Beauty Standards set by Social Media and their Influence on Women’s Body Image

Digital devices became increasingly integrated into our daily life since society relies much on them for communication. Digital devices are mostly used for social media that has a positive benefit, such as contacting friends and sharing memories. Social media turned out to be the complete opposite of its purpose. It gradually progressed into setting beauty standards and has started to impact people’s self-esteem, as well as their tendencies to depression, and anxiety because of body image dissatisfaction. The reason for that is that the brain treats information about oneself as a reward, and many people are sensitive to self-relevant information and social image. They consider this information as an assessment of their social rank and reputation. This research aims to investigate the influence of social media on the body image dissatisfaction among women in Lebanon and how it influences their self-confidence and decision-making. We also aim to check whether women in Lebanon are more prone to have addictive tendencies towards social networking sites and applications than males.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Fadi Yamout

Jenny Issa

Alia Ghaddar

Conference

Publication date: June 2019

Publication date (Print): June 2019

Pages: 61-69

Affiliations

[0001]The International University of Beirut

Beirut campus

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/POM19.10

SO-VID: 4ed860b7-9cd5-47d4-9cdb-213768368ad0

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Politics of the Machine Beirut 2019

Conference acronym: POM2019

Conference number: 2

Conference location: Beirut, Lebanon

Conference date: 11-14 June 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Politics of the Machine

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/POM19.10

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] H. Bhasin 2018 November 06 What Are The Uses Of Social Media? Retrieved June 02 2019 from social media marketing: https://www.marketing91.com/what-are-the-uses-of-social-media/

[2] A. Brandt 2017 June 01 4 Ways That Childhood Trauma Impacts Adults Retrieved June 03 2019 from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindful-anger/201706/4-ways-childhood-trauma-impacts-adults

[3] Y. K. Cara Booker 2018 Gender differences in the associations between age trends of social media interaction and well-being among 10-15 year olds in the UK 18 1 1

[4] P. Dakin 2014 February 24 Social media affecting teens Retrieved June 06 2019 from Concepts of friendship, intimacy: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/social-media-affecting-teens-concepts-of-friendship-intimacy-1.2543158

[5] J. Ekern 2018 July 11 Eating Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, Signs & Medical Complications Retrieved June 02 2019 from Eating Disorders Hope: https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/eating-disorder

[6] Kim Garst 2019 Top 10 Social Media Statistics for 2019 Retrieved June 02 2019 https://kimgarst.com https://kimgarst.com/social-media-statistics/

[7] J. Giedd 2014 Inside the Teen Brain Retrieved June 2019 from Frontline: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/interviews/giedd.html

[8] J. Hamilton 2012 October 16 Teenage Brains Are Malleable And Vulnerable, Researchers Say Retrieved June 03 2019 from Health News From NPR: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/10/16/162997951/teenage-brains-are-malleable-and-vulnerable-researchers-say

[9] S. Harrington 2013 Hey you, it's all about me 113 16

[10] S. Kemp 2018 Digital In 2018: World’s Internet Users Pass The 4 Billion Mark New York We Are Social

[11] A. Lenhart 2015 April 09 Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015 Retrieved June 02 2019 from Pew Internet: https://www.pewinternet.org/

[12] R-D, S. C.-X. Liu 2013 Children’s internet information seeking, life satisfaction, and loneliness: the mediating and moderating role of self-esteem 68 21 8

[13] R. W. Mai-Ly Steers 2014 Seeing Everyone Else's Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms 33 8 701 731

[14] L. Michelle 2017 August 27 8 Early Childhood Experiences That Continue to Affect You Even in Adulthood Retrieved June 03 2019 from Learning Mind: https://www.learning-mind.com/early-childhood-experiences/

[15] GS, C.-P. K. O'Keeffe 2011 Clinical report – the impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families 127 4 800 4

[16] E. Packard 2007 April Harvard researchers may have found biological clues to quirky adolescent behavior Retrieved June 03 2019 from That teenage feeling: https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr07/teenage

[17] M. Radwan 2018 Do childhood experiences affect adulthood Retrieved June 2019 03 from how childhood experiences affect adulthood: https://www.2knowmyself.com/how_childhood_experiences_affect_adulthood

[18] N. Richa 2019 March 11 Social Media and Eating Disorders in Lebanon Retrieved June 03 2019 from Life & Entertainment Health: https://en.annahar.com/article/946480-social-media-and-eating-disorders-in-lebanon

[19] P. Roesler 2019 Study Shows Why Teens And Young Adults Love Instagram Jacksonville Web Marketing Pros

[20] M. Sameer 2014 November 20 Impact Of Social Networking Sites On Youth Retrieved June 06 2019 http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/06/social-networking-impact-youth/

[21] R, M. J.-E.-S. Santos 2014 The independent associations of sedentary behaviour and physcial activity on cardiorespiratory fitness 48 1508 12

[22] A. Zhukova 2018 October 31 7 Negative Effects of Social Media on People and Users Retrieved June 06 2019 from Social Media: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/negative-effects-social-media/

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