Bad influencers: Just 90 seconds of watching ‘ideal bodies’ on social media can negatively impact women’s mental health, study finds
- Images of ‘ideal’ bodies and faces may contribute to eating disorders in women
- The researchers said filters allowed features to be improved to unrealistic levels
Women can see their mental health being negatively affected by just 90 seconds of watching social media influencers show off their bodies, a study says.
The images of toned legs, flat stomachs, full lips and flawless faces have an almost immediate – and damaging – effect on the viewer’s self-image of their own body.
It has long been known that images of ‘ideal’ bodies and faces can make women feel worse about themselves and contribute to mental health and eating disorders.
But researchers sought to discover whether this also applied to exposure to short TikTok and Instagram videos.
“Content that is ideal for appearance can pressure women to look a certain way, which is unrealistic or completely unattainable,” said Dr. Jasmine Fardouly, senior author of the study.
Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner are among the world’s biggest social media influencers, with 364 million and 380 million Instagram followers respectively and millions more on TikTok
It has long been known that images of ‘ideal’ bodies and faces can make women feel worse about themselves and contribute to mental health and eating disorders.
The images of toned legs, flat bellies, full lips and flawless faces have an almost immediate – and damaging – effect on the viewer’s self-image of their own body
‘We know this starts early, with girls as young as six reporting being unhappy with their bodies, wanting to look thinner and even dieting to lose weight.’
Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner are among the world’s biggest social media influencers, with 364 million and 380 million Instagram followers respectively and millions more on TikTok.
The team from the University of New South Wales in Australia showed 211 women aged 17 to 28 images and videos selected from the Instagram and TikTok accounts of female social media influencers. They were then asked about their mood and body image.
The team found that the women compared their bodies to the women in terms of ‘appearance ideal’ and consistently found themselves less attractive. Dr. Fardouly added: ‘The total exposure time was only a minute and a half, and we found that this was enough to have harmful effects.’
An additional problem, according to the researchers, is that technological filters allow social media subjects to enhance their attributes to unrealistic levels, making their audiences “more likely to engage in negative social comparisons.”