Images of flawless bodies are ubiquitous on social media. And they are one of many reasons to stay away from Instagram and Co: the sight of them clouds the image of one’s own body, i.e. whether we appreciate it and feel comfortable in it, even if it may not correspond to the usual ideal of beauty. But there are also ways to use social media to improve body image and thus psychological well-being, as several studies in the upcoming issue of the specialist journal »Body Image« show.
It was already known that the body positivity movement, which advocates a positive attitude towards one’s own body, was successful with its posts. This has now been confirmed again by a US study with Instagram photos of bodies that show supposed blemishes such as belly bacon. When adult women saw these posts, they were subsequently more satisfied with their bodies than when they saw neutral posts or posts that idealized thinness.
But you can also do without the pictures, as reported by three psychologists led by Kathryn Miller from the University of Waterloo in Canada. They asked 200 female students to recall an experience in which their body image was threatened, such as making a negative comment about their shape. Some of them then heard what they thought was their own age talking about similar problems: that alone improved the body image of the listeners. It helped even more to learn how the woman had successfully overcome her problems. It was least helpful when the woman had no problems with her body but was completely satisfied with it. The best role models are women who describe how they initially struggled with their own bodies, but then developed a positive body image.