In today’s world, social media plays a large role in everyday life. Many can make money by promoting products on their page or can simply use the platforms to stay in touch with friends and family from all over the world. However, there is also a darker side to social media, for women especially. Seeing the stereotypical ideal of beauty all day on one’s feed can begin to warp reality. By pushing unrealistic beauty standards and the perception of a perfect life, the rest of us can feel like we are falling behind in comparison. The article entitled, “Exploring the Relationship Between Frequency of Instagram Use, Exposure to Idealized Images, and Psychological Well-being in Women” tackles the question of what happens when women constantly compare themselves to others over social media. The article in question was published by Psychology of Popular Media Culture, which is a journal that self-defines itself as publishing content on, “popular culture and general media influence (Psychology of Popular Media Culture)”. Editor Dr. Joanne Broder Sumerson has had experience as both a professor and practitioner and is now dedicating her time to research on pop culture issues (Saint Joseph’s University). The purpose of this rhetorical analysis was to better understand the methods used by researchers to link platforms like social media to mental health and the ramifications of excessive use of such platforms.
The study was done by the American Psychological Association which has a wide range of published papers on topics such as gender, aging, mental health, childhood, ect. The site also features a podcast and a section for help centers. Although not explicitly stated, the audience would include scientists involved in pop culture and social media studies since it deals with one of the largest social media platforms. Scientists also involved with research on women’s mental health would be interested since the study speaks on issues such as depressive symptoms, anxiety, and body images issues. The general public would also be interested in such a study, more specifically women who use social media most frequently. The whole study is about how women react and respond, and so they would be the most effected by the results put out.
The study’s main purpose was to either confirm or deny Sherlock and Wagstaff’s hypothesis that “time spent on Instagram would correlate positively with depression, physical appearance anxiety generalized anxiety, social comparison, and body dissatisfaction, and correlate negatively with self-esteem (Sherlock)”. Both authors took into consideration the full spectrum of readers ranging from those who did use Instagram and perhaps were younger as well as those who did not and were perhaps a bit older. The authors made sure to provide definitions for the different tests they assigned participants, as well as definitions for different hashtags they were exploring and discussing.
The article by Sherlock and Wagstaff followed the traditional IMRAD format of an introduction, method, results, and discussion. It began with an introduction that stated their hypothesis as previously mentioned and its general importance to the field. This follows the CARS approach which involves three major moves, each with their own subset, that help to create a cohesive research model (Penrose). It was then stated that numerous studies have been done for another social media platform called Facebook, but that not as much research was out there on how Instagram effected women’s psychological well-being. This brought to the reader’s attention a “gap in previous research (Penrose)” that the authors were attempting to remedy. Finally, the authors ended the introduction by outlining the purposes of their study and laid out several different hypotheses which concluded the “three moves” of the CARS approach
When discussing the methods of the article, and the ways in which the authors attempted to sway their audience, there were two major parts that the study was broken up into. The first part was administering the psychological tests to patients before presenting them with any images or videos to do with body image or life style choice. These tests include the Depression Scale, the Heatherton Self-Esteem Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Physical Appearance State and Trait Anxiety Scale, and finally the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire. This part of the exam speaks to ethos and logos, because of the fact that it deals with logical reasoning and credibility (Penrose). By using well established assessments the researches can ensure that their data is valid. These tests are widely known and acknowledged by the scientific community, and so it helps to boost the researcher’s credibility, and tells others that the study produced results they can trust since its backed by science which has already proven to yield results that once can rely on.
The second part of the method section included experimenters selecting a group of photos from the hashtag beauty, a group from the hashtag fitness, and a group from the hashtag travel. Researchers made sure to choose photos where the girls portrayed were wearing makeup and then inflated the number of likes found on the picture to falsely portray a more popular picture. Researches assigned around thirty girls to each group, and then asked them to consider each picture carefully before selecting their favorites and commenting on them. Then, there was another round of administrating the psychological tests (Sherlock). By having participants retake the tests, they can compare scores before and after, and measure both increases and decreases in elements such as body perception, depression, anxiety, and psychical appearance as it relates.
Much like the methods section, the results section was also broken up into two major parts including part one for “Instagram Use and Psychological Well-being” and part two for “Effects of Image Exposure on Change in Psychological Well-being (Sherlock)”. The use of bolded subheadings and charts to break up the large pieces of texts helped readers to digest the information better and helped appeal to the readers logos. The results section was very concise and straightforward, beginning with what they found which was, “average time spent on Instagram correlated positively with depressive symptoms, trait anxiety, social comparison orientation, physical appearance anxiety, and body image disturbance (Sherlock)”.
The second part of the results section behaved much like the first and used bolded subheadings and numerous visuals to help explain their findings. Not sticking strictly to text can help those who are visual learners understand the material better and can also catch readers eyes and make things more aesthetically interesting. A well put together visual can also appeal to logos and show readers that the authors can organize their research in different ways.
The discussion section of study was able to tie everything together by once again referring to past experiments and how they were able to provide new information on a platform that has steadily grown more popular. It was discussed how the authors managed to explain the link between depressive symptoms, Instagram use, and social comparisons. It was concluded that the authors hypothesis was correct and that, “heavier Instagram use… correlated with a range of psychological well-being outcomes, including depressive symptoms, general anxiety, physical appearance anxiety, self-esteem, and body image Disturbance (Sherlock)”. But more than that, it was also found that “social comparison having a significant mediating effect on the relationship between Instagram use and depressive symptoms, as well as general anxiety, physical appearance anxiety, self-esteem, and body image disturbance (Sherlock)”. This means that what brings upon the depressive symptoms is the social comparisons and what brings those is the frequent use of Instagram. The authors managed to showcase the cycle that one can get caught up in while still appealing mainly to logos and discussing how important the research is due to the fact that Instagram focuses more on visuals than text as opposed to other social media platforms.
By writing this rhetorical analysis, I was able to explore a topic I was interested in, that was very close to home. A few months ago, I personally decide to delete all my social media platforms, except for one. Instagram was among the many I deleted, and I did so with my best interest and mental health in mind. It was interesting to see my suspicions confirmed within this article. It was also very interesting to see the different ways that authors try to appeal to audiences and how not all of them use emotion or feeling. I would have expected a study such as this one to revolve more around empathy, and how struggling with the previously mentioned mental illnesses could be difficult, but instead the authors chose to present only the facts and appeal to logos and ethos. Yet by doing so they still made a compelling argument and successfully proved their hypothesis correct. Overall, it was an interesting experience to focus more so on how the author wrote rather than what they wrote.
References
Sherlock, Mary, and Danielle L Wagstaff. “Exploring the Relationship Between Frequency of
Instagram Use, Exposure to Idealized Images, and Psychological Well-Being in Women.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 12 Apr. 2018, pp. 1–14., doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000182.
“Psychology of Popular Media Culture.” American Psychological Association, American
Psychological Association, www.apa.org/pubs/journals/ppm/.
Saint Joseph’s University. “Joanne Broder Sumerson, Ph.D.” Online.sju, 31 July 2017,
online.sju.edu/graduate/masters-organizational-leadership/faculty/joanne-sumerson.
Penrose, Ann M., and Steven B. Katz. Writing in the Sciences: Exploring Conventions of
Scientific Discourse. Pearson Longman, 2010.
