The Influences Of Social Media On Its User's Body Image Case Study

The Influences Of Social Media On Its User’s Body Image

Introduction - The Influences Of Social Media On Its User’s Body Image

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Studies have highlighted the increased influence of social media on an individual's perception about body image. It is no gainsaying that social media has made individuals worry about their body and other physical aspects. People are judged on the basis of how they look, what brand they wear, and their sizes (Ando et al., 2021). There is a curious indulgence in social media that retains individuals even after upsetting them about their physical features and evolving a sense to become more attractive by meeting beauty standards. Instagram’s reels and posts often lead people to follow the trend of looking skinny, tall, and having glowing skin. Hundreds of thousands are spent by individuals to look the best among all and get as many likes as they can on their social media (Marengo et al.,2018).

Studies show a positive correlation between spending on beauty products and increased use of social media (Lantian, 2020). This will affect the study as it provides the information about the hypothesis being based on observations and past studies. The relation between factors and perception about self boy image will imply whether social media impact body image perception or not. With the expansion of social media use, products touting fairer and luminous skin, enhanced and decreased body features, and operations have increased. Furthermore, people now have a defined set of aesthetic standards, which is depressing a large segment of the population. (Cataldo et al., 2021) The aspects of social media which are detrimental to an individual's perception about one’s own body image is discussed and studied in this report. Comparisons drawn by individuals on the basis of social media posts and standards have inculcated discontentment and hatred among people giving rise to self-pity and isolation among youth. People are spending a considerable amount of their income on beauty products which is driving their sales up but people who can’t afford it, feel depressed (Trekels et al., 2018).

In the report we are going to discuss sampling methods and analysis models to determine the impact of social media on body image. Random sampling will help to make report highly reliable.

Methods

Design

The study conducted was deductive research including repeated measures where participants were observed under multiple environments. We asked our participants to change their habits for a week and noted down their results. When people ponder upon a post, it affects their perception as they let it frame opinions and change their belief system which will be studied during the report (Marengo et al.,2018). The independent variable was the time spent by participants on these apps and the dependent variables include stress level, dejection, mood swings, and frequency of comparisons and its basis (Cataldo et al., 2021). The design will include a descriptive analysis to study the impact of changes in time spent on social media apps on one’s perception about body image (Lantian, 2020). It will determine whether they are able to carry out their work and tasks with the right mindframe or they think subconsciously about their body image.

Report-1

Participants used for the research purpose were chosen on the basis of sensitivity to social media apps. The density of population from 35-15 years of age was most concentrated and hence these were chosen for the purpose of conducting the survey and experiments. There were two groups. Group A included 20 young adults of age group 15- 24 who spend more than 3 hours of their day on social media apps. Another group included 20 older adults of age group 25-35 who spend more than 2 hours on these apps (Choukas-Bradley, et al., 2020). These participants included an equal number of men and women. There were 10 women and 10 men in each group. The income level of participants was average. The physical attributes were dynamic and did not completely match the standards set by the society. The main aim was to know how their acceptability of their features like weight, color, and height was impacted by the use and no use of social media (Ando et al., 2021). Their stress level was measured before and after conducting the experiment and results were quantified to draw a meaningful conclusion (Marengo et al.,2018). Participants were chosen randomly from different settings and who belonged to different industries.

Materials

Google analytics was the prime tool used to ascertain time spent by individuals on social media apps. Social media usage tracking apps were installed in participants’ phones. The participants were shown posts that were of influencers and famous personalities on instagram. These posts were searched and arranged in a manner that does yield independent choices. A scaling questionnaire was given before and after the experimental duration, changes were recorded. These questionnaires included a ranking method where alternatives were arranged in an ascending order of degree of sensitivity to the element. Both the groups were given the same set of questionnaires. These questionnaires included general questions such as time spent on different social apps and whether the change in time spent on these apps had impacted their life negatively or positively (Choukas-Bradley, et al., 2020). If Yes, have these changes reduced stress level and made them accept their features and body image. Have these changes impacted their buying behavior regarding beauty products? The recording of these answers were passed onto the next stage after editing and codifying. Interviews of each participant were recorded and documented. Linear regression model and graphical representation was used.

