Social media has drastically transformed the world we live in today.  Every user is constantly connected, every second of the day, with a swipe of their finger and a click of a button.  We rarely stop to think about how the photos we quickly scroll through affect our everyday thoughts and actions.  Within the past ten years, social media has been connecting us with friends, family, and people all across the world.  Yet, social media is also causing harm to our bodies and mind through exposure to unhealthy photos and the constant pressure to get just enough “likes” on your picture.  Social media outlets, although a useful tool for interaction, have recently been exposed for possible damaging effects.  Social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook negatively influence young teen users’ body confidence and personal life through features such as “likes” and commenting that lead to harmful behaviors like overwhelming thoughts of comparison, an unnecessary desire to diet and most prevalent, eating disorders.   

The first glimpse of social media the public obsessed over was MySpace, created in 2003.  Since then, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr and more sites have risen, creating a social media craze.  Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 and has more than one billion active users to this day.  Instagram was made in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and was bought out by Facebook in 2012.  Instagram, being mainly a mobile app, also has an overwhelming amount of users, up to 600 million active (Zuckerberg).  Facebook and Instagram are similar in that each site has the comment and liking features on photos, however, Instagram does not have the status update feature like Facebook does.  This research will focus on these specific social media outlets because they involve photos and liking.  These photos are known to be the main culprit to poor body confidence and eating disorder problems because photos provide a direct image for people to benchmark themselves against.  The liking feature also increases pressure to look a certain way and to post certain things on these media outlets in order to receive a large amount of likes to feel self-assured.  Social media was not made to emotionally hurt the users, yet some people use their accounts in a harmful way.       

Due to popularity and how common it is to be active on Facebook and Instagram, more children are participating in these social media outlets.  Instagram has become a highly used app by middle school kids because it is accessible on any phone or tablet a child may be exposed to.  Parents also see this app as a more recent and “safe” compared to Facebook, which has received backlash for not being kid friendly enough.  Yet, during this time of middle school and high school, young teens are still developing and growing in self-confidence.  During a Ted Talk with Meaghan Ramsey, she states that, “We are so connected, so continuously, so instantaneously, so young” (Ramsey).  Nothing is private anymore and children are growing up with the pressures of social media weighing on their shoulders.  Ramsey also explains that these years in a child’s life, especially during puberty, are the most emotionally vulnerable times they could experience.  The time when children and young teens get involved with social media is important to note because at these ages, most teens will act impulsively and feel the anxieties of comments and likes on social media more than ever. Ultimately, social media’s portrayal of many unattainable figures is why unhealthy dieting and eating disorders are so prevalent in young teens today.                    

Features on social media such as liking and commenting on posts and photos is a way to become active and connected to friends and other users.  The creators of Facebook and Instagram meant no harm when creating such features, it is meant to keep users active.  However, many users use the comment section negatively and “likes” on photos tend to become competitive in nature.  To begin, many users on social media agree that “likes” can directly reflect your popularity.  Regardless of age, humans seek confirmation that they are liked and seen in a positive light.  In a study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that “the pleasure centers in teenagers’ brains respond to the reward of getting “likes” on Instagram exactly as they do to thoughts of sex or money” (Heitner).  This is only one example of how “likes” control the users mind and what they post on their account.  Many users also feel as though their likes solely reflect how they rate themselves and others.  Meaghan Ramsey explains that when young teens get involved in social media, it is “training our kids to value themselves by the amount of likes they get” (Ramsey).  Though this feature is meant to be interactive, young teens especially put too much value in the amount of likes they receive that when they are not satisfied with the number, their self-confidence diminishes.    

Similar to the liking feature, the commenting feature can also be used for good and evil.  Many users participate the comment section to boost their friends and followers up with comments such as, “You look very pretty” or something similar.  However, the comment section can become ugly and by exposing yourself on Facebook and Instagram to the public, you can be subject to cruel comments.  During the Ted Talk with Meaghan Ramsey, she brings up an example of a young teenage girl who posted a video of herself on the Internet asking for commenters to reply if she is pretty or ugly.  The comments are absurd, some even saying, “Kill yourself” (Ramsey).  This traumatic experience could have been avoided if the young girl did not subject herself to the possible hate.  Yet, young teens do not think of the consequences before they post, they seek confirmation that they are “pretty or ugly”.  It is important to note that the comment section is mainly where cyber bullying occurs because individuals can be attacked verbally and publicly, mentally hurting and embarrassing them.   

