A social media analysis from the Norwegian global marketing network for influencers showed that almost a half of the influencers polled believed that their work had an impact on their mental health and that 32% thought the platform had a “bad” effect on their body image. College women are particularly vulnerable to the impact of social media on their physical images, as they acquire a perspective on their bodies and accept changes in puberty’s development. The lives of numerous people have embedded social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook. As the primary users of such platforms are teens and young adults, particularly young women, it is an essential concern whether social media use affects autonomy, self-concept, body imagination and body dissatisfaction. Researchers have begun to research these problems empirically and recent studies have shown varied outcomes. This article seeks to review these results, with the focus on Instagram, Facebook and other prominent pictorial platforms and gives probable reasons for the consequences of the use of social media on body dissatisfaction.
In particular, the use of social media during the previous decade has surged considerably and continues to slump. Pew Research Center reports 71% of those aged 13 to 17 use Facebook, 52% use Instagram, and 41% use Snapchat throughout 2015. Young females are more often than their husbands on picture-oriented social media sites; 61% of girls use Instagram compared to 44% of boys. The increased use, in particular Facebook and Instagram, of social media can adversely influence young girls and women in terms of self-confidence and contentment (Lenhart, 2015). Studies now relate social media platforms with corporal discontent in teenagers (Tiggemann & Miller, 2010; Tiggemann & Slater, 2013). One study examined the underlying processes and discovered that young girls with more photographs online, such as selfies, felt less about their appearances and showed more eating concerns. In addition, a study analyzed the underlying mechanisms.
As already established, while Instagram material is peer created and could therefore perhaps be good, many materials are very staggered and not realistic. People take a long time to arrange the lighting, acquire the greatest viewpoint, take several shots and add filters or photoshop to make themselves the best possible portrayal. So it is important to make our teens realize that the kind of importance that they give is not necessary.