New Delhi: Image-heavy social media platforms are designed to make users more insecure about their physical appearance. But does this happen merely by positioning one kind of beauty as the default? A new study shows that the platforms may be changing our inner body perception or ‘interoception’.
Under the study by researchers from Italy, Australia, and Poland, 95 young people underwent a virtual reality experience where they were subjected to tactile stimulations and watched a virtual face be subjected to similar motions.
“We hypothesized that prolonged Instagram use and exposure to idealized, homogenized appearance-focused content may blur the perceptual boundary between self and others, a central process to bodily identity. Over time, this could contribute to an erosion of bodily identity,” the researchers wrote in the article published in Computers in Human Behavior.
They used three metrics to calculate Instagram use: daily time spent on the app, years of Instagram use, and Instagram beauty filter use. The study found that participants who had used Instagram for a longer time were more likely to confuse someone else’s face for their own.
“These results highlight a novel pathway through which social media use may shape self-perception: not by altering body image but by disrupting the integration of internal and external bodily experiences,” said the article.
Bring back body positivity
The findings reveal that our perception of our own bodies and faces isn’t as stable or fixed as we might think. And as the social media ecosystem flattens bodies and faces into one ideal, our interoception becomes ever more vulnerable to change. Over time, this means an erosion of bodily identity.
“At a platform and policy level, our findings highlight the importance of modifying Instagram algorithms to diversify facial and bodily representation in users’ feeds, reducing repetitive exposure to standardized beauty norms that may drive perceptual self-other blurring,” the researchers wrote.
They suggest that platforms foster self-expression through personal interests, skills, and values, prioritising individuality. They added that digital literacy initiatives should highlight the negative effects of prolonged exposure to homogenised content. One answer, they added, may lie in a movement that has lost much ground in the past two years.
“The continued promotion of body-positivity movements remains important, not only in enhancing resilience against unrealistic beauty ideals but in actively encouraging users to preserve a strong sense of bodily identity,” said the article.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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