Effects of Unrealistic Images on Social Media Among Teenagers

Research Proposal
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Research Proposal
Introduction
Social media refers to an aspect of electronic communication where users are capable of creating online communities to share content such as information or personal messages. One of the major reasons for engagement in communication between individuals' family and friends is the desire to retrieve information (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Teenage life is marred with various spoken alongside unspoken expectations, realizations, and rationalizations on a daily basis. Such different challenges as encountered by the teenagers make their lives hard at various stages. The nature of complexity within the teenager's world requires some attention from the adult perspective.
Teenagers worldwide struggle with the need to fit and move along with their peers, which at times leads to spill-over of the desires into an obsessive drive to appear "perfect." Homayoun (2019) provides insight into the digital world's impact alongside social media on teenagers and the preferable tactics and solutions that foster the balance between digital consumption alongside personal well-being.
One of the crucial areas of concern entails the impact of social media on teenagers' emotional alongside physical health globally. There has been evidence research on social media's long-term impact on teenagers' mental and emotional domains. Notably, adolescents who spend significant time on social media are known to develop unrealistic body image expectations. Such impact is prevalent particularly amongst young girls, for instance, in a study conducted by (Brown 2014), 20% of the 9-year-old and 40% of the 14-year-olds ascend to the fact that they desired to lose weight. The excessive use of skinny models is not a new phenomenon since the saturation of such images in our daily lives provides a fairly current development (Anderson & Jiang, 2018).
The current rise in photo media alongside the ubiquitous photoshopping and the aspect of airbrushing of celebrities leave teenagers feeling more under pressure than before in a quest to look perfect. Further, some applications provide image filters alongside editing of photo features that teenagers can apply to erase any form of perceived flaws entirely. Consequently, the various un-retouched photos quickly become stale, therefore, only adds to the current confusion on unrealistic beauty standards.
Problem statement
The use of social media is classified broadly under participation, content search, gaming, and sharing and consumption (Bolton et al., 2013). Contribution is the act whereby individuals post the content they create while searching refers to the act of seeking out already created content. Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan (2016) assert that approximately 79% of those using the internet were connected to Facebook, close to 32% use Instagram, LinkedIn 30%, and approximately 24% Twitter. Over 90% of Americans were considered users of the internet in the year 2016, with the usage rates increasing over the past decade.
There is the general agreement that the media portrays various unrealistic standards of excellence and beauty standards. The inclination has become so universal that it is adopted by a significant percentage of teenagers across the globe. Such standards are dangerously unhealthy and send unrealistic messages to teens that sacrificing an individual's health is attractive as per societal standards. There are countless studies conducted, and the results prove that most media exposure that teenagers experience provides more negative influence on self-esteem and self-image. From such a perspective, this paper will attempt to explore the topic on the extent to which overexposure to unrealistic image content influences appearance anxiety amongst teenagers.
Study objective
To examine the impact of overexposure to unrealistic media content on appearance anxiety in teenagers.
Research question
How does overexposure to unrealistic images on social media content influence appearance anxiety amongst teenagers?
Study Rationale
Addressing the research question in this study will help provide the various stakeholders with the direction required in providing appropriate content targeting teenagers. Further, the teenagers as the target group in this study will understand the reality behind varius flawed advert contents across media platforms, especially on self-image. This will help them avoid unnecessary cases of appearance anxiety.
Purpose of the study
However, there is equally emerging and increasing good news on the aspect of awareness surrounding the impact of social media on the perception of teenagers. This calls for the suggestion to consider social media as part of the school curriculum since it is also widely applicable outside the classroom. This study will help encourage teenagers to embrace critical thinking concerning various social media pressures on both genders. Notably, social media may not be the sole cause of low self-esteem alongside body issues amongst teenagers. However, there are various tools digitally that provide a peer-to-peer platform with the potential to change their landscape. Therefore, this study will provide necessary reinforcement of positive social media application that guarantees digital detox that could easily set up a structure capable of protecting as well as empowering the various teenage groups.
Scope of the study
The study will target teenagers within the United States and using online surveys. The participants will be between 12 to 18 years old and active in social media.
Definitions
Self-image - refers to the aspect that defines how individuals view themselves from a global perspective internally and externally.
Self-esteem – this refers to an individual's subjective evaluation especially concerning their own worth. This may entail the aspect of belief concerning oneself.
Social media - refers to various websites alongside applications that make it possible for users to create and share content on the media platform.
Teenagers – these are individuals within the age range of between 12 to 18 years
The gap the study will fill
This study will attempt to provide various suggestions and information concerning available means and applications through which teenagers should be advised to erase any form of perceived flaws originating from social media that interferes with their self-image.
Literature Review
This section details literature on the theoretical and empirical perspective towards the impact of overexposure of teenagers on social platform. There is the inclusion of the various intervention measures as researched by previous authors, which include the use of regulated media technologies. Further information addresses incorporating digital platforms and devices into their social domain and its perceived benefits and general impact on their mental growth and development.