Procedure

For conducting the research, all the elements and their variability was ascertained. Then, variables were sorted from the list to match with the objectives of the research design. THings taken into consideration were buying of beauty products, stress level among different age groups, impact of likes and dislikes on people’s perception, hours spent on social media apps (Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, Facebook, and likes). We studied the system curated by these applications that focused on showing feeds that matched with the interest of the user. Personalized hair care ranges, discounts on top brands, skin care kits, and other ads were shown in between these feeds. We took consent from participants and ensured them with the anonymity to be maintained. The participants were informed about the procedure and they were asked that they may opt out from the research, if they feel uncomfortable or won’t be able to cooperate. We got forty participants bifurcated in two groups. These groups were made to ascertain the degree of responsiveness of each group to changes in their routine.We also examined the buying behavior based on these ads (Ando et al., 2021). We asked them their opinion about their physical features and all were quite upset due to not meeting a certain standard. We asked them to fill a questionnaire and provided them with multiple alternatives to choose from. The 21 days experiment was spread across three weeks. In the first week, they were allowed to use mobile phones like they use to and at the end of the week, we asked them to fill the questionnaire. In the second week, we asked them to reduce their mobile usage by 50% and gave them the same questionnaire. In the last week, they were not allowed to use any social media app and the survey was conducted at the end of the week. Interview was taken at the end of the third week to evaluate their perception and changes in it from the first week. These were recorded and codified to get the end results (Yang et al., 2020).

Validity and ethical consideration

 To conduct the research on the topic of ‘impact of social media usage on body image’ only those variables were considered that directly related to the objective of the research to ascertain the impact to validate the subject matter. The cause and effect relationship was studied during the research to find out whether the change in usage of these social media apps have any significant role in changing their perception about their body image and how they viewed the people after the third week. To ensure that their privacy is maintained, we ensure that their application will only note down the time of their use and not what they are surfing or what they are browsing (Marengo et al.,2018). The result will not be shared and it will remain with the research team. Participants were upset about their looks and they reasoned that there are people who are more pretty and fit than them. They also said that they got to realize it after they started using these social media apps. Female participants also discussed their buying preferences that were highly influenced by the posts and feeds they come across on social media apps.

Voluntary consent was achieved so that the report is based on ethical code. For internal validity, those elements were first researched that will directly impact one's perception about their body image. These elements included perfection, attractiveness, and beauty standards. These elements were used to curate questions for the questionnaire.For external validity, the sources taken under consideration belonged to a dynamic environment with the elements of the study that is ‘imperfection’ (Yang et al., 2020). All the participants were different from each other significantly but stated they all have body image issues and they were distressed regarding their appearance. Ethical consideration was primal for the research study as it will ensure that participants volunteeringly participated in the research and used their rationale to choose and reflect on changes in variables (Trekels et al., 2018). This will authenticize the report as a reliable source to examine the relationship between social media apps and impact on body image.Ethical consideration was at the heart of the research and to ensure internal validity, unbiased interviews with the same questions were conducted by two practitioners. And to validate external aspects, random sampling was used to choose participants from different backgrounds.

References

Ando, K., Giorgianni, F. E., Danthinne, E. S., & Rodgers, R. F. (2021). Beauty ideals, social media, and body positivity: a qualitative investigation of influences on body image among young women in japan. Body Image, 38, 358–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.001

Marengo, D., Longobardi, C., Fabris, M. A., & Settanni, M. (2018). Highly-visual social media and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: the mediating role of body image concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 63–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.003

Cataldo, I., De Luca, I., Giorgetti, V., Cicconcelli, D., Bersani, F. S., Imperatori, C., Abdi, S., Negri, A., Esposito, G., & Corazza, O. (2021). Fitspiration on social media: body-image and other psychopathological risks among young adults. a narrative review. Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health, 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etdah.2021.100010

Yang, H., Wang, J. J., Tng, G. Y. Q., & Yang, S. (2020). Effects of social media and smartphone use on body esteem in female adolescents: testing a cognitive and affective model. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 7(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/children7090148

Choukas-Bradley, S., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Galla, B. M. (2020). The appearance-related social media consciousness scale: development and validation with adolescents. Body Image, 33, 164–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.017

