Body Dysmorphia and Social Media; A Recipe For Disaster

Artifact 1: This artifact is important because it reflects that participants who frequently compared their own physical appearance to that of people they followed on social media had a 5.6 point higher mean EDI-BD score than those who did not, and those who always compared themselves to social media images had a 9.2 point higher mean EDI-BD score than those who never did.

Artifact 2: This artifact is important because it shows how unfortunate outcomes like body dysmorphia within media consumers tend to skyrocket. These celebrities are selling consumers a false reality, which is deeply upsetting because celebrities are supposed to be people that you look up to, not people who support negative body image standards. Social media consumers are being harmed by being exposed to content such as this, as this form of media only influences body dysmorphia.

Artifact 3: This Instagram account is one of the few accounts on this platform that offers informative content on how to recognize the symptoms of body dysmorphia, and how to navigate the pitfalls of comparing yourself to what is portrayed on social media. This is important because this account is shedding light on body dysmorphia, which is a topic that is rarely discussed.

Artifact 4: According to the study, advertisements in both publications presented women in typical gender roles, with sexual attractiveness increasing over time. This research looked at advertising in Life and Cosmopolitan magazines from 1952 to 1955 to see how they portrayed women's bodies. According to data, the fitness boom, changing average body size, and cultural standards all led to the shift in body image depiction. This article supports the concept that negative appearance-based philosophies have been around since the 1900s. What is not revealed is that the ladies portraying these body image standards forced themselves to perform harmful and cruel acts in order to retain their attractiveness, which is common with body dysmorphia.