This week I read the article Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood by Fardouly, Diedrichs, Vartanian, and Halliwell (2015). The study investigates how brief exposure to Facebook affects women’s mood, body dissatisfaction, and perceived discrepancies in weight/shape, face, hair, and skin. The researchers compared Facebook exposure with viewing an online fashion magazine and an appearance-neutral control website. They hypothesized that Facebook use would lead to more negative mood and greater dissatisfaction with body and facial features than appearance-neutral content, due to the highly social and comparative nature of Facebook. They also examined whether trait appearance comparison tendency moderated these effects. Results showed that Facebook use can heighten body dissatisfaction and negative mood, especially among women who already have a tendency to compare their appearance to others.
This article contributes directly to my MA project, which explores how social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram influence body image anxiety and eating concerns among female college students. Although this study focused on Facebook, its findings about social comparison processes and appearance-based content are highly transferable to TikTok and Instagram, where visual self-presentation and peer interaction are even stronger. It gives me a theoretical basis to explain how constant exposure to curated images and peer comparisons can worsen body dissatisfaction and eating-related anxiety. It also highlights the role of individual vulnerability (like a pre-existing tendency to compare) — an idea I want to bring into my documentary by asking participants about how they personally respond to social media images.
This week, I didn’t make much progress on production work because of other deadlines. However, in recent class exercises, I felt that I improved a lot, especially since I hadn’t used a camera for a long time. I really missed being in the studio, and the part I enjoy most is interviewing people. In this week’s class, I was responsible for asking the interview questions, which helped me practice my interviewing skills and reminded me why I love this process!! I also started drafting some potential interview questions for my own project, and doing that suddenly made my project feel much clearer. Next week, I plan to identify potential participants and continue reading more research and articles related to social media and body image to keep building a strong foundation for my documentary.
Reference
Fardouly, J., Diedrichs, P. C., Vartanian, L. R., & Halliwell, E. (2015). Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. Body Image, 13, 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.12.002