Trekels, J., Karsay, K., Eggermont, S., & Vandenbosch, L. (2018). How social and mass media relate to youth’s self-sexualization: taking a cross-national perspective on rewarded appearance ideals. Journal of Youth and Adolescence : A Multidisciplinary Research Publication, 47(7), 1440–1455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0844-3

Lantian, A. (2020). Open research practices in psychology. Psychologie Francaise, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psfr.2020.09.001

Report-2

Introduction The influences of social media on its user’s body image

There has been an uprising of concern about self-obsession among young adults that has sprouted as a result of increasing social media appearance. The over emphasis on one’s appearance has led to many associated problems such as depression, anxiety, and desolation. The study will aim to ascertain the relationship between the social media use and its impact on body image of an individual among young adults (Juli, 2017). Staying away from technology is not possible so it makes social media more accessible. As these apps are just one tap away, it makes people vulnerable to check it and get hooked to it. AI algorithms are so advanced that they learn about consumer’s interest and show feeds related to it. People who are anxious of their own body appearance come across feeds showcasing perfect models, influencers, and people with best skin and physical features.In the comment section they get validation and are lauded for their perfection (Ramos et al., 2019) There is a subconscious desire of humans to become perfect and this has led to creation of beauty standards that has given rise to body-shaming and filled individuals with anxiety and depression. People who are depressed after viewing these feeds are glued to their phones, where they see similar posts. The goal of this study is to determine the extent to which such influences influence young adults' perceptions of their own body image. This will include looking into changes in teenage behavioural patterns as a result of increased social media use. The study will take place in a controlled environment and will follow a clear and productive research design that follows Psychology Research criteria. (Ramos et al., 2019.

Method

Design

The design of the research will be based on independent groups with random allocation. The main focus will be to determine sensitivity of individuals to feeds that showcase idealistic body images. The independent variable in the experiment will be posts that will be selected by the team. In the experiment there will be two teams of 20 participants each selected randomly from the age group of 15-35. The feeds that will be selected will consist of their friends, fashion influencers, top models, and elite class people who put their perfect pictures (Juli, 2017). Questions will be asked about their perception about their own body and the pictures that they see on their feed. The dependent variable which is the other group will be shown random feeds on their social apps and questions will be asked about their perception about the posts that they see (Waldron & Fisher, 2017). These posts will be randomly selected and include memes, social messages, artistic work, DIY posts and like. Questions will be asked regarding the features such as filters and reels that increase their visibility online. The results will show how these posts affect the mindset of an individual and build their behavioral pattern that give rise to anxiety and depression regarding their body image (Ramos et al., 2019.

Participants

In the research, the participants are chosen on the basis of their habits of using social media apps, age, and perception about their body image. Out of 40 participants, 4 participants had no issues with their body image and the other 36 participants were either too depressed about their physical features or significantly concerned about their outer attributes (Singh et al., 2015). These were bifurcated in the two groups, the independent and dependent group. These participants included both female and male candidates from the age of 15 to 35. 20 participants were either working or working and studying simultaneously. The other 20 participants worked in a variety of fields. All of the participants, however, used multiple social networking apps. All of the participants used Instagram and SnapChat. A non-probability sampling measure was used to select participants at random. The team used the purposive sampling strategy to find the best candidates who would assist with the research and are comfortable disclosing their personal information. (Cheung et al., 2021).

Materials

Materials that were used during the research experiment included projector, recording tape, questionnaires, social media posts with most engagement, and regression model to quantify the answers. There will be 20 questions that will be asked from the participants and all these questions will be the same for all participants (Singh et al., 2015). These questions will include whether posts, reels, and filters make them feel happy, sad, or doesn’t affect them at all. Their facial expressions will also be recorded. One of the questions from the questionnaire is presented as an example-”Do you feel the need for changes in your body?” The questions will be systematically arranged so that the participants can link their thought process and use their rationale to provide true information. These social media posts will be taken from their accounts only after getting their consent. An interview will be conducted during the session of showing them these posts. The questions will remain the same for each participant so that it becomes easier to quantify the answers (Waldron & Fisher, 2017).

