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Abstract

There is a significant amount of academic literature discussing the correlation between social media usage and body dissatisfaction amongst women and whether social media promotes unachievable standards. This dissertation explores the influence that social media has on the body image and self-perception of young women, with a focus on Instagram and TikTok. The primary aim being to uncover women’s true opinions on social media in a post-pandemic world as the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way that young users engage with these sites. To do this, a qualitative approach was taken with ten semi-structured interviews being carried out on women aged between eighteen and twenty-five completing an undergraduate degree. Inductive thematic analysis took place after this to determine key themes and establish links between the interviews to develop a deeper understanding of the issue at hand. The results showed that women believe that social media promotes an unrealistic ideal body type and unattainable beauty standards that are causing them to feel insecure and develop body image issues. Continuous exposure to social media has a detrimental impact on the women of today’s generation so much so that they now compare themselves to each and every girl that they come across online. It also revealed that some women are going as far as changing their eating habits based on the content that they are viewing on TikTok as they are being made to feel inadequate in their bodies and have begun to judge the food they are consuming, worrying about the amount of calories in them as they are desperate to see changes within their bodies. These findings provide an interesting insight into the consequences that frequent use of social media can have, supporting the research that has come before but also filling in gaps with regard to newer apps, such as TikTok, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, which were both areas that had limited research surrounding them.

Course: Sociology and Criminology - BSc (Hons) - C0979

Date Deposited: 2024-01-25

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14323.html