How Can Teens Overcome Body Image Problems?

Body image problems, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression are associated with social media use by teens. Given constant access to electronic devices, how can young people escape these harmful influences?

The Evidence Is In: Social Media Are Toxic

Internal research by social media companies revealed these problems. Characteristically, the companies did little to correct this problem until they were hauled over the coals in a Congressional inquiry. The evidence that sites such as Facebook and Instagram are harmful to young people was discussed in a recent post.

In addition to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, which mostly affect young women, many young men are obsessed with bulking up. This obsession is referred to as “Bigorexia” drawing attention to potentially serious health consequences of using anabolic steroids and large quantities of dietary supplements.

Young women are mostly concerned about the social consequences of their bodily appearance. Young bodybuilders may spend a lot of time viewing, and posting, videos within this narrow community that operates on YouTube, TikTok, and other social media platforms. Despite their superficial differences, the concerns of eating disorders and bulking up both stem from gender stereotypes having to do with mate selection. In each case, social media intensify these concerns. Body image concerns are just one element of the risks to young people from unfettered Internet activity.

Limiting Access to Social Media

Many parents attempt to limit their children's access to social media, whether by stipulating that they must be a certain age to acquire a cell phone, or requiring that phones be used only for essential communications.

This often turns into a losing battle. After all, busy parents need some method of contacting their children, particularly if there are unanticipated schedule changes or other unpredictable events. The great convenience of mobile phones wins out and most children have their own phones by the time they are ten years old.

Parental efforts to regulate their children's access to internet sites focusing on body image concerns are unlikely to work. If they do not use Instagram, or YouTube on their own devices, friends are only too willing to share material with them. All of them inhabit the same digital world and are digital natives.

This does not mean that social media are destiny so far as eating disorders or bulking up are concerned. Indeed, the less they have going on in their real lives, the more that children get sucked into the virtual rabbit holes of dieting or bulking up.

Constructive Pursuits

Taking an interest in one's own appearance is normal and healthy. Physical attractiveness has important implications for young men too as reported through many decades of social psychological research. However if young people develop an all-consuming obsession with altering their physical appearance, it is doubtful that they are meaningfully engaged in other areas of their lives.

For many teens, involvement in school sports is a healthy pursuit that takes their minds off self-image issues and inculcates a sense of confidence and mastery. Unfortunately, many people lack a keen interest in competitive sports. Males who are active in sports may also feel pressure to develop a more muscular body, which can lead down the rabbit hole of TikTok bodybuilding.

Fortunately, there is an endless list of constructive activities through which young people can develop skills and competence that contributes to a stable sense of self-worth that has nothing to do with their appearance. In addition to creative arts, such as singing, playing an instrument, painting, or acting, there are numerous craft skills that may lead to lifetime hobbies or even paid careers. These include furniture design and crafting, home construction skills, gardening and landscaping, interior design, and so on, Some enterprising young people like to run a profitable lawn service as a source of pocket money.

In addition to these many ego-boosting skills, there is a variety of opportunities for developing experience in dealing with the public, whether it is working part-time at the local drug store, or developing journalistic skills with community radio.

Teens may also help out in scientific labs, or find themselves usefully engaged by collecting environmental data in the field. Time spent outdoors is good for everyone, psychologists are finding.

Body Image Essential Reads

The Probelmatic Pursuit of a “Beach Body”

Body Neutrality Isn't New or Unique From Positive Body Image

In addition to any of these constructive measures, it is important to question the assumption that we must all conform to the same standards of bodily beauty.

Different Bodies Are Healthy and Beautiful

A great deal of anxiety surrounds the desire to conform to specific standards of beauty, whether this involves bodily slenderness, hair form, or height. These standards change markedly over time and from one place to another. People who are healthy, and happy, are admired everywhere, and at all times.