Abstract:
This study is based on how social media affects an adolescent’s sense of body image in Sri Lanka.
Social media images have a significant impact on body image or potential deviant behavior of an
average adolescent. However, one major difference between adults and adolescents is that
adolescents are facing the most vulnerable and sensitive period of their life. For this study, the survey
method was used to evaluate the social media footprint on adolescents’ body image. Participants in
this research study consisted of 100 grade 12 students, 50 females and 50 males (age 18) from 10
selected schools in the Colombo district. The questionnaire consists of 15 questions. Students are
asked to indicate their level of agreement on a four-point scale ranging from “definitely disagree” to
“definitely agree”. The objectives of the study were to study the importance of social media platforms
as attractive & fashionable media outlets, to understand how adolescents compare their body image
with those of celebrities that they see on social media, and to determine the pressure adolescents
experience from social media to have perfect body images. The following questions were asked: How
do social media platforms influence the sense of what constitutes attractive and fashionable body
images? Do adolescents feel any pressure from social media to lose weight? Do adolescents compare
their body images to celebrities that they see on social platforms? As results it was revealed that
social media has a great influence on adolescents’ body images; the researcher measured general
body dissatisfaction among adolescents. Secondly, social media has a great influence on how
adolescents perceive what is attractive and fashionable. Social media influence a sense of pressure on
adolescents to look a certain way (thinner and more beautiful for girls, stronger and more muscular
for boys). The study has revealed that the higher the time adolescents spend online the more they are
unsatisfied with their bodies, which also leads to the conclusion that media has a negative influence
on adolescents’ body images.
