Social Media Influence On Young Men and Women Physically and Emotionally

Social Media Influence On Young Men and Women Physically and Emotionally

            Abstract

In the past years, multiple studies have been carried out to determine the influence of social media on the physical and emotional aspects of men and women.  Great emphases have been laid on the body image portrayed by the internet and how men and women perceive them as objects of self-evaluation. Young women have fallen as the significant victims, but in recent years in the internet evolution, the ideal man has been portrayed by the media, and these kinds of ideas in the ideal nature have affected men and women mostly in a negative way but also in a narrow scope of positivity. The ideal male and female body structures have formed a base for evaluating one’s physic leading to a need for an upgrade, a downshift, and even a complete makeover. Today, people change their physical appearances to lift their self-esteem that is otherwise shuttered. While surfing the internet, many advertisements pop up presenting the perceived ideal body and advice and tips on how to get your body there, and people even opt for expensive products and cosmetic surgery just to fit in with the social media ideal self.

Introduction

Social media in today’s society is an essential aspect of our day to day life since it forms a necessary avenue for people to engage with the world around them. People communicate across nations on social media platforms, search for information regarding anything and everything, purchase stuff, make friends, among other uses. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, have formed a considerable part in most of our lives, especially teens, and it plays a vital role in their growth either by hurting or developing their self-esteem and body image. Health experts today like to say that sitting is the new smoking since most of us, on multiple occasions, is seated, eyes glued on our phones, browsing, and having online chats without even talking to the other person in the room. Past habits of having worthwhile conversations or long walks on the beach, street, or even country are slowly fading since every minute on has to spare used mindlessly scrolling down our feeds and following social trends.

The current research is aimed at understanding how social media influences our life in terms of body image, mental health, and other physical and emotional aspects. The study is aimed at understanding the role that social media plays in connection to a person’s mental health and the overall well-being. The understanding will help in finding solutions to mitigate the challenges caused by social media and maximize the positive opportunities it tags along. Young men and women spend more time socializing online compared to the time spent in an offline world of socialization. Phones are almost surgically attached to our hands to the extent that some street billboards read “Do not text and walk” since it’s more dangerous than texting and driving today. Social media is not overly wicked, some of the social groups found are beneficial to the young generation, while others are a source of depression, anxiety, and some forms of disorders.

Social media influence on body image and physical appearance

Social media is an essential aspect of our lives, and every day, it exposes us to pictures of young men and women with images of unattainable beauty. Before the widespread of the social network, the generation then had exposure to pictures of flawless celebrities, a description of perfection printed in magazines, billboards, television, and other communication avenues. The social media is used by young men and women at the highest percentage with a usage time at a minimum of two hours in multiple cases. The time spent on social media platforms leads to socialization and also keeping in touch with the affairs of the social world, trends, fashion blogs, communities of interest, among others. Time spent on social media exposes the user to hundreds, thousands even of advertisements in a day where multiple products pop up and divert the attention of the user to click and learn more about the products or news feed.

Social media advertisement is pervasive; thus, some and many of the pop-ups include beauty and ideal bodies since it has become the worry and concern of many young men and women. The advertisements portray pictures of thin, attractive ideal women figures that are nothing short of perfection with perfect curves, ratios, complexion, and height, among other units of consideration. On the other hand, GQ, Men’s Health, and Fortune portray pictures of wealthy, masculine, and prestigious ideal men. The perfect men and women in the websites and advertisements are often featured together as though sending a message to the young generation. The pictures idealize some societal expectations where young women and men need to obtain a partner who is nothing short of the ideal societal expectations. In the past, men have been reported as wanting to build muscles and leaner abs before they gathered the confidence to approach a woman, maybe as a guarantee that their appearance matched the woman’s expectations of her ideal man.

Young women have fallen victims of social media’s ideal influence. The ideal figures portray have amazing features like long silky hair, guava or hourglass shapes, beautiful and attractive faces, well-highlighted makeup and shades, a flat tummy with all their edges flawless, a depiction of perfection in every possible way. Women tend to compare themselves to the ideal features and got to some extreme extents that are, at times, very expensive and equally dangerous. A group of young women included in a study concerning social media and body image reported that they felt worse after looking at a social media ideal body since the perceived body had a way better appearance that her. The pictures portrayed are attractive, and upon comparison, it affected how the young women valued themselves, leading some to the quest in search of perfection in any given way.

Women from the social media influence on the ideal body have gone for cosmetic surgery that alters their physical appearance, for instance, increase the size of their breast and reduce belly fat through processes of liposuction. Women have paid a lot to get their appearance enhanced to match the ideal bodies portrayed on social media platforms. Young women tend to change their haircut, dressing code, walking style and even talking concerning their perceived perfect woman. How one feels about their body and appearance is useful in improving their self-esteem and mental health since appearance gives one psychological satisfaction on one’s look. Self-esteem is a measure of ones feeling to themselves and can be indicated using different rules other than physical appearance. Social media exposure, in most instances, reduces the esteem one accords to their appearance due to the high unattainable units of measurement. Women, as well as men, tend to seek social approval about their looks based on the high societal expectations attached to the ideal body for men and women.

Social media’s ideal male character has changed over time to exaggerated forms like what witnessed today in the advertisements and social media channels. With time, the perfect male has become more masculine, and contrary to the perceived societal expectations, the ideal male is more masculine that the masculinity many women saw ideal. The media portrays contributed both positively and negatively to men who are swallowing pills and having muscle enlargement injections, high resistance exercises, and bodybuilding gym exercises in the search for the ideal nature. Men have also indulged in cosmetic surgery in a reduction of fatty tissues in areas perceived to have none about the ideal male figure. Men, as well as women, seek approval from the same-sex set standard by their excellent social media counterparts. Search for approval from attainable and false appearances has ruined many lives while others live in constant denial wishing they were someone other than themselves.

