A platform such as social media has developed power over young adults’ perception of how they view their bodies. As social media developed, the younger generation was made aware of the dominance different platforms had over their mental health and body image. However, new technological advancements such as artificial intelligence have replaced social media’s role in falsely depicting beauty standards, especially to the younger generation of women. As referenced prior, The Post reported that approximately 13% of college students nationally are dissatisfied with their body image. As discussed and broken down, college-aged women are fighting unrealistic beauty standards with the evolving power of technology.
The theory that aligns with the observations is the Cultivation Theory, which explains that the more time people spend consuming certain media, the more likely they are to believe that what they are seeing is representative of reality. College students who are constantly on social media see hundreds of images in a day. Pictures of women with perfect skin and thin bodies are implanted into the minds of those scrolling, portraying that this is the ideal standard because of the thousands of likes and comments on the posts. As said in the introduction, “The more people interact with these kinds of posts, the more they show up in everyone’s feeds.” Body types and features that are authentic are ignored and are not repeated in algorithms because social media platforms flourish on likes and comments, thus feeding the algorithms. From there, influencers and creators earn compensation, and this creates a loop and a cycle on social media platforms.
To touch on the power of social media again, it is acknowledged that social media can provide creative outlets for users. Within the origin of platforms like Instagram, it was one of the first to provide the internet with a platform centralized for sharing images and also providing a photo-sharing aspect that engaged users. Such consequences as lowered self-esteem, disordered eating habits, and a growing need to compare oneself to others were discussed within the Social Media Trends portion. Social media acting as an interactive and enabling platform is making it difficult for a younger generation to not fall into the trap of one person to another. The statistic that was found was that 80% of photographs on social media are digitally altered. The solution that was described was “education and awareness.” For pre-existing users, for example, the promotion of unfollowing influencers or creators with any type of following who do not promote authentic content can influence others to do the same. For the younger generation of women, it’s very necessary to move away from the one-size-fits-all expectation that large platforms are broadcasting to us. The harm that exists on platforms, such as commentary from another user, contributes to the harm of social media.
The harmful effects of social media have been studied, yet what has not been studied is the rate at which artificial intelligence is promoted on social media. Such technology, as described in the section Artificial Intelligence’s Influence on Body Image, “is detrimental to the mental health of female college students, as celebrities, influencers and other social media users use AI to edit their photos to make them look thinner, light and conventionally attractive.” Such popular AI applications and tools that are used are YouCam, Remaker and Photogrid. The Bing AI Image Generator created images each of “conventionally attractive female college students” who had common characteristics: all four women are generated as thin, smiling and wearing subtle makeup. When the AI generator was asked to generate “unconventional unattractive female college student,” the generator created four images where seven out of nine were women of color unlike the “conventionally attractive” women who were light and fair-skinned. The women from the second AI image generation had larger noses, smaller eyes, large, unkempt teeth, and thick eyebrows. As AI itself is a computer and is taught to perform the way it does, it is shown to be because people use artificial intelligence to make images of women look thinner and light-skinned. The more often AI is told to perform one way, it learns to keep performing that way.
The survey that was constructed for this observation to understand young women in college’s perception of their body image found alarmingly high statistics from female surveyors. The highest finding was that 83% of female students reported frequent body image concerns compared to just 17% of male student respondents. As discussed in the Survey Analysis, “this 4:1 ratio demonstrates what communication scholars call the ‘feminization of body scrutiny’ - the cultural phenomenon where women’s worth becomes disproportionately tied to physical appearance” Mirror rituals were explored; while 50% of women experience regular dissatisfaction during self-examination, only 18% of men report similar distress. Further, the consequences of social media’s unrealistic body standards go past just private moments. It was found that 45% of participants avoid social gatherings due to appearance anxiety, with women accounting for 78% of these cases. So for young college-aged women, as college consists of daily social gatherings, whether it be class or mixing events, the avoidance of social scenes can directly affect college women. By further applying Cultivation Theory to the data found from the conducted survey, the theory does show that prolonged media exposure shapes the perception of reality.
Finally, Ohio University has evidence of framework and has actual data on the impact of social media, trends, and artificial intelligence effect it has on its students. Where the university is proactive is with “The Body Project,” a peer-led, evidence-based prevention program that strives to increase body acceptance. The young generation of college students is battling with new technological advancements that are actively producing harmful photos and content that are artificial.
An article for JOUR 4130 Gender, Race, and Class with Dr. Janice Collins.