What side are you? Body image vs Social Media
As we all may know, body image can come within yourself or within social media, depending on how you view it or take it. However, while doing research on the topic of “Body Image,” I have come across many different perspectives that people have towards social media and body image.
So, should we blame social media for body image?
When it comes to answering this question, many people tend to have a variety of different opinions and answers. Some will agree that social media is the case for children, adolescents and young adults to have body image, and others will disagree that social media isn’t the cause for body image.
Opponents who believe that social media is the cause of body image tend to believe this because social media has exposed us into a fantasy world that if we don’t look like an ideal body image or look a certain way we will not be accepted or wanted in today’s society. In the article, “ How Does Social Media Affect Your Body Image?” by NEDA Feeding Hope, which is a national eating disorders association, talks about how we have to have an ideal social media profile or a “perfect” body to be accepted in the world of social media and in today’s society. NEDA Feeding Hope, as well provided us with different opinions of what teenagers think about social media and body image. In the article, Jen, who is seventeen years old, stated, “I think that social media platforms hurt because young people are now having their bodies judged online in addition to being judged in person, which causes them to feel trapped.” Jen agrees that social media is the cause of body image because not only our bodies are being judged through the media, but as well, our bodies are being judged by people around us.
There were many other teenagers who agreed with Jen. Like Vanessa, who is a seventeen year old. In the article, “ How Does Social Media Affect Your Body Image?” by NEDA Feeding Hope, Vanessa stated, “ To get positive attention on via Facebook, you have to over-sexualize yourself.” Many body images tend to come with sexualizing yourself. Many young women or teenagers tend to try to over-sexualize them self to be liked or try to get their audience’s attention. However this tends to traumatize many because they want to look a certain way or weight a certain pounds to feel and look great.
But what about the opponents who disagree with this?
Many opponents who believes that we should stop blaming social media because social media does not give us our health issues. In the article, “Why The Media Isn’t To Blame For Eating Disorders,” by Margarita Tartakovsky talks about how we should not blame social media on our health problems. The author Margarita Tarakovsky believes that social media isn’t the cause of our eating disorders. She states that our health issues such as eating disorders comes within ourselves.
Furthermore, in the article, there were many of Margarita audience that agreed with her. Many commented things like;
“… the media does not in and of itself CAUSE an eating disorder (Katy).”
A lot of Margarita’s audienced truly agreed that we should stop blaming social media with eating disorders and any other health issues because many tend to get “disordered” and “eating disordered” confused with each other. As well, many of Margarita’s audience believed that those who believe that social media is the cause of health issues, are believing in a myth.
So which side should we truly believe?
When it comes within this question, it really depends on one’s beliefs. Social media is a society that comes with pros and cons. I truly believe that social media is the cause for many young women and teenagers body image. In today’s society, we are judged on our looks, social class, body shape and the way we present ourselves.
Citations:
“How Does Social Media Affect Your Body Image?” National Eating Disorders Association, 28 Aug. 2018, https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/blog/how-does-social-media-affect-you
Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Why the Media Isn’t to Blame for Eating Disorders.” Psych Central.com, 23 July 2018, https://blogs.psychcentral.com/weightless/2010/10/why-the-media-isnt-to-blame-for-eating-disorders/.