Mackenzie Casey Casey 1

Professor Gardiakos

ENC 1102

4 March 2020

Research Proposal

Purpose

Social media has become a necessity in everyday life, people of every age are; constantly

scrolling, looking at the latest posts, and keeping up with every piece of news, trend, or scandal

that is being discussed. Whenever we are bored we are quick to unlock our phones and go right

back to the methods of scrolling through instagram, twitter, or facebook as we always do.

Unknowingly at times, we are comparing ourselves and the way we look to the people we see on

these apps. Specifically influencers and people who work to promote products and pictures on

social media platforms, most commonly instagram. Everyday, we are analyzing the way these

people look and comparing them to ourselves.

The world of social media has caused a lot of issues mentally, especially with women.

Our body satisfaction has significantly declined due to the standards society holds for us and

what is deemed as “beautiful.” This has caused a lot of girls and women to be self-degrading

and obtain restrictive habits. Young impressionable women, see a woman that seems to be

having the time of her life and is wearing a bikini, with the most perfect tiny body. Girls believe

in order to be beautiful they need to appear that way, and that is not the case. This is a bigger

problem then we let on. We are allowing women to grow up insecure and not body positive.
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Methods

I will first start by analyzing multiple academic journals that I find relevant to my topic

through the UCF libraries database. I will seek out evidence that will be most helpful for the

topics I am discussing in my research project, and I will find what research best works to

communicate with my paper. I will look up how body image has been affected through social

media, specifically instagram. I will find evidence on the amount of people who edit and

restructure their photos to appear different then they actually are.

Next, I will discuss how the the discourse community of specifically instagram

influencers and celebrities are making the issues of body image and the decrease of body

satisfaction more prominent. I will discuss how this discourse community impacts our health and

they way we are affected mentally. This is a serious issue that many women are faced with daily

and they are struggling to accept their bodies for the way they are. Beauty is not something that

should be deemed by society and the select few “perfect” people on instagram, who at the end of

the day edit and photoshop their bodies in an unrealistic and unattainable structure.

I will analyze certain pictures and posts on instagram that may have correlated to the

increase in the number of young women who restrict themselves due to body image issues. I will

look at these posts in comparison to the statistics, and the social media and body image related

issues. Just looking through instagram is an easy way to see photos that can stir up body

comparison. I will also analyze academic journals and the websites/articles they get their

evidence from to help support this claim.

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Discussion and Implications

I have at times struggled with my own body image issues. Most girls my age are all

dealing with the same thing. We can try to hide the fact that we compare ourselves to others and

want to change our bodies, but in reality we are putting on a front. This is something that should

not be seen as acceptable. Girls shouldn’t feel uncomfortable in their own bodies because it isn’t

what society believes is beautiful. Growing up as a dancer body image and the way you look

was and still is a very prevalent thing. Dance is a beautiful thing to watch, but through the years

costumes have become smaller and there is more skin showing. Dancers are all different, but the

ideal dancer is your typical pencil thin ballerina with a slim waist and small legs. This just isn’t

the reality for most girls. I used to struggle with comparing myself to a dancer wearing the

smallest two piece costume with a perfect body. Sometimes, I still struggle, but you have to

remind yourself that for some of us that will never be the reality even with strict diets and intense

workout plans, and we have to start accepting the way we look and think of ourselves as

beautiful.

Social media doesn’t help with this false perception. I think this growing body

dysmorphia and expectation issue needs to be brought to light in a more prominent way. So

many young women are struggling and we don’t even see it. This issue has been around for

years, however, social media has only intensified it. The more people that are made aware, the

more people can inform women that you’re beautiful whether social media or instagram says so.

And to stop comparing yourself to people who either were born a certain way or are editing their
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photos. We need to prevent mental disorders that are being caused by this huge issue, and we

need to learn to be more body positive and uplifting to others on social media.
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Annotated Bibliography

Bagautdinova, Diliara. ​The Influence of Instagram Selfies on Female Millennials’ Appearance

Satisfaction​. 2018. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.C53F7C6C&site=

eds-live&scope=site.