Along with the many features of Instagram and Facebook, there are always more ways to stay connected and discover new people.  On Instagram, there is a tab available called the “Explore Page”.  These pages shows “popular photos”, which are photos that receive a lot of likes and have a large following.  Each user’s popular page may differ based on what photos he or she have liked prior, what trends he or she follows on social media and even his or her location.  For instance, if a user likes a photo of a girl in a bikini, chances are their Popular Page will be filled with bikini photos of people they may have mutual followers with or may not, for the rest of the day.  This page can become dangerous in many people’s opinions because if a user is subject to a photo that triggers negative comparison or eating disorder thoughts, chances are similar photos will continue to appear on their popular page.  Without even knowing it, the popular page can expose you to thinspiration, pro-ana and thigh gap photos that lower self-esteem with even the smallest amount of exposure.

In response to the desire for “likes” and confirmation of beauty on social media, there are apps available for users to alter their bodies, smooth blemishes from their faces, and filter photos so they can post the “perfect” instagram.  By just a simple search on the app store, there are countless apps that can reshape bodies to look slimmer in just seconds.  A study recently conducted at a middle school proved just how young children begin using these apps.  Caroline Nokes was a member of the parliamentary group and launched her own campaign called “Be Real: Body Confidence for Everyone.”  She visited schools of 12-13 year olds, and asked them all if they have ever enhanced an image on Facebook.  She reported that, “they usually all put up their hands.  One girl said every image she uploaded had been altered” (Roxby).  At such an early age, young teens are being taught to change their bodies to appeal to others on the Internet and they will do anything to make it appear differently.  During this day in age, it is impossible to distinguish between what is real and what is digitally manipulated because most photos on the Internet are altered.         

Along with the additional features of social media being used like altering apps, accounts and new terminology has been surfacing on the Internet.  Social media accounts specifically on Instagram and Facebook promote unhealthy eating habits through photos of extremely skinny young girls and older women.  The hash tags and captions on these photos promote eating less and becoming skinny frequently include the hash tag #thinspiration.  As pointed out before, pictures are the most direct and easiest way for someone to compare themself to others and can cause the most harm.  These groups that are “Pro-Ana” meaning pro-anorexia, in support of eating disorders, post photos on the Internet of unhealthy, skinny male and females to provoke others to follow their trend.  More words are used like thigh gap and Bikini Bridge, referring to a bikini bottom not lying flat across a women’s stomach because their hipbones are so exposed and their stomach is so flat.  The dangerous aspect of these groups is that these harmful users can reach out to anyone on social media through these photos and posts even when unwanted.  First, these users believe that anorexia and bulimia is a personal choice, not an eating disorder (Marcus).  Users intend to create a bandwagon of other eating disorder ‘buddies’ that can help them through the process of limiting food intake.  This method of support “provides an important source of confirmation that pro-ana’s should be proud of achieving their weight loss goals and minimizes the idea that their efforts can be seen as extreme and unhealthy” (Marcus).  These ‘buddies’ support each other when someone drops pounds and sees significant changes in their figure.  Reports and users state that, “these women described the constant battle between knowing the benefits of recovery, while simultaneously wanting to still look a certain way” (Verma).  Although help is available, it is very challenging to convince someone struggling with an eating disorder to change for the better.  Mainly, this dangerous trend is growing on social media accounts and is becoming increasingly more public to other users.  By posting photos and promoting pro-ana and thinspiration hash tags, the popularity goes up and the photo is more likely to be seen by more and more normal users.  Many unaware users of Instagram and Facebook have been exposed to pro-ana photos that subconsciously hurt their self-esteem.  Unfortunately, there is little to be done about the stopping of these accounts and blogs that push teens into having eating disorders.  Only way to stop the spread of these photos is to diminish their following and likes so less pictures are being promoted on the popular page of Instagram.     

When we compare we tend to bring our self-esteem down in the process.  With that natural comparison, it is hard not to want to change to look like the women or men we see in the media.  Yes, dieting and limiting food intake in a healthy, responsible way can be safe and beneficial to one’s body.  However, many young teens do not know how to diet responsibly and their limited food intake can take a toll on their body.  When young girls and women are subject to thinspiration posts or even just skinny images, “they assume that in order to control their weight, they need to exercise self control” (Verma).  When teens feel as though they need to lose weight, many act in a rash manner, similar to an eating disorder.  And although many teens do not get to that point, dieting is the first sign of an eating disorder because you limit food intake.  Unfortunately, many teens that do choose to diet are within a healthy weight range for their age and height (Verma).  Sadly, we all have that voice in our head, an inner critic that nags us to look differently, more like the person you saw on the popular page of Instagram.  This voice becomes overpowering at times, especially after subjecting one’s self to pro-ana photos.     

