Body Image: A Study Concerning Teenage Social Media Involvement and Body Satisfaction

Abstract

People have been influenced by social media, through both subtle and explicit means that appearance is crucial to a positive and successful experience as a person. While the message may not be directly stated, the strong implication that society needs to fit the ideal body standard can have detrimental consequences, especially amongst impressionable teen audiences. The social media platform, Instagram, is greatly responsible for this trend due to its focus on photo-sharing. My research investigated Instagram's portrayal of an unrealistic body image and social media's influence over the perception of one's body image. It aimed to answer the question “What effect does social media's portrayal of the unrealistic ideal body have on male and female Californian high school students’ own body satisfaction?”.  To do this, I conducted a survey of reviewing students' body satisfaction before and after reviewing images of popular influencers through Google Forms. I had participants identify social media's portrayal and reflect on their interactions with social media. After analyzing the data, I concluded that while both genders' body satisfaction was impacted negatively by social media, young women were impacted more significantly than young men. The results of this study give insight into how society influences body image and how social media can be used as a method to promote the ideal body standard. It explores males and their experiences with social media more deeply and in comparison to women.