Under the INFLUENCE

New research suggests social media has a negative impact on body image. So how can you navigate your feeds without comparing yourself to an unrealistic ideal?

- Joe Minihane

My entire social media feed was filled almost exclusively with bodybuilders and fitness influencers flexing and posing with large and lean physiques," says George Mycock. "Even when I achieved a similar body, the normal fluctuations that happen to our bodies felt unacceptable to me, as it didn't match the perfect images which I saw online." 

Mycock suffers from muscle dysmorphia, also dubbed 'bigorexia', a form of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). The condition was first recognised in 1891 and has many facets, according to the NHS, with sufferers struggling with concerns about how their face looks, comparing specific body parts and either avoiding or spending long periods of time in front of the mirror.

"At its worst I was exercising more than all my friends, following an ever-more restrictive diet, and spending hours a day 'body checking' in mirrors and squeezing muscles to check they still felt how I 'needed' them to." As the founder of MyoMinds, a company offering advice around exercise and mental health, and a PhD candidate exploring muscularity associated psychosocial issues in men, he has seen up close how the modern phenomena of Instagram and Tik Tok, in particular, have played into people's issues with BDD and poor body image.

A 2023 study in Psychology of Popular Media, which involved 220 participants, found that those which reduced their social media use by 50% over a four-week period enjoyed a notable boost in appearance and weight esteem. Researchers concluded that, "Findings suggest that reducing [social media use] on smartphones may be a feasible and effective method of improving body image in a vulnerable population of youth."

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