle with eating disorders. In addition, using the media constantly can also lead to obesity as it causes a sedentary lifestlye. The media is a powerful and it shouldn’t be gone but we should control how much power we give it over our thinking anf life.