Social Media Usage
Social media is only a small clip of their world. Seconds. Moments. It isn't reality. It is not like that all the time. You don't see what is happening in their life. When viewing social media, many women/mothers have a tendency to compare themselves to what they see even though they know it isn't reality. These articles help us realize what is going on.
The Effect of Media on Body Image in Pregnant and Postpartum Women
This study emphasizes the way the media focuses on a woman’s body. Women are led to believe that being thin is the way to be successful. This also studies how women are negatively affected when viewing these images regularly. Women end up comparing themselves to what they think they should be, leading them to self-objectify and have a negative opinion about themselves because they don’t fit the ‘standard’ created.
For better or worse: The impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations
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This article focuses on the comparison we make with others who are considered better than one’s self. The result of these comparisons usually affects our self-esteem and tend to view ourself negatively.
This study was conducted on social media use and how it affects our body satisfaction. Taking selfies influences us to constantly want to change what we look like.
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This study magnifies the thin ideal that many feel pressure to be. Social media only furthers this pressure. Women feel pressure to be this. As a result, they have body dissatisfaction because they can’t fit into the ideal.
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The study focuses on how many women don’t realize what it's like postpartum. What the media portrays and what really happens are two different things. Postpartum women were studied and what their expectations were and what reality is explored in this study.
Prodigal Bodies: Pop Culture and Post-Pregnancy
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This article talks about the term ‘get your body back’. It focuses on how a woman’s body never left. It has just changed and it's okay. The author says that there shouldn’t be a time frame for women to get back to what they were because women have changed.