Paige Hines

Prof. Richardson

English Comp. II

18 January 2019

Research Proposal

I decided that I wanted to write my research essay on a topic that I was very passionate

about. Therefore, I chose how social media affects body image. This is a topic that I am very

interested in and would like to know more about. I feel like I have been affected myself from the

way social media and advertisements portray the female body. I also know that it has affected

many of my friends and family members, all in similar but also separate ways. It has causes us

to have a bad self body image, worsening as we grow older. This really interests me and I want

to understand the causes of it and how or if there are ways to make this negative aspect of it go

away.

This is a very relevant topic in today’s society. This is a relevant topic because the

amount of social media use by people, especially younger kids, is increasing by a lot every year.

This means that more kids and teens are on social media and seeing these social media

platforms and advertisements that only use this perfected and edited body image. This leads to

teens being insecure. Insecurity in teens can cause many more problems like social anxiety and

eating disorders. This is a much more serious problem than people realize.

I think that this topic is very controversial because many people feel that it is perfectly

fine and that nothing needs to be changed. However, this is definitely untrue and there are

several reasons for this. I would like to go deeper into these reasons to really understand them.

I feel that I would like to have and know this evidence that this is actually a growing problem in

the world. Many do not realize the issues that these social media platforms are actually causing

in kids, young teens, and even adults.

 In order to understand this properly, I will need to go in depth on each side of the

argument. I will also need to research things like how and why it affects us, who it affects most,

and if there is anything being done to prevent it. I would like to know how this affects different

genders and age groups. I would also like to go into depth in the effects that come from this

negative body image being created with social media platforms. I will begin researching

websites that cover the effects of social media on children, because I believe this is where the

issue starts. Possible research questions could be, “What is the effect of social media on young

girls’ body images?”, or “How has the increase of the use of social media increased the amount

of eating disorders in the United States?”