Young men and women use Social Comparison Theory (SCT) in self-analysis, where one gains insight about themselves by comparing themselves with other people they perceive better than them. A study conducted by (lfh) identified that many young men and women based on the SCT had developed a perceived standard to achieve an ideal self. According to an 18-year-old interviewed, one has to lose weight to be liked and get positive attention in social media platforms like Facebook. According to the 18 years old woman, one has to be “standard” beauty to meet the societal expectations and enhance the looks by wearing the skirt high and the shirt low. According to a 17-year-old, contests like the “Most Beautiful Teen Contest” is just meant to objectify beauty where contestants have to over-sexualize themselves to get attention from social media like Facebook and Instagram. An individual wears the less the clothes dictate how popular they become so that some young women are persuaded to follow some socialite and influencers’ dressing code. SCT is essential in life where one seeks an improvement like in health and fashion rather than when one feels the urge to change their appearance so bad to be like the ideal bodies portrayed.

Social media’s ideal bodies have been electronically altered to enhance the models’ beauty to fit the unattainable qualities put by society. Some of these images used in advertisements are mere fantasies of the advertising team where they get people wishing to change their reality, and thus they even purchase expensive products. Social media is a platform where one is relieved of the days to stress by reading and seeing fresh content, but some, if not all, of us, especially young women in comparison to young men, have been affected by the content negatively. Some young women forego meals and almost starve to death, trying to attain an hourglass shape, yet their body structure is blocky. In the search for ideal looks, women have gone for plastic surgery and emerged looking worse than they had earlier perceived. Some of these cosmetic practices have more harm than good. Analyzing social media body image allows one to identify the fantasy behind the filtered images allowing one to understand that flaws are part of humanity, and all that matters is how one perceives themselves other than their physical appearance.

Social media influence on emotional and mental health

It’s not a wonder that social media is not that great for mental health based on multiple studies carried out in the field since it has raised concern over time. Social media is addictive, and upon exposure to children, it leads to poorer psychological well-being during their adolescence. Social media addiction is a challenge to many individuals based on our daily life-based evidence. A day hardly goes by without young men and women posting stuff or following twitter feeds and comments made by others on the online platforms. In a study conducted by (jjky) it was concluded that it would be plausible to identify addiction to Facebook as “Facebook Addiction Disorder” since it leads to some visible and at times, intense reactions. Social media becomes an addiction if one foregoes some aspect of personal life to create time for social media. People tend to have mental preoccupation, experiences that modify their moods, escapism other addictive behaviors just as seen in some drug addicts. Social media addicts upon stopping have been reported to undergo some psychological symptoms of withdrawal.

Social media users also suffer from sadness and a sense of less well-being since the more exposure people get; they tend to have fewer spans of happiness and satisfaction in their lives. Lives portrayed on Facebook, for example, are luxurious and prestigious, and this perception leaves most people sad and concerned about how bad they are faring in life. The fact that multiple people are always online chatting with social media friends and communities giving them a sense of belonging. Once offline, the individual tends to suffer feelings of social isolation since they hardly establish rewarding relationships with physical people near them. The more time young men and women spend on social media platforms, the more they perceive a feeling of social isolation, a feeling that is dangerous to their mental and physical state.

Social media platforms are the basis for human comparison, where one grades themselves against some ideal online socialite or even their friends. One factor leading to a feeling of social isolation is the act of comparison of a practice that is mentally and emotionally unhealthy. Young men and women make social media comparison in an upward or downwards analysis where they are either better or worse than their basis of analysis. An upward review where the other person has a life better than you makes one feel bad about themselves, a regular aspect of human nature. Social media comparisons have been linked with symptoms of depression where an individual develops feelings of jealousy. Pictures of perfect vacations, fantastic fashion trends, riches, and beauty trigger a vicious cycle of resentment. One is jealous of another who is jealous of another, and thus, the cycle continues. Social media platforms give room for one to portray a deceptive lifestyle creating a high bar for the peers leading to emotional distress and mental disturbance trying to meet false expectations.

Young men and women keep coming back to social media platforms even when it does not necessarily make us happy. Social media addiction develops a vicious cycle where individuals are caught up in the delusion that the media will make them feel better while at times, it’s the opposite. Some comments on people’s posts are diminishing, and they are exposed to cyberbullying in places they can after all forego. Social media encounters are permissive and expose one to abusive language, sensitive content in pictures, and other materials that are better unseen and unheard. However, even after a nasty encounter, one goes back after a few hours and is exposed to the ugly experience once again, just like a drug addict. The young generation is online chatting and scrolling their phones till late at night, depriving them of quality sleeping time needed for physical, emotional, and mental health.

Social media is not always detrimental to physical and emotional health, while used for the right manner; it provides a sense of belonging when friends and family post amazing stuff about us on our Facebook walls, for example, during a birthday. It becomes easy to find role models with similar aspirations and interests as well as increasing an individual’s trust and bonding rather than loneliness. Despite all the talk on Facebook depression, social media is a source of happiness when actively engaged with friends and family. People participate in exciting conversations and improve their moods while spreading their happiness to other people around them in their social circle. Social media is also useful in enhancing an individual’s physical health since one can manage their health based on information spread on these platforms.

Social media is useful to young men and women but more detrimental to women as compared to men. Social media platforms increase a feeling of inadequacy when one compares themselves with ideal lives depicted in the media. Social media influence young men since it affects their perception of their physical appearances as well as their emotional well-being. Social media addiction leads to depression and anxiety leading to a poor mental health state like stress. Physically, young men and women affect their sleep patterns, promote inactivity leading to more eating and less exercising increasing obesity and other eating disorders.