Social Media's Negative Effects On Body Image

Negative Effects on Body Image due to Social Media
Visual technology envelops the world. From the moment one wakes up to turn off an alarm in the morning, until the moment the head hits the pillow at night with phone in hand, technology is constant. Even with this rise in technological advances, there are still drawbacks. One major drawback is cyberbullying. Physical battles breaking out in the school parking lot are not as frequent as in the past; now, the real action occurs behind a screen. People are able to hide behind an anonymous user name and post negative and hurtful comments about people they might not even know. With cyberbullying comes effects as well. Fat-shaming comments lead to insecurity, which can then lead to depression and
In America, it is extremely hard for anyone to feel confident with themselves because they are always being bombarded with images and ideas of these beautiful, perfect people plastered wherever you go. Having to see this all of the time can really put a strain on people when they look in the mirror and don't see the same thing(The Influences 15).Although, the media doesn't directly cause eating disorders or body issues. It puts the idea that there is something wrong with your body if you do not match the images you are staring at on a screen, magazine, etc. "They exert powerful influences on values, attitudes, and practices for body image, diet, and activity”(The Influences 54). The media has an enormous image of conforming young minds by telling them what is pretty, desirable, or how to look. Cultures are judging people based off appearance rather than intelligence or character(The Influences 9).Author Wen-ying Sylvia Chou of the U.S. National Institutes of Health states that we should change the face of social media. Instead of breeding vicious comments and cyber-bullying, we should create a supportive
"The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty” was created to provoke discussion and encourage debate”(Dove 2). When the project was started, a study was conducted in order to gather research for the areas they really needed to hit. Women from 10 different countries, ages 18-64, were questioned and out of the 3,200 women who were interviewed, the shocking percent of only 2% of those women thought of themselves as beautiful and only 13% of them were satisfied with their body shape and weight. That means that 85% of the other women didn't think of themselves as beautiful or feel good in their own skin(The Influences 62). The campaign started in September of 2004 when they sent out pictures of women who didn't fit the social norms and encouraged people to cast votes of what they thought of the women. Their next step was to show real women with real curves and "debunk the stereotype that only thin is beautiful”(Dove 4). One of their projects included team of filmers getting together and putting together a video showing everyone the drastic measures photographers do to make a picture perfect before it is submitted for a magazine, website, etc. They were shown how the photos can be changed by blemish repair, shrinking or enlarging body parts, and even making the model taller or shorter(Dove 9)! News of