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Julie Guerrero

Rosario Jarrell

ENGL 1301-211

14 April 2024

Societal Standards

Social media, although it is not a physical place, takes a great toll on people's minds. It

can be a place where ideas and images get shared but can in turn become toxic. Social media can

affect people's mentality so drastically that it drives them to want to make changes to themselves.

Thus, Candice E. Walker, Eva G. Krumhuber, Steven Dayan, and Adrian Furnham go

hand-in-hand to create, “Effects of Social Media Use on Desire for Cosmetic Surgery Among

Young Women.” They write that women are the main individuals that get the most affected by

this internet reality. Walker et al. successfully appeals to individuals using rhetorical strategies,

ethos, pathos and logos, wanting insight on this topic by making a real-life simulation of the

correlation that social media has on a young woman's mind. They further go on to linking

credible sources throughout the article and constructing a graph to properly formulate an answer

to this hot topic.

To present some background, Walker et al. main focal point of this article is to shine light

on young women’s vulnerability to feeling the need of fitting into society’s standards. This

introduces the first rhetorical strategy, pathos. Walker et al., presents, and quotes, information

that can feel relatable to other young women, creating an open-understanding environment.

Furthermore, Walker et al. “present a study to examine whether exposure to images depicting

facial cosmetic enhances increases the desire for cosmetic surgery among women” (Walker et al.

3355). Socio-culture alters the perception young women have of their self-image. Since they
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constantly see a certain appearance online, they are influenced into believing that is what is

deemed attractive. The images are implanted into their minds and are a constant reminder of

what social media regard as ideal. This is usually when the comparison begins. Although social

media is a big part of the issue, “it is proposed that if a person internalizes beauty ideals about

appearances (i.e. those depicted by the media or reinforced by parents) that s/he cannot live up to

and/or habitually engages in appearance comparison, this can create problems with body image

such as body dissatisfaction” (Walker et al. 3355). This, additionally, builds evidence onto the

claim that participating in this social media prevalence can gradually develop into psychological

factors, such as anxiety and depression. In addition to the previous statement, it further

enlightens other young women on how social media can greatly take a toll on young,

impressionable minds that are similar to those of their own.

In particular, this article states there are many reasons why women would want to

undergo cosmetic surgery. Walker et al. conduct a study to provide logical information to support

their claim. They go on by stating the stages and the rapid toll it took on the ladies' minds. There

are many factors that contribute to the drastic decision to change their appearance, such as self

esteem issues. Walker et al. communicates how, “the less satisfied participants were with their

appearance, the more likely they were to consider cosmetic surgery” (Walker et al. 3359). This is

deemed as sensible knowledge. To further provide proper correlation to this thought, they

conduct research to show whether young women who are constantly online are more likely to

undergo cosmetic procedures. Nevertheless, the study conducted is regarding the tie of social

media, Instagram specifically, with the yearning desire to transform their look. For the

procedure, young ladies between the ages of eighteen to twenty-nine were gathered and were

given images of women, who had undergone surgery, around the same age, and pictures of travel
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scenery. They were told they had five minutes to view the images and recall details. Throughout

this, they had to, also, record their mood by moving a slider. A negative mood, depression and

anxiety was indicated by a higher score. The women participating are not aware of the real

reason behind this study to further provide reliable information on how social media has effects

on young women's mental health. It deteriorates their self-esteem from one second to another.

This experiment was only a few minutes long, looking at each image for five minutes, yet it

already had a negative impact on the participant’s mood. The results further disclose that “social

media use was a stronger predictor of a participants’ desire for cosmetic surgery than body

dissatisfaction” (Walker et al. 3360). This just makes people more aware of how being constantly

active on social media for a long period of time can create more psychological problems.

Furthermore, Walker et al. presents a graph after the results are showcased. The end

results being, the ladies who were mostly shown images of other young women with surgery

were said to have more of a desire to get cosmetic changes as well. They were also recorded to

have a lower self-esteem. They did not feel confident within themselves, which increased the

likelihood of them wanting the change. Again, being rational to the participants and statistics,

further appealing to the rhetorical strategy, logos. On the other hand, women who were shown

the travel images felt at ease most of the time. They did not feel the need to have cosmetics done.

The graph presents an arrow linking social media use to body dissatisfaction and more desire for

cosmetic surgery. They are all intertwined with each other. One leads after another. The author,

Walker et al., provides this graph to show an illustration and appeal more to the eye (3360). The

reader can further understand the logistics of the experiment and take note of how social media

corrupts young women’s minds.

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Another key rhetorical strategy used is pathos. Walker et al. quotes various reliable

sources by providing further credibility, such as sourcing the University College of London, and

Illinois. Universities are highly knowledgeable on their understanding of research and have been

peer-reviewed by many before publishing. This increases the trustworthiness of the paper for the

readers. This article builds off a proper foundation of other studies done. The oldest article is

dated back to 1993. That source, Altabe and Thompson wrote that “a time when one of the

fundamental development tasks includes accepting one’s body and appearance” (Walker et al.

3361). This further proves how before the creation of social media, these psychological

comparison tendencies were already in effect. In addition, Walker et al. go on to reveal that

“beauty ideals are reinforced and transmitted by primary sociocultural influences i.e. peers,

parents and the media” (Walker et al. 3361). Further reinforcing the idea that women have been

having this issue. These toxic ideas have been implemented into the minds before social media.

Now, with the creation of social media, being a constant reminder of societal idealism.

As has been noted, Candice E. Walker, Eva G. Krumhuber, Steven Dayan, and Adrian

Furnham shine light on the psychological warfare of, what is, a young woman’s mind. These

authors further reinforce their claims by citing credible sources to build that trustworthiness with

the audience, as well as graphs to provide proper insight. Social media can be a dangerous place,

if young women are not secure within themselves. Instagram, as stated in the article, can be a

very susceptible place. Although social media can be a place to share great moments, the authors

of this article wrote this as a precaution. It is important for these young, impressionable, women

to keep in mind that society's ideal of beauty does not take away from their own.
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Work Cited

Walker, Candice E., et al. “Effects of Social Media Use on Desire for Cosmetic Surgery among

Young Women.” Current Psychology, vol. 40, no. 7, 30 Apr. 2019, pp. 3355–3364,

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00282-1.