Spotlight on research

Is a healthy social media possible? Keeping a positive mind-set about our bodies online and offline

As we spend endless days and weeks within the four walls of our homes in lockdown UK, with others or alone, with balconies or gardens or maybe just a window, many of us wonder how we’ll emerge from this isolation. “Divorced, broke, depressed, fat,” predicted one joke floating around Facebook recently. A beforeand-after lockdown photo showed Aquaman at quarantine day 1, who had turned into Rubeus Hagrid from Harry Potter by day 30. A meme shared by a friend showed a woman in lockdown making bread and mistaking her own protruding belly for the dough. My baking group had a posting of a Fitbit photo between the waffles and scones, so we don’t feel fat from looking at all the food photos.

Even amidst a deadly pandemic, we still manage to worry about how our bodies will look when they emerge from this crisis. All this isn’t entirely surprising though, as body image concerns are widespread and affect most of us even under normal circumstances. My research on female university students in America showed that 86% of participants wanted to lose weight; the difference between their real and ideal weight was close to 9 kilograms on average. That was despite the fact that the mean weight of the study sample aligned with the mean weight of 19-year-olds in the country. In other words, people of healthy weight can also have poor body image. Body dissatisfaction is a universal problem too. A 2017 research report by Dove on 10-17-year-old girls in 14 countries showed that “only 46% of girls globally had high body esteem”. Of the countries studied, the UK was in the bottom three and only China and Japan scored worse. In the UK, 39% of girls had good body image. The consequences from such poor attitudes are widespread and serious. Nine out of 10 girls in the UK with low body esteem reported skipping meals, avoiding meeting friends and family or trying out for a team, according to the report. While poor body image is experienced by people of all ages, it remains in sharper focus among children and young people. The frequent use of social media by this age group poses an additional challenge as researchers, educators and parents keep asking how these two factors intersect. The abovementioned research on American university students did in fact show a relationship between the two. More time spent on Facebook related to more body and weight comparisons, more attention to the physical appearance of others and more negative body attitudes after viewing posts and photos. For the young women who wanted to lose weight (the vast majority of the sample), more time on Facebook also related to stronger symptoms of disordered eating.

Poor body image can be a challenge across the lifespan. Many middle-aged women face the same challenges of being dissatisfied with their bodies and placing too much importance on shape and weight for their self-concept. One study has reported that 54 is the age when the average woman is least satisfied with her body. Men aren’t immune to doubts either, as many worry not only about their body weight and shape, but also about hair loss and other image issues.

These results surprised many when they were first publicised in 2014 and sparked significant coverage and debate in mainstream media. But what I found surprising was the huge interest in the topic among young people, their parents and teachers. They were curious to learn more and eager to discuss how they engage with social media and how they felt about it. This interest has inspired me to reach out to the public and to become more engaged in the debate about social media and its repercussions for mental health. Over the past five years, I have given talks at schools, universities, and public events, including via TEDx, and spoke to mental health professionals and advocates.

As social media has continued to develop over the years, the discussion of its benefits and drawbacks has also advanced. Young people no longer wonder if spending long hours on

Instagram affects them. They know that it does. Now, they’re looking into ways to address the drawbacks while preserving the social benefits. Nobody is talking about going back to the dark ages before social media (except maybe a few nostalgic souls from our generation!), but many are interested in creating a more rewarding experience there.

Societal thinking around policy has also changed. As social media companies are increasingly perceived as profiteers selling either content or our personal data, calls for regulation have intensified. Change in that direction is already evident – Instagram, for example, is starting to remove harmful content and the Adverting Standards Authority has requested influencers to tag promotional posts. I expect this trend to intensify in future.

#HealthySocialMedia event & report

In spring 2019, together with the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), I organised an event as part of our Engage Week, where people from 15 different organisations in Scotland, including pupils, teachers, social media influencers, mental health charities, youth charities, NHS, etc. The aim of the event was to share personal experiences from social media interactions and discuss strategies for building a positive relationship between users and their digital lives. The event followed up last year’s Mental Health Awareness Week led by the MHF, which also focused on body image.

At the event, young people discussed their social media persona versus their offline persona. Online, they admitted to being “fake”, “brutal”, “exposed to hate”, “judgemental”, “critical of self”, “jealous”, and under “pressure to be liked”. Other more nuanced descriptors included “filtered”, “guarded”, “self-aware” and “cautious”. Some positive descriptors of their social media persona did come through, such as “happy (too)”, “confident”, “invincible”, “ego/esteem boost”, “open for sharing emotions”. Offline though personalities were much more positive in comparison: “open”, “genuine”, “honest”, “less image conscious”, “more open – share more”, “trusting” etc. Young people also described themselves more often as

‘authentic’ in offline interactions and talked more often about deception in their online interactions.

When discussing their feelings and behaviours on social media, participants used negative descriptors twice more often than positive ones, which corresponds to prior research. The most common experience was witnessing others’ “perfect” lives or “perfect” bodies on social media. This tendency for “only posting good days” or for sharing only “perfect pictures, exciting experiences” was related to feelings of anger and frustration. This “perfect” and competitive atmosphere also triggered judgement and criticism, participants said. They shared feeling “judged”, “judgemental”, “aware of criticism”, “unkind” and “very self-critical”. Gender differences were also highlighted, with comments such as “girls are more critical” and “girls are worse than boys about each other”. Other common themes were those of comparisons and pressure. Comparing to others in terms of photos or just life overall was a common experience.

For the full report from the event, which contains proposed strategies for a better social media experience and videos of the event speakers, visit our project website: http://www.healthysocialmedia.org/resources/

Scottish Government Advisory Group

2019 was the year for body image research and advocacy in many ways. It was also when the Scottish Government decided to form the Healthy Body Image for Children and Young People Advisory Group, which aimed to undertake a review of the issue and was lead by the MHF and Beat the Eating Disorders charity. I was an invited member of the Advisory Group, and for six months, we listened to evidence from various groups of young people and their experiences of body image.

In March 2020, the Advisory Group has released a recommendation report, which proposes a revised definition of good body image and discusses the issue from various perspectives. The Report emphasizes that body image is not just an individual problem, but it is shaped by many outside influences: the media and advertising, policy and regulation,

public health messaging (Remember Cancer Research UK’s obesity campaign?), and relevant professionals in young people’s lives, schools, parents and families.

Our recommendations call for bold changes in how we all see our own and other people’s bodies and how we talk about them in public and in private. Too often behaviour change is left to individuals who struggle to turn against the tide. Young people can feel pressurized by adverts telling them they need face creams, lip fillers and diets to become better. How can a 10-year old appreciate their body when parents and peers tease them daily about his weight? Young people cannot change until we change with them. The report recommendations lay out a road map for societal change in Scotland and hopefully beyond. Do you want to see the Group’s vision for good body image for young people in Scotland? Read the report here.

The Scottish Government is expected to address these recommendations after the Covid-19 crisis is managed. We will all have to do our part too. For now, let’s just stay home, indulge in our favourite activities, exercise when we can, and be kinder to each other (and ourselves!) online and offline.

Perhaps timely, the theme for the MHF Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 is KINDNESS.

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Contact Dr Petya Eckler

School of Humanities petya.eckler@strath.ac.uk

Twitter: @DrPetyaEckler