Does Social Media Influence the Motivation to Exercise?

Are you increasingly concerned or obsessed with looking good? Do you exercise to improve your appearance or do you do it for pure pleasure? Are you influenced by the media, which often features content that portrays idealized body types?

Media exposure has often been found to be related to body dissatisfaction and body image. Additionally, social networks in particular allow users to employ filters to enhance content and manage its appearance, selectively choosing which content to upload. Additionally, users often compare themselves to perhaps unrealistic ideals portrayed on social media, leading to feelings of inadequacy and motivation To participate in dieting and exercise.

Social media is different from traditional media in many ways. It facilitates self-promotion and self-presentation. It also features more personal content and is credited by users with greater perceived realism compared to traditional media. For example, users likely view friends’ workout photos as more realistic than those of celebrities found in traditional media. Finally, access to social networks is unlimited, allowing users to view content such as photos and status updates at any time and on a regular basis.

Social comparison by which people compare themselves to their peers begins to occur in the early years. adolescence. Upward social comparisons have been linked to body image concerns with younger people engaging in social comparison, with images of thin people being more likely to report lower levels of body dissatisfaction. Research has found that 90% of body image tweets sent by people who watched a Victoria’s Secret fashion show indicated that viewers engaged in a process of bottom-up social comparison.

Women with positive body images report that regular exercise is a means of increasing their well-being rather than losing weight, but does social media have an influence too? A study looking at compulsive exercise and diet in women who posted their exercise routines on Instagram found that women who posted such images scored higher on measures of compulsive exercise and a drive to be thin compared to a group of control that posted travel-related images (Holland & Tiggemann, 2017). So, is social media encouraging people to exercise more, and if so, for what reasons?

In our recent study, we investigated the extent to which people’s time on social media is related to body dissatisfaction and diet, and the relationship between social media exposure and body image in women. More specifically, we sought to examine the relationship between exposure or time spent on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest and their relationship to three aspects.

ideal slim — The extent to which a person accepts the socially defined ideals of attractiveand adopts behavior accordingly, for example by agreeing with the statement “Women who are fit are more attractive”.

objectified body awareness — A preoccupation with the way one’s own body appears to others. Objectification theory suggests that women are socialized to view their bodies from an observer’s point of view, due to a culture in which women’s bodies are pervasively objectified. Objectified body awareness consists of surveillance of the body, acceptance of culturally specific ideals of beauty, and appraisals of oneself based on appearance.

Exercise Motivation — Either to control weight or to maintain physical shape.

Overall, our study found that the time female participants spent on social media was associated with higher levels of thinness idealization, objectified body awareness, and motivation to exercise. More specifically, those who spent more time on social media scored higher on all three measures compared to those women who spent less time per day on social media.

One of the reasons is that social networks are used for comparison and self-assessment. Initially, the comparisons can be inspiring, though as time goes on, women can become frustrated, resulting in body dissatisfaction. In fact, previous studies have found that people who report high levels of thinness idealization use social media and engage in appearance-related activities more frequently.

Objectified body awareness is divided into body vigilance, acceptance of cultural ideals of beauty, and an evaluation of oneself that is driven by appearance. It may be that exposure to social media increases levels of objectified body awareness among women, because it allows them to share posts with a larger audience. In addition, content that is uploaded can often be carefully monitored and edited.

The results of the present study confirm that time spent on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest significantly predicted levels of motivation to exercise. This finding supports Holland and Tiggemann (2017), who found that exposure to “fitspiration” images (those that motivate a person to maintain or improve their fitness) leads to higher scores on measures of compulsive exercise and disordered eating between women

Participants in the current study were of similar age, and future research should perhaps explore the effects of Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest use on body image concern in men and older people. The measures used in this study were related to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders and, consequently, it is perhaps important to work on interventions that minimize the negative effects of exposure to social networks in the future.