With the developing technology, the effects of social media on our lives are increasing day by day. Especially with the shrinking of smart phones, we can say that a whole world has shrunk and entered pockets. In this way, we can access the information, images or videos we want whenever we want. As a result of these conveniences, everyone, regardless of whether they are women, men, old, young or children, has appeared on social platforms. In these social platforms, while people display many information and images about themselves, their thoughts, their lives and their bodies, they can also follow others' posts. Social media platforms, created on photo and video sharing that appeal to desires such as being seen, liked and appreciated, have started to come to the fore in recent years. These platforms soon affected the social masses and turned into a structure that is frequently controlled and allocated time in the flow of daily life. They also started to see the content about it frequently. This situation caused people to develop beliefs that the idealized bodies they see on social media are actually the body structures they should be. From this point of view, people began to compare themselves with what they saw as having ideal bodies. . Thus, people with these thoughts experience sadness, embarrassment, anxiety, etc. Emotions began to intensify. It has been observed that some people who have difficulty in coping with these feelings use methods such as filtering on the photos they share on social media or using photoshop programs to fit their bodies to their ideal body sizes. While others did not care about these bodily differences, these differences were considered very important for some. These people have dreams of inadequacy and inadequacy about themselves. While they could be too busy with their thoughts, they were also able to make various attempts to change their appearance by assuming everything they saw on social media as real.
So where did the differences come from for these people? Have you ever wondered about the answer to this question?
This is where the concept of body image comes into play as an answer to this question.
What is Body Perception?
Body image refers to one's feelings, thoughts and perceptions about one's own body. Body perception is not about how the body looks from the outside, but about how the person sees and perceives his own body. While these perceptions are sometimes based on actual bodily features, sometimes they may be based on non-real defects. In addition, people's perceiving and caring about their existing bodily defects much more than they really are is related to the deterioration of bodily perception. It is not created by itself. Family, social environment, media, culture and social expectations are also effective in the formation of these evaluations. . However, if the desired physical characteristics and the physical characteristics possessed are different from each other, negative body perceptions occur. While feelings of satisfaction increase as a result of positive body perceptions, feelings such as anger, anxiety, shame, and dissatisfaction may occur as a result of negative body perceptions. In this difficult process, behaviors such as intense diet and sports, aesthetic and dermatological interventions that are not actually necessary, avoidance of social environments, excessive covering of undesirable parts of the body with clothes may occur. However, in some cases, these behaviors, which are carried out to cope with compelling emotions and thoughts, can complicate life even more and make it inextricable.
What Effect Does Social Media Advertising Have on Body Image?
Social media is an important source of power in influencing people. and it continues to increase its power day by day. Industrial societies and the capitalist system, which are aware of this power, also want to use this power through advertisements, collaborations and visuals in order to maintain the supply-demand balance. It is tried to gain the appreciation of people by making it clear. Sometimes, advertising and marketing strategies are created by emphasizing the aesthetic elements for the body, which are highly appreciated and attract attention. Thus, sales services are carried out by increasing consumption. When these aesthetic elements affect the perception of the body in the society, sales services provide the development of nutrition, sports, beauty and aesthetics sectors. Moreover, changing beauty expectations over time also contribute to the continuity of this sector.
While changing beauty expectations cause people to be dissatisfied with their bodies for a long time, this situation is actually due to the constantly changing perception of beauty. causes the efforts to reach ideal body standards never end. In this way, the consumption and change cycle expected to be created with social media becomes sustainable.
How Social Media Affects Body Image
The number of influencers who emphasize body and facial beauty, high living standards and aesthetic appearance on social media platforms (that is, people with a high number of organic followers who can influence large audiences on the internet) is increasing day by day. Influencers who have adopted this style often try to establish closeness with people by sharing their daily lives. With the thought that they have a beautiful life and the fact that they are highly appreciated on the social platform, these people are not interested in their appearance, aesthetics, sports hours, diets, etc. They begin to be taken as an example by other people with their details. Moreover, some people have social problems with their aesthetic interventions. They make people accept the perception that these interventions are normal by sharing them openly on their media accounts. As a result of the massive influence of the followers, this turns into a false social sub-message of “My body must be the way I want it to be in order to be at peace and happy with my body.” After this message, “If I am not satisfied with something in my body and it upsets me, I should change it to feel better.” Beliefs are developing.
Moreover, in sharing. The bodily standards that are seen and desired do not reflect reality most of the time. Therefore, it can be said that social media is actually just a virtual reality. Because people who share are usually equipped to reflect their appearance as they want. In addition, people prefer to share images on the parts of their body that will be appreciated rather than accepting their body as a whole by being selective about their own bodies on social media. For example, people who think that they have a thick waist can usually take hundreds of photos from the same frame until they get the beautiful look they want by framing the top of the waist. Can use fixes and filters. These interventions to correct the photograph are generally aimed at achieving the ideal appearances imposed by social media and society. As a result of all these, it is seen that idealized appearances in social media cause a psychological pressure on people, even if they do not fully reflect the truth. Despite this, while it is seen that the physical features that are appreciated on social media are variable, it is also known that these features do not reflect reality in all aspects. and negatively affect the quality of life. influenced by this process. As a result of faulty diets, sports and aesthetic surgery and orthodontic interventions made to look like others, people can become more unhealthy physically, socially or spiritually. Eating disorders may also occur due to negative body image.
When all this is taken into consideration, creating a healthy body image despite many people who make physical changes in order to achieve idealized body appearances imposed on social media. Is it possible?
What are Healthy and Effective Methods for Creating a Positive Body Image?
We will now consider the answers to these questions.
How Can You Build a Positive Body Image Despite Social Media?
p>Despite the social media, it is beneficial to apply the recommended methods for a long time in order to create a positive body image. Here are some of our suggestions that should be considered in order to maintain a healthy and positive body image while maintaining your relationship with social media: There are also people who have real views from life and can become influencers by starting a natural sharing trend. In fact, these people set an example to the society in terms of being at peace with their own bodies, especially by appearing as they are without hiding their faults. Studies have shown that looking at natural photos and videos in the social media accounts managed by these people for a very short time plays an important role in the development of positive body image. Therefore, following accounts with natural content that make posts in this style may be more beneficial in creating a positive body image. You can stop following those accounts, thinking that not everything about appearance is real. Instead, strive for certain goals that are valuable in life, appealing to your interests, benefiting your personal development.
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