#Skinny girls: young girls’ learning processes and health-related social media

Abstract

This paper provides in-depth knowledge into young girls' learning processes in relation to physical activity, diet/nutrition and body image. Data were generated from interviews with 49 girls (age 13-15) in England. The practical epistemological analysis technique was used to explore young people as both producers and consumers, or prosumers, of content and knowledge. The data illustrate that adolescent girls navigate two interrelated health-related paradoxes within publicly private spaces: (i) skinny fat and (ii) naturally fake. Skinny fat refers to how participation in social media represents a continuous struggle of becoming skinny, but at the same time not trying too hard to become too skinny. Naturally fake refers to how having a 'natural' look is highly valued, but equally, it is acceptable to be 'fake'. Overall, adolescent girls are competent users of social media, who are able to navigate the complexity of the medium and its contents. At the same time, the adolescent girls sometimes found themselves, unintentionally, exposed to risks (e.g. bullying or body dysmorphia), particularly when social media was experienced publicly in a temporal order, connected to the past or present, and without control of potential future effects and impacts. Relevant adults should acknowledge young people's vast competence of life on social media and further empower young people to self-regulate their learning through social media, and in ways that help them to learn from experiences about their health and bodies to shape future actions.

Understanding Australian adolescent girls’ use of digital technologies for healthy lifestyle purposes: a mixed-methods study

“…Girls demonstrated a critical understanding of ‘perfect’ bodies as ‘fake’, ‘toxic’ and unrealistic, therefore not relatable and demotivating. While a study of younger adolescent girls (13–15) found they used health related social media to post pictures of themselves to friends [ 32 ], discussions with the older adolescent girls (15–17) in our cohort suggested they used social media mainly to share content produced by others (e.g., influencer workouts) and peer content related to experiences. They expressed reservations about showing off their bodies or opinions online, indicating instead that they used digital technologies to seek out and circulate information, share achievements, and provide and obtain support to maintain healthy lifestyle practices.…”

“…Research has indicated that adolescent girls value feeling connected to, and supported by, individuals and social groups in their healthy lifestyle efforts [ 39 ]. It is suggested that these feelings of support and connection are strongest when girls and women develop and maintain groups where participants are known to each other or interact around topics of shared interest [ 26 , 32 ]. This may explain the high use of social media (Instagram, Facebook and TikTok) and the low uptake of apps for physical activity among survey participants, as apps remove key social and interactive aspects that girls value [ 28 ].…”

“…Our findings show adaptive content curation features that allow girls to limit unwanted content and promote preferred content were a key driver for digital technology uptake, and adolescent girls are highly skilled at navigating complex and contradictory messaging on social media regarding healthy lifestyle behaviours [ 32 , 33 ]. Supporting existing studies [ 32 ], qualitative data highlight adolescent girls’ competence and creativity in managing challenging aspects of digital health technologies, such as unrealistic (e.g., ‘perfect’ bodies) and directive (rather than encouraging) messaging which contributed to feeling intimidated and/or discouraged. Girls demonstrated a critical understanding of ‘perfect’ bodies as ‘fake’, ‘toxic’ and unrealistic, therefore not relatable and demotivating.…”

“…Larson et al [27] noted that adolescents (31 girls, 18 boys) recognise fitness apps (e.g., MapMyRun, Nike Run, PopSugarActive ® ) could support physical activity but lack social and community aspects of face-to-face sport and can perpetuate body image stereotypes that could be counterproductive for girls' motivation [27]. Typically, studies have been designed to examine girls' engagements with one particular technology for healthy lifestyle purposes, for instance, mobile apps [28], wearables [29] or social media [30][31][32][33]. Yet, little is known about girls' use of a broad range of digital technologies to support a healthy lifestyle.…”

Дисфункции Цифровизации Высшего Образования (Опыт Пандемии COVID-19)

“…По мнению ученых, негативные последствия связаны с рисками разрыва социальных связей, переноса моделей сетевого взаимодействия в реальную жизнь [Никитина, 2021;Goodyear et al, 2022], распространения веб-серфинга [Сахарова и др., 2021], развития digital-культуры, зачастую сопровождающейся агрессией и жестокостью [Ромм, 2021]. М. А. Маниковская выделяет следующие деструктивные последствия цифровизации образования: дегуманизация, деформация идентичности человека, девальвация моральных норм [Маниковская, 2019].…”