How to Make Your Social News Feeds More Body Positive

Social media often has a significant impact on the way we view our bodies and lifestyles. We seem to be constantly online these days, therefore the things we see on the internet and social media can have a large impact on our everyday lives. Particularly with social media, we can fall into the trap of obsessing over different trends, and the online presence of ourselves and others. 

Social media has a past history of promoting unrealistic beauty standards and often praising the ʻthin’ ideal. Whether it is seeing celebrities get praised or shamed on their weight, or an influencer posting their hyper-edited photos of themselves on Instagram, it can feel like this is the only viewpoint that exists. It can make it easy to get caught in the cycle of comparisons to others and body dissatisfaction, which can have a negative effect on your mental health and wellbeing. 

Diet culture in social media can play a particularly large role in maintaining this negative mindset. Not only has diet culture appeared through these celebrity photos and  societal ideals, but also through posts operating under the guise of body positivity and wellness. Some accounts might seem like they are focused on wellness and healthy living, however, their posts might just be cleverly disguised ideals of diet culture at work. If an account makes you feel like you need to change yourself in order to fit into the societal “ideal” or the newest “trend”, it is not an account that you should continue to follow. 

While outright getting rid of social media might be a bit unrealistic, there are ways to curate your social media feed to be more body positive and create a more supportive environment for you and your health. 

Listen to yourself:

One simple way to positively improve your socials is to ask yourself the following questions: Does this page make you feel worse about yourself? Does it make you feel self-conscious, or make you criticize your body or lifestyle choices? Many of these feeds can make it seem like they are promoting a healthy supportive lifestyle, but can be doing the exact opposite. More often than not these feeds can make it easy to compare your lifestyle to the perfectly filtered lifestyles of these influencers and models. If you find yourself doing so, it might be helpful to unfollow these types of pages. Removing these accounts from your feed, will make you less likely to compare yourself to often unrealistic, unattainable beauty standards.

Explore new pages:

After removing pages that might damage your self worth, try exploring and finding new pages that focus more on your personal values. Looking into accounts that share the same values you value, and find environments that will make social media feel less exhaustive, and more inspiring. Focusing on diverse content that is more body positive and uplifting, might help better your mental health, and move away from the constant comparison. You might also try limiting your screen time by setting up alerts on your smartphone to let you know when to step away from the online world to place more focus on the offline one. 

While there are many negative aspects of social media, there are also a few positive aspects that have appeared over the years as well. Social media can be a tool to find a wider range of accounts and support groups with people who might have similar experiences to you. More and more body positive accounts are appearing, as well as the communities of people who are open to sharing their experiences of disordered eating and how they have grown over time. Discovering new accounts and broadening your typical social feed can help to inspire a balanced lifestyle that is more achievable and supportive to your mental health. 

Social media is a big part of our everyday lives whether we like it or not, so it is important to use the time we spend online to engage in body positive accounts. Taking these small steps can gradually help us move towards curating a more supportive and accepting environment, and find inspiration, instead of feeling dragged down.

Sources

Ekern, B. (2020, August 24). Finding Body Positivity Resources On Instagram. Eating Disorder Hope. https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/finding-body-positivity-resources-instagram

How to make your social media more body positive. Kara Lydon. (2019, March 7). Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://karalydon.com/self-care/how-to-make-your-social-media-more-body-positive/ 

Link Between Social Media & Body Image. (n.d.). King University Online. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://online.king.edu/news/social-media-and-body-image/

Zealand (www.bka.co.nz), S. designed and developed by bka interactive ltd, Auckland, New. (n.d.). Social media and body image – how to keep it positive | Health Navigator NZ. Health Navigator New Zealand. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/healthy-living/s/social-media-and-body-image-how-to-keep-it-positive/