Social media: Looking at the impact on body image and school nurses' role

Body image is the combination of one's thoughts and feelings towards one's own body (National Eating Disorders Collaboration, 2023). This article explores the interventions already implemented by educators and school nurses to promote a healthy body-image and encourage healthy social media usage.

The relationship between body image and social media is complex as there are both positives and negatives associated with exposure to online media (Harriger et al, 2023). There are a number of body positive role models on social media, who continuously promote healthy bodies, healthy diets and exercise. In contrast, there are also many celebrities and influencers whom young people seek inspiration from and who display unrealistic bodies by using filters or cosmetics in order to look a certain way (Emotion Matters, 2018). In addition, these people may promote unhealthy diets and lifestyles for young people (Packer et al, 2022). Many young people follow the latter with unrealistic body types, and when they cannot achieve the desired look they may develop a negative body image (Harriger et al, 2023). This has been shown to lead to a number of issues such as mental health deterioration and eating disorders (Emotion Matters, 2018).