Social Comparison: The Psychological Injury of Non-Neutral Algorithms
20 milliseconds.
That’s all it takes for your subconscious to make conclusions based on an image it sees.
(like seeing a very thin body and subsequently feeling anxious about your own body)
20 milliseconds is too fast for conscious awareness.
That means you’re being measurably psychologically affected by the images you see – and even the images you scroll past or don’t think you often see…
At this point, we all know that body image issues (especially for young girls) are perpetuated by popular media.
What may come to mind now is influencer culture or AI-tuned images, but this has been prevalent for as long as fad diets and magazines have been around. There was an especially awful spike in the 90s-2000s due to even more drastic (thin) body image trends. AND, there has also been some improvement in the last decade with the growing popularity of the body-positive movement, plus-sized influencers, intuitive eating prevalence, and fatphobia education.
But here’s the angle that has yet to be addressed: if we know body-shaming (or any unrealistic beauty standards) existing online can have this negative impact, do we know how it works?
Technologically and neurologically speaking, how do these images create unhealthy belief systems in individual minds?
Is flooding the feed with body positivity scientifically enough of a solution/response?
For example, let’s say you are an aware and educated young woman who has catered your Instagram feed– you don’t follow any people or accounts that make you feel less-than or pressure you to adhere to unrealistic standards. But, as any social media users know, your feed isn’t only who you’ve chosen to follow. Such content is interspersed with sponsored or Discovery page posts from any account seeing a spike in popularity.
→ Even the most careful of social media users are going to be exposed to some number of images that are potentially harmful… Only a handful of images if you’re very mindful, or hundreds or thousands of images if you’re the average consumer/scroller.
One study broken down in The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt shows us just how much impact tech (social media, algorithms, scrolling designed to be addictive) can have on the mind. Here’s the summary:
Researchers in France showed images of very thin women OR average-sized women to audiences of young women. The women exposed to the images of very thin women became more anxious about their own body and appearance compared to the group exposed to the images of average-sized women.
Nothing groundbreaking, right?
Wrong.
The images were only shown for 20 milliseconds. That’s too fast for conscious awareness.
The women didn’t even have to be consciously aware of what they were seeing for it to have a measurable psychological impact.
The study concluded that social comparison takes place outside of awareness, and affects explicit self-evaluations.
When you’re passively scrolling on any social media, regardless of how careful you’ve been to remove blatantly shaming (body or otherwise) accounts, do you know how much you’re actually seeing?
Do you know how much your subconscious is filing away in the background?
Social media, by nature, features and amplifies folks with seemingly perfect bodies and perfect lives. The reminders we give each other that social media is not reality is likely not enough to combat this measurable, psychological injury.
Why?
The part of the brain doing the subconscious comparison is not governed by the part of the brain that consciously knows social media is edited/just highlight reels/misleading.
This is why Technically Spiritual focuses not just on individual mindfulness and well-being practices, but on addressing systemic issues as they relate to advancing technology.
This is why we can consistently feel that we are not good enough despite the amount of effort we put into self-care. When we are being affected beneath our consciousness, our analytical behavior only has so much effect. Our best self-care practices may not always clean out the subconscious loops that have taken root without our consent.
So what can you do?
It’s still a great idea to cleanse your feeds of any accounts that make you feel less-than.
Avoiding echo chambers, seeking education, and challenging your preconceptions can all still happen on social media– but unfollow the accounts that consistently leave you in a state of paralysis or shame.
Limit your social media time and seek community and connection IRL.
Give your psyche a break from the constant onslaught of media.
Actively delete the apps intermittently (like on weekdays, or when you’re on vacation, or as part of a 1-month detox). Even if you have every intention of redownloading, at least a week free from the ability to open the app can put into perspective just how much of a hold it had on your attention.
Establish a mindfulness and/or meditation practice.
A regular practice that slows you down, brings you back to the present moment, reminds you of who and where you are outside of the world of social media frenzy, and grounds you in truth is what will serve you best.
Not everything in this world is in your control – but how you consume, scroll, and practice being is up to you.