Insta v. Reality: The Harmful Effects Manipulated Instagram Pics Have on Teenage Girls

MC7019: Week 6 Blog

Credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images

When I was a teenager, I definitely remember growing up feeling insecure about my body. I attended a private all-girls school and, even though it was genuinely a wonderful experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat, there were many times where I compared myself to the other girls in my classes. Whether that was at homecoming dances, in gym locker rooms or seeing classmates' pictures from Spring Break on Instagram, I just felt like I never measured up to the beauty or "perfect" body that those other girls had. There wasn't any problem with my weight or body, but there was a voice in my head telling me I didn't measure up. I always made sure that feeling never affected more than in the moment, but thinking back on it makes me feel so sad remembering that I ever felt that way about myself. I can only imagine what some teenage girls today go through as social media is incorporated significantly more into their day-to-day lives than when I was in high school. The most recent studies show that about 70 percent of teenagers use Instagram, and I'm sure that number has increased in 2021. Many "ordinary" teenage girls try to pose, filter and retouch their pictures as if they themselves are influencers trying to build a brand and match the aesthetic of Instagram. As retouched images of models, celebrities, influencers and now ordinary people constantly flood teenage girls' feeds, what impact does that have on their body image? Can they tell the difference between Instagram v. reality? My blog this week will focus exclusively on this topic because I feel like it isn't talked about enough, and something needs to change.

A recent study done in the Netherlands tried to uncover the direct effects of manipulated Instagram photos on body image in teenage girls. Past research has already shown that Photoshopped pictures of models in magazines led to lower body image in teenage girls, but this study wanted to focus on the effects of retouched pictures of ordinary women on Instagram. The researchers showed girls ages 14 to 18 to either original or retouched Instagram selfies and asked questions relating to body image and social comparison tendencies. As expected, the retouched pictures directly led to lower body image than the original pictures. What's even worse is that girls in both groups said that the retouched pictures were way more visually appealing and still looked realistic.

Examples of original versus manipulated Instagram photos from Kleemans et al. (2018) study.

The main concern about these findings is that even short exposure from the experiment resulted in lower body image for the girls who participated in the study. Imagine what the impact is if teenage girls see this all day, every day. It's not that social media is causing girls' body image to decrease (we know media generally has limited effects), but it's the fact that these teenage girls are seeing unrealistic or perceived "perfect" bodies in more places than before - on Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, in magazines, on Netflix, at school, etc. The exposure is greater, and that's what makes me believe this is concerning for teenage girls today. Furthermore, if retouched pictures get the most likes, engagement and attention, why wouldn't influencers and normal users keep manipulating their photos?

While retouched images are easy to come across on Instagram, many body confidence influencers celebrate real beauty and try to break the stigma that comes with wanting to look perfect in every picture. Alex Light is one of those influencers who spreads body-positive messages to her over 300,000 followers. She herself had recovered from an eating disorder and has now made it her mission to make sure women of all ages aren't manipulated by what society says they should look like. When Khloe Kardashian got a lot of backlash for posting an obviously manipulated selfie on Instagram in 2020, Light defended Kardashian not for manipulating her picture, but rather for being a victim of the society we live in which demands perfection.

So maybe body-positive influencers like Light are part of the solution to this societal problem. But what about the girls who don't follow influencers like Light - how will they get that body-positive boost? Of course, conversations with parents, teachers, mentors, etc. would continue to be beneficial. What about greater transparency on the social media platforms themselves? Should users be required to reveal if they used an app or Photoshop to retouch their images? Maybe the disclosure could be similar to how influencers must use "#ad" in their sponsored posts. At the end of the day, Instagram and celebrities aren't the problem. The real problem falls in the way our society perpetuates this false idea of "perfection" for women's bodies. Whatever the proper solution to fixing this, I hope that teenage girls understand that their worth and value are not tied to their image but rather the beauty that lies within them.