Young People’s Experiences of Viewing the Fitspiration Social Media Trend: Qualitative Study

Abstract

BackgroundSocial media use has become ubiquitous in the lives of many people, especially young adults. A popular recent trend emerging on social media is that of posting and following ‘Fitspirational’ content - material that purports to motivate and showcase healthy lifestyle habits, particularly relating to exercise and diet. There is very limited existing literature on how engaging with this type of content influences people’s psychological and physical heath. Initial studies have focused on concerns over potential negative effects on psychological wellbeing including body image, self-esteem and eating disorders.ObjectiveWe aimed to address a gap in the literature for exploratory research on this topic from the perspective of users. We used a qualitative approach to explore how people experience viewing Fitspiration on social media including why and how they engage with this material and how they perceive that it affects their thoughts, emotions, behaviour and health.MethodsWe recruited 20 young adults (14 females, 6 males, aged 18-25) who self-declared themselves to be Fitspiration followers to participate in either focus groups or individual interviews. We asked detailed, open-ended questions about their motivations for following Fitspiration, experiences of viewing this content and its perceived impact. We used inductive thematic analysis to derive themes that represented common and salient features of the data set.ResultsFour main themes were developed: 1) A tool with the potential to support healthy living, 2) Unrealistic, untrustworthy content, 3) Negative effects on emotional wellbeing, and 4) Vulnerability and protective factors. Following Fitspirational posts on social media can provide young people with knowledge and motivation that may support healthy lifestyle behaviours. However, a range of harms also appeared to arise from Fitspiration viewing ranging from minor annoyances and frustrations to more meaningful negative effects on psychological & physical health. These negative effects seemed to persist despite individuals acknowledging that the material can be unrealistic, and believing that they are personally equipped to minimise harms to themselves.ConclusionsThis study suggests that Fitspiration on social media can be attractive and compelling for young people but appears to bring about negative as well as positive effects. Future research should aim to confirm the scale and intensity of positive and negative effects and investigate ways of harnessing desirable outcomes and minimising undesirable outcomes.

Reframing healthy food choices: a content analysis of Australian healthy eating blogs

“…Blog authors translated healthy eating knowledge in simple terms by generating practical recommendations and ideas for the reader to implement in their everyday life. These findings are supported by a study investigating health and fitness social media use in young adults [48]. The study identified that readers sought and valued practical information and identified the use of social media as a supportive means to encourage behaviour change through the communication of practical information, which then inspired and motivated healthier behaviours [48].…”

“…The study identified that readers sought and valued practical information and identified the use of social media as a supportive means to encourage behaviour change through the communication of practical information, which then inspired and motivated healthier behaviours [48]. It has been reported that practical information communicated to readers by healthy eating blogs, including recipe ideas, tips to improve diet-related lifestyle issues and general healthy eating tips, are valued by readers and influence returned readership [7, 48]. The desire for practical information emphasises the importance of communicating procedural healthy eating information, rather than declarative [49].…”

An Exploration into the Impact of Social Networking Site (SNS) Use on Body Image and Eating Behavior of Physically Active Men

“…The study indicated an association between fitspiration posting and drive for thinness, bulimia, drive for muscularity and compulsive exercise (Holland & Tiggemann, 2017). A study on male and female university students in the UK, found that social media posts on #Fitspiration on Instagram resulted in both positive (motivation and knowledge) and negative (feeling guilty about food choices) experiences (Easton et al, 2018), thus highlighting SM's ability to F o r P e e r R e v i e w rationalise disordered eating and over-exercise in campaigns which allegedly promote "healthiness" (Holland & Tiggemann, 2017).…”

“…Previous literature has largely explored Facebook use and BI (Haferkamp & Krämer, 2011; Seidman & Miller, 2013; Thompson & Lougheed, 2012). There is now an increased focus on newer SNSs, such as Instagram, and how it affects users’ psychological and physical health (Easton et al, 2018). SNS influences BI and EB in a number of different ways; Mabe et al (2014) reported that total time usage influences BI and EB, with greater usage leading to more negative feelings, whereas Holland and Tiggemann (2016) found that the more engaged and active the user is with SNS, for example, by posting photos, the greater the negative effect.…”

Impact of bariatric surgery on body image satisfaction among patients attending King Saud medical city

“…However, a cohort study conducted in Qatar among adolescent using the same questionnaire found a high significant difference in rating of unattractive or ugly feature(s), and for Distress caused by feature(s) was insignificant before and one year after procedure (10) . The reason might be because the adolescents have more concerns and experience inferiority regarding their appearance than adults (20) . Other study conducted in Saudi Arabia showed different result regarding appearance distress for patients undergone surgery as they rate it with good psychological scores meaning they have less appearance distress (21) .…”