Diliara Bagautdinova, gives evidence and insight on the negative effects of social

networking sites and their correlation with body issues and the lack in self satisfaction.

She specifically analyzes this correlation that instagram selfies has with these negative

effects. She conducts interviews with 26 women, and she gets their idea of how social

media has declared the ideal body image, and the effects it has on people. The women

give feedback on their lack of satisfaction with their bodies and their aspiration to

compare to celebrities and influencers that they view on instagram.

Hermanda, Atika, et al. ​The Effect of Social Media Influencer on Brand Image, Self-Concept,

and Purchase Intention.​ 2019. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.29244/jcs.4.2.76-89.

Atika Hermanda and others are analyzing the effects of social media influencers. They

analyze the concepts of influencers and the role-model like quality they have on many

people in our society. They affect how people view themselves, and even sway what they

purchase. They interviewed 219 people using a sampling technique to understand and

discuss their insight on social media influencers. They analyzed the way people view

these influencers and how they are likely to listen to their advice and to purchase what

they promote.
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Kennedy, Katie. ​Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescent Well-Being​. 2019.

EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F3819FF&site=e

ds-live&scope=site.

Katie Kennedy, uses evidence from other authors to discuss the positive and negative

impact that social media has on young adults and their daily lives. She finds evidence to

support multiple negative impacts that social media brings on. Including body image,

bullying, fear of missing out, as well as lack of sleep. She also identifies some positive

impacts of social media, including feeling connected, and positive feelings. However,

when analyzing four popular social networking sites she found positive correlations

primarily only with Youtube and more of a negative impact in others like Snapchat,

Instagram, and Facebook. Instagram overall has the most negative correlations overall.

Lee, Minsun, and Hyun-Hwa Lee. “Can Virtual Makeovers Using Photo Editing Applications

Moderate Negative Media Influences on SNS Users’ Body Satisfaction?” ​Canadian

Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement,​

vol. 51, no. 4, Oct. 2019, pp. 231–238. ​EBSCOhost,​ doi:10.1037/cbs0000133.

Minsun Lee from the Center of Perception and Behavioral Research and Hyun-Hwa Lee

from the Department of Fashion Design and Textiles, have come together to develop a

study on the levels of photo editing and its effects on body image in social media users.

They conducted an experiment on 133 Korean women to understand the amounts of

people who use photo editing apps on their pictures before they post. They had an

overwhelming 84% of women agree to the use of photo editing apps. This allows women
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to grow unhealthy body image habits, and others to obtain restrictive diets to try to

resemble the edited pictures they’re seeing online.

Martinez-Pecino, Roberto, and Marta Garcia-Gavilán. “Likes and Problematic Instagram Use:

The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem.” ​CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking,​

vol. 22, no. 6, June 2019, pp. 412–416. ​EBSCOhost,​ doi:10.1089/cyber.2018.0701.

Robertoa Martinez-Pecino from the Department of Psychology and Marta

Garcia-Gavilán, discuss the growing use on Instagram and its popularity in correlation to

self-esteem and the issues that it is causing people of all ages. They conducted a study on

224 teeanagers to understand the connection between Instagram and self-esteem. They

noticed that the impact of likes was directly related with higher and lower self-esteem.

The more popular the teenagers appeared to be, the better their self-esteem appeared to be

as a whole.

Oberacker, Sierra E., et al. ​Social Media’s Effect on Self-Image and Body-Image.​ 2019.

EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.2AFF1183&site=

eds-live&scope=site.

Sierra Oberacker, is analyzing the negative impacts of social media with its correlation to

body image, and self-deprecation issues. She mentions studies that specifically state

Instagram directly relates to body image, and how men and women are constantly

comparing themselves to others and most commonly in a negative way. She discusses the

way social media has controlled our society and we constantly are comparing ourselves.

