The Effects of Social Media on Body Image, Aesthetic Labour, and Digital Citizenship
Social Media Beauty Standards and Aesthetic Templates
Social media is dominated by standardised beauty trends, which are referred to as aesthetic templates (Duffy, 2017). These include particular photo filters, body modifications, and makeup looks, which contribute to the rise of unrealistic body ideals.
A popular beauty standard on Instagram is the idea of "Instagram Face," which is defined by full lips, sculpted cheekbones, and poreless, smooth skin (Carrotte et al., 2017). This template promotes excessive photo editing and cosmetic enhancements, which feeds into self-doubt and social comparison.
Appearance is a type of social currency in the visual culture that social media promotes. Influencers curate extremely polished images to keep followers interested, which can lead to negative self-perceptions and a distorted self-image, especially in younger audiences (Bishop, 2021).
Are Public Health Campaigns Beneficial or Dangerous?
Although social media is an effective tool for raising public awareness of health issues, it can also reinforce negative standards of beauty.
Some initiatives, like Movember, successfully advance men's health by enticing people to take part in awareness-raising events. Nonetheless, extreme dieting, impractical fitness objectives, and unachievable body ideals are encouraged by some fitness and wellness trends, and these behaviours have been connected to eating disorders and body dysmorphia (Daniels, 2016).
The emergence of thinspiration and fitspiration content shows how social media can perpetuate unhealthy ideals of beauty. Although platforms have made an effort to control these trends, users are still exposed to harmful content through algorithm-driven content recommendations (Duffy & Meisner, 2022).
The Cost of Internet Stardom: Aesthetic Labour & Microcelebrity
According to Senft (2012), the microcelebrity phenomenon is when people position themselves as influencers in an effort to attract followers and achieve financial success. However, aesthetic labor—the ongoing effort to preserve a skilfully constructed image—is necessary to maintain this status.
This work can be seen in a number of influencer categories:
To keep up a perfect online persona, beauty influencers use cosmetic enhancements, makeup, and filters.
Influencers in the fitness industry frequently portray an idealised view of health and body image that may not be true to their actual situation.
Influencers in the fashion industry advocate carefully chosen looks that demand hefty sums of money.
According to Dean (2005), the persistent pressure to appear flawless has detrimental effects on mental health, including low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.
The pornification of online content
The growing sexualisation of self-presentation on digital platforms is referred to as pornification (Drenten et al., 2019). The way that men and women portray themselves online is one area where this trend is especially noticeable.
While men are urged to emphasise muscularity and dominance, women are frequently subjected to aesthetic pressures that centre on hyper-feminine beauty standards, such as exaggerated curves. Social media algorithms reinforce the emphasis on physical attractiveness by giving more visibility to highly sexualised or visually appealing content (Marshall, 2010).
This raises moral questions about the normalisation of unattainable beauty standards and self-objectification, especially for younger audiences who are more susceptible to influence.
Mental Health and the Crisis of Body Image
Increased body dissatisfaction has been closely associated with social media, with studies pointing to important risks including:
A rise in social comparison-related body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) (Dorfman et al., 2018).
Elevated anxiety and depression, particularly among regular image-based platform users (Duffy, 2017).
Younger people seeking to meet the ideal of beauty on social media are increasingly undergoing cosmetic surgery.
A few platforms have tried to implement policies to mitigate these impacts. For instance, Instagram has tried eliminating likes, and TikTok has prohibited specific weight-loss campaigns. The promotion of carefully chosen beauty content by engagement-driven algorithms, however, limits these efforts.
Ways to Make the Digital Environment Healthier
There are various actions that people and platforms can take to lessen the detrimental effects of social media on mental health and body image:
Recognise unattainable beauty standards by realising that the majority of photos on social media are heavily Photoshopped.
Instruct users in media literacy so they can evaluate influencer endorsements and beauty trends critically.
Encourage self-acceptance and a variety of body types by supporting body-positive influencers.
Control influencer content to guarantee ethical marketing and promotion strategies.
By highlighting the fact that beauty is varied and not solely determined by social media trends, you can promote self-acceptance.
References:
Bishop, S. (2021). Influencer management tools: Algorithmic cultures, brand safety, and bias. Social Media + Society, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211003066
Carrotte, E. R., Prichard, I., & Lim, M. S. C. (2017). ‘Fitspiration’ on social media: A content analysis of gendered images. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(3).
Daniels, E. A. (2016). Sexiness on social media: The social costs of using a sexy profile photo. Sexualization, Media, & Society, 2(4), 1–10.
Dean, D. (2005). Recruiting a self: Women performers and aesthetic labour. Work, Employment & Society, 19(4), 761–774.
Dorfman, R. G., Vaca, E. E., Mahmood, E., Fine, N. A., & Schierle, C. (2018). Plastic surgery-related hashtag utilization on Instagram: Implications for education and marketing. Aesthetic Surgery Journal, 38(3), 332–338.
Drenten, J., Gurrieri, L., & Tyler, M. (2019). Sexualized labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic, and the monetization of attention. Gender, Work and Organization, 1–26.
Duffy, B. E. (2017). (Not) getting paid to do what you love: Gender, social media, and aspirational work. Yale University Press.
Duffy, B. E., & Meisner, C. (2022). Platform governance at the margins: Social media creators’ experiences with algorithmic (in)visibility. Media, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221111923
Marshall, D. (2010). The promotion and presentation of the self: Celebrity as a marker of presentational media. Celebrity Studies, 1(1), 35-48.
Senft, T. M. (2012). Microcelebrity and the branded self. In Hartley, J., Burgess, J., & Bruns, A. (Eds.), A Companion to New Media Dynamics. Blackwell, UK.