In response to the constant comparison and never ending stream of photos that can influence teen’s body image in a negative way, many teens turn to the extreme.  Eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia can stem from excessive usage of social media.  Anorexia nervosa is defined, “as a disorder through which an individual undergoes a severe restriction of food intake in order to achieve and maintain an extremely low weight” and bulimia nervosa is a period of binge eating followed by vomiting (purging) (Verma).  Using laxatives in a harmful way is also considered to be in the bulimic spectrum.  To begin, many factors of social media usage can cause these disorders.  One of the prevalent factors is the user and blog posts about thinspiration and pro-ana accounts.  Even if a user does not see the direct statements like, “eat less” or the word anorexia, just the photos of thin stomach and thigh gaps can trigger someone to want to limit him or herself.  Studies indicate “that exposure to [pro-ana sites] exerts a number of short-term negative influences, such as lower self-esteem, negative affect, and decreased perceived attractiveness” (Verma).  This is the affect for short-term exposure to these images.  Imagine the effects these pictures and accounts have on young teens when they begin to obsess over each photo, start comparing their own bodies to the people in the photographs?  More than just low self-esteem comes out of these pictures; teens begin acting on their thoughts in dangerous ways.  Teens choose to cut certain types of food out of their diets, foods that they need for development.  Some teens even choose to cut food completely out of their diets for days on end to reach the weight they want to achieve.        

With eating disorders comes withdrawal from activities and relationships, the victim once had.  Meaghan Ramsey points out that when kids are focused on their appearance because social media values looks the most, they put other aspects of their life on the back burner.  School, family, friends all are forgotten when a teen is focusing so hard on their appearance.  During the Ted Talk, Ramsey says that, “Low body confidence is undermining academic achievement” (Ramsey).  When faced with uncontrollable thoughts of body pressures, it becomes hard to concentrate on anything else.  Ramsey also stated a statistic that 1 in 3 teens are failing to participate in classroom discussions because they feel self-conscious about the way they look and they do not want any attention drawn to them.  Exposure to skinny photos on social media is truly interfering with a teen’s physical and mental development in the school system.  Relating to academics, Ramsey reports that if someone does not think they look good enough, specifically skinny enough, they most likely will score a lower grade point average than their peers who do not worry about their weight.  The pressures that social media put on young teens overwhelm their everyday lives.  Our future world could lack in bright young minds and confident individuals if these trends of pro-ana keep spreading in popularity. 

In our connected world, there is no escaping people or images that can affect young, developing teens in a negative way.  Although some people find it impossible to overlook the photos that harm them, there are some precautions and ways our society can put a stop to the harmful trends.  Dr. Phillippa Diedrichs, a researcher at the University of West of England's Centre for Appearance Research states that a possible solution to the negative body image promotion on social media is to showcase a more diverse range of bodies on social media sites (Roxby).  This could help mask the overwhelming following of the pro-ana pages and accounts.  Another speaker on this topic, Meaghan Ramsey, spoke out about bullying and harmful body images on the Internet through her Ted Talk. Ramsey addresses six key areas that can help growing children and teens are more confident and less likely to fall for the trends of the pro-ana posts.  First, by strengthening family and friend relationships to create a stronger support net can help increase the child’s confidence level.  Also, Ramsey believes that by speaking out about teasing, bullying, and how the media paints an unattainable image of women, people will become comfortable standing against the norms of society.  Finally, she states that we need to bring more body talk into the school systems.  This body talk, often called fat talk attempts to put fat shaming to rest and she believes this discussion should be brought up more in middle school and high school curriculum.  But mainly, Ramsey states that, “We need to start judging people about what they do, not what they look like” (Ramsey).  Overall, it is close to impossible to stop the sharing of photos that trigger lower self-esteem issues in teens, however, it is possible to expose children to more positive images of women and men who make a difference in our world with their mind, not their figure.    

More than just body weight changes when someone gives into an eating disorder.  Friends are forgotten, family life crumbles, grades plummet and your mind withdrawals from what is important.  Social media, although meant to be a way to connect with people all across the world, has become a tool for body shaming and hatred.  With features such as commenting and “liking”, users can’t help but feel valued by the amount of followers they have or how many “likes” their photo received.  With dangerous apps that can make any body type paper-thin and exposure to models with unhealthy thigh gaps, there is no question to why young male and female teens are feeling self-conscious of their bodies.  It is important to point out the harmful effects that pro-ana and thinspiration blogs and accounts have on the development of a young teen’s body and mind.  Not only does little exposure lower one’s self-esteem, teens tend to act recklessly when it comes to dieting and eating disorders.  Be cautious about what you expose yourself to on social media and the Internet and do not give into the trap of pro-ana and thinspiration accounts.  If one person at a time decreases the following of these accounts the smaller the exposure and popularity of these accounts will be.  
