TikTok is affecting young girls' view on their own body image.

Question

TikTok affects how young teens, specifically girls view their own body image. It is not only TikTok where this happens, but TikTok is an app that's meant to have short videos. "Watching less than 10 minutes of videos on TikTok can negatively impact a woman’s body image...", Says Luca Ittiamni (The Guardian, 2024). As with any other social media app, this is also where influencers or anybody posting tends to try to look their best. Many women and girls will post videos specifically showing off their body that is "socially desired", and when young girls see these videos, it's easy for them to look at their own bodies and question to themselves, "why don't I look like her"? "What's wrong with my body"? In many cases, this can lead to eating disorders in girls ranging from all ages, in attempt to look like the girls that they saw online.

UNSW Sydney reported a study where they took around 200 girls, and showed them short TikTok and Instagram videos of younger female influencers that, "reflected societal appearance ideals" (UNSW Sydney, 2023). The participants who watched the videos reported immediate comparisons, judging their own bodies because they weren't like the ones in the videos. This is just one example of this happening. This is extremely dangerous because like I said before, it can easily lead to eating disorders. When girls who are still growing gain eating disorders, it can affect their bodies for the rest of their lives. In conclusion, yes, TikTok does affect young girls' body image, and can ultimately lead to potential health issues.

Answer 1

The claim, TikTok is affecting young girls' view on their own body image seems to be true. TikTok constantly shows young girls influencers who look perfect, seem happy, and it is difficult to not compare yourself to them if that is all you see. 

An article from Harvard T.H Chang, Amanda Raffoul, instructor at Harvard T.H Chang School of Public Health claims, "that images on platforms like Instagram and TikTok “can promote some really unrealistic appearance ideals.” She added that even if teens might be aware that the images aren’t real, “if you’re constantly bombarded with those images, it is going to alter your perceptions of yourself in some way, especially when you’re in adolescence.” Her quote represents how the more an adolescent girl sees unrealistic images of other girls, that is going to alter their perception of themselves. If that is all an adolescent sees, it becomes realistic. 

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/exploring-the-effect-of-social-media-on-teen-girls-mental-health/

In addition, a study from Research Gate states, "The selection and screening of studies were based on predefined criteria, focusing on those that investigated the relationship between TikTok usage and body image perceptions. The review revealed a mixed impact of TikTok usage on body image perceptions. Several studies indicated that exposure to body-related content on TikTok could lead to negative body image and dissatisfaction among users." Even though the study reveals a mixed impact of TikTok usage, the study still expresses how exposure to body-related content can lead to a negative self image. Meaning, TikTok does affect a young girls' view on their own body image.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376566872_The_Impact_of_TikTok_on_Body_Image_A_Narrative_Review_of_the_Literature

In addition, according to Science Direct, young girls are more vulnerable to the affects of social media, for instance, "TikTok appeals to a younger demographic; approximately 25% of users in the United States are 10–19 years of age (Statista, 2023), and a recent article in the New York Times posited that a third of TikTok users may actually be under the age of 14 (Zhong & Frenkel, 2020). Younger social media users are particularly vulnerable to the effects of social media (Vandenbosch et al., 2022) such as acceptance and rejection on social media (Crone & Konijn, 2018). Additionally, their brains are more sensitive to rewards such as likes and comments on their posts (Åström, 2021, Crone and Konijn, 2018). Younger users may also be less likely to recognize the images and videos they interact with are often edited (Harriger et al., 2022a)."

"Social media platforms also provide users with the opportunity to engage with diverse depictions of beauty (Webb et al., 2017) that may be protective against eating pathology and body image disturbance (Rodgers et al., 2022). " This article reveals how teen girls are more susceptible to having low self esteem and body image due to social media, especially TikTok. They are more susceptible due to not being able to recognize videos that are often edited and see the amount of media attention those videos get. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144523000852

To counter those points, NBC News, explains a study that states, "Australian researchers surveyed 273 women ages 18 to 28 from July 2021 to October 2021 about their TikTok use. As part of the study, the participants were then shown what was referred to as “pro-anorexia,” also known as “pro-ana,” images. 

