Social Media and Body Image

Addison Caster

3 December 2019

“The very visual appeal of sites like Instagram puts a huge emphasis on body image. Social media use fosters a culture of body comparisons and competitiveness in young people - and probably women of all ages,” says Dr Jane Morris, a consultant of eating disorder psychiatrists at the royal college of psychiatrists in Scotland. All around the globe, teenagers are developing eating disorders because of their interactions with social media. This issue is affecting teens and adults everywhere and it has to be solved because people are dying from eating disorders like anorexia. Social media does, in fact, damage mental health and body image.

Social media is causing people to develop eating disorders and other medical problems. For instance, “Social media is fueling a rise in the number of young people with eating disorders,” says Rachel Watson, the author of the article, “Social Media Can Damage Teen Health.” As a result, in Scotland, about 2 people were admitted to the hospital with eating disorders every day in 2017 (Rachel Watson). Also, “in August of 2005, model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure brought on by anorexia. She was 22. Then, in November, Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died too-- also from anorexia.”(Rachel Weingarten). People compare themselves to others because they see other people on social media and in turn, they become depressed and suffer from low self-esteem and develop eating disorders (Katherine Walker). If children are exposed to this on social media it can cause extreme problems that may cause harm to them (Ing-Wei Khor). In short, health topics are really appearance concerns hidden as health concerns, (Rachel Watson) which is part of why doctors don’t agree that everyone should celebrate their bodies no matter what size because medical science links size to heart problems and heart problems are serious (Rebecca Zukauskas). If social media causes tons of these medical conditions, then people shouldn’t be using it.

It’s not safe or good for children to be on social media. It’s not safe or good for children to be on social media because, when children are active on social media they are more likely to see disturbing images and cyberbullying which can lead to self-esteem issues and mess up their minds (Ing-Wei Khor). Yet more children watch tv every day and as they are watching tv, playing on computers, or scrolling through social media, they become more socially isolated (Ing-Wei Khor). In addition, studies show that “children who internalize media are more likely to be unsatisfied with their bodies” states Katherine Walker, author of the article, “Body Image and the Media.” People should be warned of the dangers before logging in to social media so they are aware.

Some people think that social media doesn’t change the way people think about themselves because social media workers are trying to make social media safer for people’s mental health. But what they don’t know is that when people are on social media, people feel pressured to look like the ideal person. A lot of times, women are narrowly depicted as skinny and young (Ing-Wei Khor). But when people look at the bigger picture, both men and women have stereotypical moulds that they feel that they have to fill (Katherine Walker). For example, men feel like they have to have less body fat and extremely muscled bodies (Katherine Walker). Sometimes women feel like they need to undergo surgeries that make them look like other women (Ing-Wei Khor). But something that just isn’t right is that the prefered body type by the media is getting skinnier even though most of America is becoming more and more obese (Katherine Walker). People shouldn’t feel like they have to look like someone else.

Teens, adults, and children’s mental health and body image gets more and more affected and damaged the more people are on social media because social media is causing people to develop eating disorders and other medical problems, social media isn’t safe for children’s mental health, and both men and women feel pressured to look like the ideal person. If everyone doesn't do something about this soon, kids will be exposed to bad things at an early age and kids at a young age will be developing eating disorders because of what social media is displaying.

Ava Walker

2 December, 2019

While students are suffering from stress, anxiety, and depression, schools somehow think it would be beneficial to extend school days, a key factor of these mental health issues. Studies have shown that extending the school day may damage a student’s wellbeing. Not to mention the insane amount of money needed to fund an extended school day. With this in mind, the school day at FMS should not be extended.

Extending the school day at FMS would be expensive, to say the least. For example, chancellor Henderson had to set aside $5.1 million to accommodate the school’s decision to add an hour to the school day (Rowley). Similarly, Governor Cuomo made a $24 million grant to fund schools deciding to extend the school day (Boston Joins Growing Ranks of Districts With Longer School Days; Teachers Pay Often a Stumbling Block). Massachusetts schools are another example of the immense amount of money put into extended school days. Schools in Massachusetts with 8 hour school days get an extra 1,300 dollars per student. Instead of keeping kids in school for longer hours, this money could go towards poor families who need the money more than schools do (Ohanian). Moreover, Joan Almon, the coordinator of the U.S alliance for childhood, says, “It would be much better to fund after-school activities with diverse offerings, especially for low-income children who need a safe place to relax, learn, and explore”

(Ohanian). The challenge to fund extended school days shouldn’t be ignored.

Extending the school day is also fairly unhealthy. It damages the well being of kids, who are already forced to learn in a stress-filled environment for 6 to 7 hours straight. According to Joan Almon, “There is no guarantee that extra school time won’t be devoted to more academic drilling for tests, adding yet more stress to children’s lives” (Ohanian). Brian Lightman, secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders also commented, saying, “the worst thing we can do for the quality of our education service is to worsen the existing long hours culture” (Gove Warns Teachers of Longer School Days). Furthermore, Vicki Abeles, author of Beyond Measure, says “children are already stretched to unhealthy creaking points, loaded down with homework, sports, and tutoring because they’re led to believe high test scores is their ticket to college and success. This has led to an epidemic of anxious, unhealthy children with overwhelmed teachers. We need to create a healthier school day, not a longer one” (Walker). Therefore, with mental health issues through the roof, extending the school day should not be our top priority.

Some schools say extending the school day improves test scores. For instance, The Massachusetts Department of Education found that increasing the school day by 25% resulted in better test scores increasing from 5-10 percent (Walker). Although this may be true, there are too many negative impacts on student’s mental and emotional health that are much more important to focus on. WTU President Elizabeth Davis has said, “we should be looking more at students having a more productive day, than basing everything on test scores” (Rowley). Extending the school day may improve test scores, but it would be at the expense of children’s wellbeing and mental health.

The FMS school day should not be extended because it’s expensive, and unhealthy for students and teachers. And although it may improve test scores, we would be putting the wellbeing of students at risk. The millions of dollars being spent and the negative impacts on the wellbeing and mental health of hundreds of students is more important than extending the school day.