Editing photos for social media linked to pursuing cosmetic procedures, new BU research shows

New research from Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has found something many have suspected to be true: Social media and photo-editing applications are linked to an increased desire to undergo cosmetic procedures.

To state the obvious, social media platforms are inundated with skin-smoothing and face-altering filters. Users often edit their photos to depict a slimmer waistline and other unattainable beauty standards that are normalized online.

For impressionable young minds, that can lead to insecurities and body dysmorphia — and, researchers have found, it could lead them to pursue expensive cosmetic procedures. Dr. Neelam Vashi, co-author of the study and associate professor of dermatology at Boston University, joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to discuss their findings. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Arun Rath: Before we talk about the findings, can you talk a bit more about how you conducted this study? I understand that there were some adaptations along the way.

Dr. Neelam Vashi: Yes, absolutely. So, a little background about me: I do a lot of beauty research, and I’m very interested in healthy minds, social media and how that interacts with our perception of beauty.

How we started this study was that we just wanted to better understand the social media use of individuals and how that affects their acceptance and pursuant nature of cosmetic procedures. It was a cross-sectional survey, and we were surveying individuals, both patients and non-patients at the dermatology clinics.

What ended up happening was COVID. During COVID, we had to stop all human research. What began as a study to better understand social media use and the acceptance of cosmetic procedures evolved to also understand how the COVID-19 pandemic filtered into this because we had a big gap in which we had no patient recruitment.

And then, you know, our whole lives changed. Zoom became much more prevalent, video conferencing became more prevalent. A couple of years later, when we resumed the study, we had a very different landscape for who we were testing and in what kind of atmosphere.

Rath: I know when the pandemic hit, for my kids, I’m sure their social media use was way more than it would have been. And me as well — I mean, it was kind of something we treasured at the time.

Vashi: Yes. With COVID-19, we all were isolated, so we gravitated toward online platforms, television, media and social media. It was a way to connect with others — via video conferencing, as well as other kinds of platforms, like Facebook, Instagram and such.

Rath: Other studies have looked at the effect of social media on young people. Looking specifically in terms of the body image stuff and these filters, tell us about what you found.

Vashi: Sure. I’ve actually done a lot of research on this. Social media has so many great aspects: it’s a way to connect and deliver information. But it also can have a lot of negative connotations, and its influence can be negative on young, impressionable minds.

There are two facets of our study. First, what we found overall, just generally, were the factors resulting in a difference in the desire to have a cosmetic procedure. This was global — for our whole subject population.

This included the use of photo-editing applications, following celebrities and influences on social media, and then following social media accounts that showed cosmetic results. People who did that more had more of a desire to have cosmetic procedures and pursue them.

Then, when we looked at our national experiment — the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic group — we found that there were significantly more people that were doing those things, that were following those accounts that showed results of cosmetic procedures.

Furthermore, what we found was that the post-COVID group was more inclined to have thoughts about having a cosmetic procedure, had discussed it with a physician or dermatologist, and believed that having a cosmetic procedure would help their self-esteem.

Rath: So, not just thinking about it, but actually acting on it.

Vashi: Yes, exactly.

Rath: Do you have a sense of if there were differences between or among the apps?

Vashi: We did try to look at that and see which ones were more influential. For the most part, the people who are doing photo editing — any of the applications that offer that — will be more prone to have people who want to do it more. They’re more accepting of cosmetic procedures.

Rath: And there’s an indication that using these kinds of editing functions also plays in?

Vashi: Exactly. That was one of the biggest components of it. It’s not just going on the app; it’s not just spending time. It’s what they are doing.

That was what was actually really interesting — that it’s not just the time. The time is one component of all of this, but it’s also a direct effect of media usage. It’s also the interactive content. So that’s what we found out in this study: the content and what we’re viewing and doing is extremely influential.

Rath: Is there a way — I mean, these apps are really popular. I’ve played around with them myself because they’re fun, right? But is there a way that young people can use them responsibly or use them in a way that wouldn’t lead to these issues with body image?

Vashi: There are a lot of different things we can do as adults and as parents to help young people navigate this very complex world of social media, which can have benefits but can also have negativity. There are a lot of studies out there that show that increased use [of social media] can lead to depression, anxiety and other bad thoughts for our young. It’s a really big problem, and there’s not going to ever be a very easy solution because social media is not going anywhere. People really like it, and like you said, it’s fun. It’s a way to interact, and we can do fun things with it.

The purpose for me to do a lot of the research I do is just for awareness. Now that we have this awareness that some habits can be unhealthy, we have to take it a step further and set boundaries. We can use parental controls.

A big thing is to promote alternative activities. For example, encouraging hobbies, crafting, spending time with others that’s not on social media, and then providing resources to help with all of that.

I always say that we lead by example, so I try not to always be on the phone. There are times of the day — like dinner time — when everyone puts their phone away. We just set boundaries, and that can be the times; certain times of the day and locations of the house. Some locations outside, for example, in the backyard or in certain rooms, can be internet-free or social media-free zones.

Then, for example, the content we show and how we engage with our children can be altered so that when they’re using the internet and these online platforms, maybe navigate them towards more healthy sites rather than unhealthy habits, like photo editing.

I’ll give you the example of my own kids. So, I have three very young children, and they love going on the internet. I try to limit it — they don’t have their own iPhones because they’re so young — but when they do something good or when they’re rewarded, I try to use the internet in an educational way.

My son likes dinosaurs and will ask me all these questions about dinosaurs, so we use the internet in that capacity — “OK, now we’re going to go look at some videos on dinosaurs.” As opposed to a non-healthy habit of taking photos of ourselves and editing them.