"The study found that the women surveyed had a negative body reaction after as little as 10 minutes viewing content on TikTok. " Even though this article is not talking about really young girls, the age range 18-28 is still young in retrospect. 18-28 is still a young adult. This survey claims how young women even after viewing content for 10 minutes started to  have a negative body reaction. It only took 10 minutes for a negative effect to happen, meaning TikTok is intensely affecting a young population of girls. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/study-women-tiktok-body-image-rcna165267

To conclude, a research article from PubMed Central explains, "Many previous studies have focused on the general impact of SM on adolescents’ mental health but relatively few specifically analyzed the effect of TikTok in this regard. While some of them found detrimental effects in terms of anxiety [47], depression [48], psychological distress [49], disordered eating [50], sleep [51], and wellbeing [52], others suggested no such connection [53, 54] or offered mixed results [55]." Even though there are studies that disprove this claim, there are studies out there, including this one that state how TikTok causes a lot of mental and physical problems. Due to what other sources explain, people cannot make the argument that every young girl that has TikTok will have a negative perception of their body. There is evidence that people can say how TikTok can have an impact on a young girls body, but not on every young girl. 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12122552/

Answer 2

 After researching the claim that Tik Tok is affecting young girls' view on their body image, I found 5 sources that support this claim, but it needs to be stated very carefully. No research shows that just using Tik Tok automatically causes every young girl to have a negative body image. Instead, the evidence I found insinuates that the type of content people are exposed to on Tik Tok or any social media app can directly influence how they feel or view their bodies. 

   I found four primary sources while researching. The first piece of evidence I found was a study done by Seekis and Lawrence. This study dove into how different types of content on Tik Tok affected 189 undergraduate women. In the conclusion of this research they found that there was a difference in moods, body satisfaction, and appearance comparisons between the groups. This evidence shows that the type of content that pops up onto someone's Tik Tok feed can influence how one feels about their body positively and negatively. 

  The next source I found was a study performed by Kilby and Michelson  in which they randomly assigned 326 participants to watch body-neutral, body-positive, weight-specifying, or travel videos on Tik tok. The researchers found that body-positive, and body-neutral content had improved body-image views compared to the negative weight connotation content. This study shows important information for this claim because it tells that a negative implication does not always come from tik tok and instead it actually depends on what the individual is seeing on their feed. 

  My third source I found was the Atlantis Press - Liu ( 2021)  this paper examines beauty standards and body image that are promoted through popular tik tok trends and videos. It argues that certain tik tok trends can promote standardized ideas about what a good-looking body should look like and this leads to concerns about negative body-image views. This source was useful in my research because it focuses on the specific content being shown on tik tok. 

  A secondary source that I found to look further into this claim was an article by Suhag & Rauniyar. This article examined research conducted by other researchers, it discusses how social media platforms like Instagram and Tik tok can be a contributor to exposing young people to idealized or so called perfect body image views and encourages comparing yourself to others. This obviously can negatively impact and contribute directly to body dissatisfaction. I decided to use this secondary source because it provided a much more broad view of this research. 

  The sources may provide some bias because the research is social media and body image specific. So the focus is more on the negative outcomes rather than any other impact or outcome. However, there were some positive and neutral Tik tok content which shows that not all mindsets the researchers had were negative towards the app. 

  On the other side the evidence that can support the claim that Tik tok affects body image is found in several studies where it was revealed that appearance focused, thin, ideal, or weight-stigmatizing Tik tok content can lead to individuals having more negative thoughts on their own body. It also showed that Tik tok can impact a person differently depending on what they are watching. Though some evidence may undermine the claim due to the research that says Tik tok does not always have a negative effect on body image and there was information found that positive, and neutral tik toks can improve thoughts about themselves and their own bodies. The type of content people watch has shown to matter tremendously as it can change someone's mood. 

  The evidence and research seems to support the claim that Tik Tok can affect a young person's body image. But specifically when they are exposed to the thin, fit, and weight-stigmatizing content. Though, the effects are based on the type of content being viewed.

Answer 3

The claim “Tik Tok is affecting young girls' view on their own body image” is true.These days, a lot of young girls spend time on TikTok, where they are constantly seeing influencers and celebrities who seem to have perfect bodies, faces, and beauty features. After researching this topic, seeing these types of images over and over can change the way a young girl views her own body and make her feel like she needs to look a certain way to be beautiful. It can also influence girls to think about things like plastic surgery or other ways to change their appearance so they can look more like the women they see online. Constantly comparing ourselves to people on social media can have a real effect on young girls because, when we see these unrealistic beauty standards every day, it can start to feel like that is what we are supposed to look like.

PubMed

The Influence of TikTok on Teenage Girls' Body Image | EssaysFresh Writinghttps://freshwriting.nd.edu › essays › the-influence-of-ti...

Social Comparison and Body Image in Teenage Users ... - PMCPubMed Central (PMC) (.gov)https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC10693912