Fitspiration
Reflection
While trying to complete my first drafts for project 2 I gained knowledge on how to effectively create a flow with research. I obviously had lots of new and important information and I had to make sure I was clear and did not leave out important points without being redundant. I also had to practice citing and deciding what to paraphrase and what to keep in a word for word format. During the conference I really learned how to effectively write the research paper. I became aware that I tend to write into my points rather than just going right into my main points, I also made the mistake of writing in first person which was something I did not even realize I was doing until conference. The conference helped to structure my paper in every way from paragraph breaks to cleaning up main points by connecting them to my claim. Fortunately for me the conference and peer review were so helpful and I took the feedback so seriously that I do not feel the need to revise my final paper. If I did I may have attempted to make my research and claim more structured but I think that my final paper was successful in giving my audience a clear and concise understanding of my claim.
Final Draft
Low light and a flattering angle that sexualizes subtle abs and strong legs with a phone covering the face of the body to capture the moment. A long caption follows that promotes clean eating, weight lifting, and discipline. The post is all about the body and is in favor of one body only, the lean and fit. Endless images of beautifully sculpted, toned bodies that represent healthy living invade social media. The theme of each post being that by living a clean life restrictive life you too can look like the models that you see pictured. But are these accounts inspiring true health and wellness? Or are they simply stigmatizing what health and wellness should look like? The question I would like to answer is, do “fitspiration” accounts on Instagram have negative effects on college aged students?
Fitspiration accounts elicit healthy lifestyles through exercise and diet. For example, they tend to include pictures of toned bodies, before and after pictures of weight loss success, and healthy food. These idyllic ways of living are often misinterpreted by viewers. The intention when following these accounts may be in order become inspired to live healthy lives and to become fit but according to research it is not leading to health success. They are instead leading to unhealthy responses and expectations(Kozlowski). The expectations that people are creating for themselves in response to these images are unobtainable in most cases. When speaking with Heather Fisher an FSU nutritionist who works to help treat individuals with eating disorders she often starts by challenging the students she works with to a “media fast”. In other words, she asks them to delete their fitness aps and stay away from social media so that they are not constantly exposed to the images and information that is causing their obsession.
The media has an obsession with fitness and muscularity. More specifically, consider the 2008 Olympics where the swimming world was consumed with the fact that Dara Torres returned with an incredibly athletic build after having just become a mother. Rather than being fascinated by the sheer
talent and athletic success that earned gold medals she was praised and admired for her postpartum body (Hodler, Lucas-Carr). Seeing a massive population praise a body could lead a person to believe that they are not good enough. Social media is within arm’s reach of a college kid at any given moment.
In an analysis done by Grace Holland, which compared Accounts of “thinsporation” and “Fitspiration.” Evidence was found to link instances of guilt inducing messages in both types of accounts. Although the “thinspiration” accounts had blatant statements encouraging thinness and restrictive eating they did not produce anymore guilt inducing feelings than the fitness pages do. Accounts promoting extreme thinness have been blocked on most forms of social media due to their negative messages. Clearly there is an effort being made to protect those who may be influenced by such accounts but according to research similar reactions are being produced by the fitness accounts. Research has shown that the social
that the social comparison responses to even health conscious images can create a negative self-bias. Instagram along with other feeds that consist of these fitness accounts have been found to have underlying, guilt inducing messages. If you look beyond the pictures of abs and workout equipment you See captions like “don’t reward yourself with food you are not a dog.” And “suck it up now so you don’t have to suck it in later.” (Schreiber, 2015). These may seem motivational at first but in reality, can lead to a sense of inadequacy and feelings of guilt.
Take the case of Janine Bagget, who spent her life comparing herself to the bodies she saw on the internet. All of the healthy bodies she saw pushed her to workout harder and eat less so she could look like the people pictured. The images were not inspiring her to put down the hamburger for once and go for a walk but rather they were “inspiring” her to restrict herself in unhealthy ways. She began following certain accounts for inspiration to live healthy but, instead of becoming motivated she became obsessed and in turn unhealthy. Bagget was restricting and feeling guilt towards certain foods which is an approach that many people who suffer from bodily dissatisfaction resort to. According to Heather Fisher, no food should be avoided in its entirety “you have your clean foods and then you have wings
and beer” and although one group is more nutrient dense that does not mean that the other group should be avoided because this leads to cravings and often binge eating. Fisher believes in “including not excluding foods” this helps to maintain balance and promotes a healthier way of life overall. Categorizing foods as bad can create guilt and an unhealthy relationship with the food and one’s body.