She interviews several young men and women to get their opinions on this topic.
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Porter, James E. “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community.” ​Rhetoric Review,​ vol. 5, no. 1,

1986, pp. 34–47. ​JSTOR​, www.jstor.org/stable/466015. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.

James Porter, a professor at Howard University documents the use of intertextuality and

discourse community amongst writers. He identifies and defines the meanings of these

two writing terms and gives examples as to how they are used amongst writings from

several authors, including himself. He discusses how those who use similar words or

phrases in their writing, have been at times connected through the same discourse

community and have the same intentions in their writing or views.

RODGERS, R. F. ​et al.​ A biopsychosocial model of social media use and body image concerns,

disordered eating, and muscle-building behaviors among adolescent girls and boys.

Journal of Youth and Adolescence​, ​[s. l.],​ v. 49, n. 2, p. 399–409, 2020. DOI

10.1007/s10964-019-01190-0. Disponível em:

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2020-01200-001&si

te=eds-live&scope=site. Acesso em: 1 mar. 2020.

Rachel Rodgers and many others, studied the concerns for body image connected with

social media. They collectively conducted a survey with 681 young adults, they filled out

a questionnaire with questions related to body image, muscle building and social media.

The authors collectively analyzed the data and found that there is almost a direct link

between social media and body dysmorphia and eating disorders. Both men and women

had body image issues, genders developed different body issues, however collectively

social media was somehow affecting their views on their own bodies.
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Rounsefell, Kim, et al. “Social Media, Body Image and Food Choices in Healthy Young Adults:

A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.” ​Nutrition & Dietetics​, vol. 77, no. 1, Feb. 2020,

pp. 19–40. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sph&AN=141783319&site=eds-live&

scope=site.

Kim Rounsefell from the Department of Nutrition and many others, decided to analyze

the connection of body image issues and eating disorders with social media. They studied

“Image-related content” and its correlation with body image and youth with healthy diets

and those with restrictive ones. They curated multiple studies with five major themes

relating to body image and social networking. They worked to find what kind of negative

impacts can come from image- related content, and evidence lead to the discovery that

healthy young adults were adopting eating disorders due to what they have been exposed

to on social media.

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” ​Writing About Writing: A College

Reader. ​Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.

John Swales, a credible and commonly used author discusses the six characteristics that

are commonly found amongst discourse communities. He discusses the common factors

that bring those together to create a discourse community. He discusses what makes a

discourse relevant and credible. He also ties in the ideas of intertextuality and the re-use

of words and/or phrases amongst other authors, placing them in the same discourse

communities.

Williams, Robert, and Lina Ricciardelli. “Social Media and Body Image Concerns: Further
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Considerations and Broader Perspectives.” ​Sex Roles​, vol. 71, no. 11–12, Dec. 2014, pp.

389–392. ​EBSCOhost​, doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0429-x.

Robert Williams and Lina Ricciardelli, both students attending the University of Sydney

as well as Deakin University. These authors took the time to research the correlation

between social media and body image issues. They analyzed studies done by Perloff and

connected the mass media that we are exposed to, to body dysmorphia amongst young

women. They prove that there is no real social media sight that directly correlates with

the development of these habits, but social media is the core problem and reason for the

problems as a whole.

Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J., et al. “A Closer Look at Appearance and Social Media:

Measuring Activity, Self-Presentation, and Social Comparison and Their Associations with

Emotional Adjustment.” ​Psychology of Popular Media,​ Feb. 2020. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.1037/ppm0000277.

Melanie J Zimmer-Gemback and many others from the School of Applied Psychology,

have come together to analyze the relationship that young adults have with their appearance and

comparing themselves to others. They conducted a study of 283 Australian young adults, and

asked them to take a survey so they could analyze the results and the way they think. They

studied their responses on a Social Media Appearance Preoccupation Scale (SMAPS), the results

favored in females. Another study was conducted with 327 adults, older than before. This study

showed validity of the SMAPS scale, and the effects of appearance anxiety do not matter with

age, and it is continuously related back to social media.