Theoretical perspective
Habermas propagated Social Impact Assessment theory (SIA) refers to the existing consequences, influence alongside value as attached to a particular project or program on the beneficiaries alongside the entire community. This theory asserts that the results of impact assessment always inform policy. For instance, Habermas focuses on the fact that decision-making regarding social impact assessment integrates values alongside scientific analysis. Such a perspective informs the decisions on programs or projects, which could otherwise be made based on the value and perceptions of the public, beneficiaries, and participants alongside community members (Parsons et al., 2019).
From such a perspective, the various interest groups publicize the consequences of the various particular programs. There are possibilities that Impact assessment also clarifies the various nature of implications of existing policies and improvement of efficiency of various projects (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Technical perspective and analysis are applicable in qualifying the various decisions made on a political basis. Thus this study envisaged that the findings would inform some national and county policies and practices as regards the impact of social media on teenagers. However, the social impact assessment has implications for development programs in that it advocates for a pragmatic mode. This is the case where discussions by an informed public instill values alongside scientific information. The theory is applicable as a tool necessary for providing information to the public and motivate their participation in policy matters. Further, the theory may help reduce the disproportionate influence of special interest groups across the social decision-making process (Parsons et al., 2019).
Therefore, the SIA theory has implications for this study due to its reference to social media alongside various projects' beneficiaries. The theory implies that ordinary people who include teenagers at the grassroots level provide crucial tools necessary to assess the existing social impact of a program that impacts lives (Parsons et al., 2019). As beneficiaries of social media platforms, teenagers are in a better position to provide explicit views on the value or weaknesses of the platform. For instance, the positive views of the platform lead to its continuity, while a negative view may interfere with the process. The process of assessing the project's social impact may be done through qualitative and quantitative research approaches, as the case in this study.
Empirical perspective
The aspect of overexposure to unrealistic images on social media content influences appearance anxiety amongst teenagers. The media is increasingly becoming one of the dominant parts of daily lives and proves to be incredibly influential over time. In their study, McCrory et al. (2020) reveal that more than 80% of Americans currently watch television daily, with the average watching time being averagely three hours daily. The increasing trend in media consumption is largely attributable to the growing availability of media devices such as phones, tablets, and computers. The results relate to the study's focus on overexposure of teenagers to social media since it qualifies the aspect of easy access to digital platforms.
Harrison & Hefner (2008) identifies that the majority of teenagers between the age of eight and eighteen engage themselves in media for an average of more than six hours per day. Most of this time is always spent watching television with children, part of the time spent on video games and computers daily. In this case, the aspect of the media bombarding children with potentially damaging images on a frequent basis informs that basis to my research question. This is since various programs that include advertisements and cartoons focusing on children often emphasize the importance of being attractive physically, mostly objectifying girls and women. Some photographs that seem sexually objectifying, especially towards the female gender, appear first at the front of men's magazines that target adolescent girls (Harrison & Hefner, 2008). This research study unearths that most of the images always portrayed unrealistic, dangerous levels of images. Whereby a significant number of these images portray the female child as stereotypically tall, white, blonde, and thin, having a curvy shape. Such images cannot be avoided by these children exposed to various social media channels (Dittmar and Howard, 2004).
The study by Dittmar and Howard (2004) reveals that a significantly small percentage of the population tend to fit such criteria on appearance anxiety, with women and girls experiencing repeated exposure to images that propagate various definitions of beauty. This study will provide information that would dispel the messages portrayed to them that they do not fit such a description, that they do not measure to the standards, and are not beautiful. Such portrayal could be considered unhealthy since the majority of the models in adverts alongside other media outlets are approximately 20% below their ideal body weight, this qualifies to the standard criteria for anorexia nervosa (Dittmar and Howard, 2004).
Lin et al. (2016) conducted a study on the duration and frequency that individuals spend on social media outlets. The participants completed an online survey that asked them the amount of time they spend on social media daily and weekly. Their responses were scored on a 5-point Likert scale with representations; 1-never and 5-always. The results of the study revealed that more frequent access to social media might cause depression. There is also a clear indication that those who are depressed possess low self-esteem, therefore, resort to the use of social media for the gain of validation (Lin et al., 2016).
A study by Franchina and Coco (2018) revealed that teenagers and preteens appear to be very sensitive to the various effects that the media portrays on body image. The age groups were found to experience the highest percentage of media exposure as compared to other groups. The various media platforms focusing on this age group have a high number of advertisements that feature unattainable beauty standards. Such findings appear worrisome since they suggest that approximately over 80% of teenage girls report accessing social media platforms in excess of four hours weekly. According to a study conducted by Mazudmar et al. (2012), the longer the teenage girls are exposed to such damaging content, the lower their self-image. The longitudinal study revealed that close to half of the American girls experience unhappiness by the age of thirteen as it pertains to their body image. The percentage increases once the girls move towards eighteen years of age. Such information is crucial in developing the scope of our research question argument on the detrimental effects of the media on teenagers, which requires urgent attention.
Klasnja & Pratt (2012) asserts that media applications have totally changed the level of communication, especially amongst teenagers across the globe. There are different categories of applications that assist in performing different activities for various subjects. A journaling application that is useful for recording important data on various life images and domains. The majority of teenagers can always use smartphones to access timely updates on various aspects of life that eventually affect their public image (Klasnja & Pratt, 2012). Smartphones also make it...