Instagram makes images of “health” extremely accessible and the constant availability day to day puts a strain on the viewer’s mind set. Not to mention the images are usually highly edited and as explained by Kirsten Carney in her article, are presented by people to promote themselves in specific ways with flattering tools like filters. The viewers consequently are making
judgments of themselves based off of the what they see “through a filtered lens.” (Carney). This causes the viewers to create unrealistic expectations as to what they should look like and how they should live their lives.
Traditionally when the topic of body dysmorphia comes up the immediate assumption is that it is in reference to females but the effects do not stop there. In addition to females, males also experience negative reactions to hyper muscular images. The main difference in response to these accounts tends to be that males wish to be more muscular while females tend to strive for thinness. Studies have been done to test the reactions of males at the college age when exposed to images of muscular men even briefly. The results were that the men viewing instantly become dissatisfied with their bodies and felt the need to change them (Galioto). Even perfectly healthy males will feel the need to make adjustments based off of experiencing upward social comparison which results in low self-esteem, confidence, and self- perceived attractiveness (Arbour). The above research simply supports the idea that these seemingly motivational sites are actually motivating people in unhealthy ways. So, when men scroll through their Instagram feeds, the muscle building accounts are skimming over even briefly are causing them to doubt themselves and compare themselves.
Research done by Jennifer Lewallen and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz found a link between fitness images on Pintrest and social comparison as well as extreme weight loss behaviors. The article acknowledges the fact that the clearly unhealthy images from accounts dealing with “thinspiration” have been blocked in order to prevent the negative affects they can create. The thin ideal is often a belabored topic but what people are failing to realize is that it continues to be an issue just in a new form. What is being overlooked is the fact that images and accounts that possess “fitspiration” are creating similar responses.
In the meta-analysis run by Lewallen, and Behm-Morawitz the findings showed a positive correlation between exposure to fitness images and the desire to partake in weight loss behaviors. So to elaborate, the same demographic that has been trying to emulate the traditional Covergirl is now trying to emulate the fitness guru’s with strong arms and chiseled abs. Instagram could have similar affects. The form in which the images are presented are similar to the layout of Pintrest. Seeing images of well-built people leads to a desire for change and social comparison. Many of these studies are directed at the female population but the affects have been found to go beyond into the male demographic. Muscularity has become an expectation for men and they have been found to be equally as sensitive to exposure to fit media as females (Perloff).
So what exactly are the implications to these sites and what are the affects that they have on the college age group. Well, according to Hargreaves and Tiggemann the unrealistic ideals of in the media can lead viewers to experience eating disorders, eating pathology, depression, and low self-esteem. Negative consequences occur even if the image is only seen briefly (Hargreaves and Tiggeman). Applying in this to Instagram you could see where the effects of fitspiration could cause negative reactions. Even if the person follows these pages as motivation to work harder and push the reps they are probably doing more harm than good to their mental well-being. The results according to research are more likely to make them obsess and harm their bodies and mental state than simply motivate
(Hargreaves and Tiggeman). Even if they only briefly look at the images scrolling through on a daily basis they are still likely to think lesser of themselves physically.
Aside from the effects that Instagram has we see a trend in bodily dissatisfaction in general. This dissatisfaction does not stay in the United states either. Worldwide people feel the need to fit in and to fit molds (Preieler). So with very little coursing individuals can be swayed into thinking that they are not good enough. Body dissatisfaction goes beyond what people see online on Instagram for example. Everyday people compare themselves to their peers and to the
people around them. These mental doubts can come about very easily and sources like Instagram and reinforcing these doubts by setting standards and unrealistic expectations. Heather Fisher an FSU nutritionist mentioned that people don’t post what they binge ate only the healthy meal prep they made. People put their best selves online so comparing oneself to the apparent behaviors of others is unreasonable. Our society is creating molds and expectations that are not reachable for the most part. Fisher also mentioned that everyone’s body is different and a person shouldn’t compare themselves based off of what someone else’s body looks like, you can be on the heavier side and still be healthy.
So every day we look at our phones, we open Instagram and are hit with “motivation” to work out and be healthy. We strive to live well because that’s what is trending. But the results are not what they would appear to be. Rather than drinking green juice for vitamins and fuel, we are drinking green juice to fit into a size 2 and hitting the gym twice a day because we had an extra glass of wine this weekend. The initial goal of these fitness accounts may be trying to inspire us to push our limits but we are taking them the wrong way, because we are human, and because when we see idyllic bodies we forget that angles are deceiving, and filters erase dimples. We ignore the fact that our job isn’t to be a fitness model and that the bodies we are looking at are a result of such jobs. We fail to realize that height and genes play an important role along with diet and exercise and that because you are not a size two doesn’t mean that you are not healthy. The fitness accounts on Instagram are no better for college kids psyche than the Cover girls have been for years. My conclusion on the matter is that despite efforts to appear to be inspirational and motivational “fitspiration” are indeed negatively impacting their audience.