Procedure

Before collecting the information from the participants, their consent was taken and documented at the place of experiment. They were asked to sign the document that they agree on sharing their social media accounts and know the aim and objectives of the research. With each participant, the experiment took 10 minutes and they were given 30 minutes to fill up the questionnaire. They were then asked to proof-read their answers. These posts were intelligently selected and systematically placed in a sequence. There were 10 pictures that were shown to participants.

They were also asked if they wanted their information utilised in the study, and the team will have complete access to the data gathered from the interview and questionnaire. While studying and interpreting the data collected during the interview, their anonymity was kept. The data was sorted and coded according to the degree of sensitivity of participants to the posts they were shown. (Juli, 2017). These participants were given an option whether they wanted to know how their information will be used in the research. The data was then put in a linear regression model and it was determined that participants’ perception changed and made them worry about their appearances (Selgelid, 2016). At each stage, the main aim was to determine the dynamic and variables that can show some sort of deflection in the behavioral pattern. Therefore, the posts were selected randomly and it was made sure that these posts do not contain anything indecent or irrelevant. These posts were chosen by a team to eliminate the element of biasedness. For the closure of the experiment, the participants were informed and the data collected was arranged in a manner that it becomes easy to access and convert in quantifiable form. To retain confidentiality, after quantifying the data, the original database was stored in a protected area. After putting the data in linear regression model, the trend of group A and Group B were determined and compared to ascertain the impact of social media posts on body image and perception of individuals.

Discussion

Validation and ethical consideration

It was found out during the experiment that most of the participants were affected by the posts they see and it made them depressed. However, in group B, there were mixed responses and people didn’t seem to be worried about their image as there were all types of posts in the experiment (Singh et al., 2015). In group A, participants expressed their anxiety of not being accepted by the society and they felt lonely because they didn’t fit in the society (Selgelid, 2016). During the interview, the practitioner got to witness how deeply participants were affected by perfect pictures and they were embarrassed about not being beautiful and not meeting the beauty standards. They also read the comments which made them more dejected. This kind of information is very sensitive and therefore needs to be protected. In psychological research work, it is utmost important to protect the interests of participants as it might hinder their privacy (Cheung et al., 2021).

To validate the research the factors that were chosen included behavioral patterns, stress level, anxiety, and engagement in social media of each participant. It was imperative for the research to be viable and authentic, hence all the guidelines were considered while conducting the experiment (Juli, 2017). Pornographic content, violent visuals, and other indecent posts were not included in the group B experiment to retain ethical consideration. The team was only allowed to look at the feed postings of the contestants' applications, and no other features. Only unbiased practitioners will conduct the interview and curate the slideshow of posts to be given to participants (Selgelid, 2016).

References

Ando, K., Giorgianni, F. E., Danthinne, E. S., & Rodgers, R. F. (2021). Beauty ideals, social media, and body positivity: a qualitative investigation of influences on body image among young women in japan. Body Image, 38, 358–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.05.001

Cataldo, I., De Luca, I., Giorgetti, V., Cicconcelli, D., Bersani, F. S., Imperatori, C., Abdi, S., Negri, A., Esposito, G., & Corazza, O. (2021). Fitspiration on social media: body-image and other psychopathological risks among young adults. a narrative review. Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health, 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etdah.2021.100010

Choukas-Bradley, S., Nesi, J., Widman, L., & Galla, B. M. (2020). The appearance-related social media consciousness scale: development and validation with adolescents. Body Image, 33, 164–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.017

Lantian, A. (2020). Open research practices in psychology. Psychologie Francaise, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psfr.2020.09.001

Marengo, D., Longobardi, C., Fabris, M. A., & Settanni, M. (2018). Highly-visual social media and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: the mediating role of body image concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 63–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.003

Trekels, J., Karsay, K., Eggermont, S., & Vandenbosch, L. (2018). How social and mass media relate to youth’s self-sexualization: taking a cross-national perspective on rewarded appearance ideals. Journal of Youth and Adolescence : A Multidisciplinary Research Publication, 47(7), 1440–1455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0844-3

Yang, H., Wang, J. J., Tng, G. Y. Q., & Yang, S. (2020). Effects of social media and smartphone use on body esteem in female adolescents: testing a cognitive and affective model. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 7(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/children7090148