What is Snapchat Dysmorphia?
"Snapchat dysmorphia" is a body image disorder characterized by the need to edit photos. When shown some photos with the change due to edit, people with Snapchat dysmorphia experience a sense of disconnection between what they really look like, who they really are, and the images they share with the world.
To talk and discuss about this topic, the Italian team carried out a survey among students of the participant countries. This survey initially asked for personal data, such as age and country of origin. From these we saw that our sample was mainly made of boys around 16 years old. Many answers came from Serbia.
The first question was about social media accounts, and the vast majority, almost everyone, answered that they had at least one.
The most used social networks were undoubtedly the ones that are more popular among young people: Instagram and TikTok. However, unlike what people might think, not everyone posts their pictures on social media, in fact as many as 49% of the students who responded said they prefer not to post them and as many as 33% don't like their image in the photos.
Among people who post their pictures 52% often use filters for their images. The most used filters are the light improving filters and beauty filters. However, the majority of the sample declared that they did not see their photos better after using filters.
Besides gathering data about the use of social media, we also wanted to inquire about some psychological aspects like Self-esteem, so we asked our sample to rate their physical appearance and their personality using a scale from 1 to 5.
More than 50% rated their physical appearance 4 or 5, while the percentage of 4-5 rose to 75% when referring to personality.
We asked then if anyone knew what Snapchat Dysmorphia was, and about 80% answered that they didn’t.
Last question was about Covid19: we asked if they thought the pandemic had changed the way they see themselves. The majority answered no, but there was also a high percentage of yes.
During our presentation at the Information Technology High School of Belgrade we showed our results and gave the students and the teachers more information about Snapchat Dysmorphia and BDD.
BDD is a mental health condition in which a person's misperception of what he or she looks like becomes obsessive to the point that it severely affects his or her daily functioning. While social media use does not directly cause BDD, it can certainly act as a trigger and can worsen BDD symptoms in those who already suffer from the disorder.
Finally, we listed various symptoms of BDD, namely: attempting to cover or hide perceived ugly characteristics, constant comparison with others, obsessively looking at one's reflection, constantly asking others' opinions on one's appearance, compulsively picking at their skin, excessive exercise, requesting interventions to change one's appearance and obsessive self-care. We then watched a video called “Snapchat Dysmorphia: Social Media Filters Said to Cause Health Problems”.
The experience in Belgrade was wonderful and carrying out this survey was really interesting for us. We attend a school where one of the fundamental subjects is psychology and collecting and disseminating data and information on this problem has given us the opportunity to learn new things and share them with our European friends.
Sofia Del Nero, Lisa De Paolis, Francesco Pompili, Flavia Trivelli
