Analyzing Social Media’s Role in Your Self-Improvement Journey

As we enter 2024, you’ve likely been chanting the old mantra of “new year, new me”; and reasonably so, given the societal pressure to drastically alter your life with a New Year’s resolution that will somehow erase a year's worth of inconsistency. The supposedly aesthetic life an influencer leads which sporadically pops up on your YouTube shorts feed, or Insta’s for-you-page certainly falls under this ‘pressure’. With the recent surge in productivity influencers and wellness coaches online, it’s about time we analyze the role social media plays in one’s self-improvement journey.

It’s key to concede that the effectiveness of such online resources (like with any other source) depends mainly on the user’s rationale, degree of pre-existing knowledge, and implementation. Yet, online resources pose a unique predicament in 2 ways.

What makes social media different?

Firstly, The wave of productivity and wellness content has been intertwined with the growing popularity of short-form videos like reels and shorts. This is Tiktok’s multi-billion dollar idea of short video clips that users can save, share, and interact with which encourages ‘doom scroll behavior’. Not only does this signify huge profits for platforms like Instagram, but it also means that many fitness influencers have to condense nuanced, scientific information about something as complex as health into a 30-second video. The line between factually proven diets or exercises and those that are simply hogwash blurs drastically when influencers cannot present the necessary intricate details in the video.

Further, online resources offer the illusion of productivity in a way that self-help books do not. These high-quality videos bring with them top-notch graphics, numerous motivational quotes, and “productivity techniques” in such a systematized manner that an individual watches them for hours on end, often feeling they’re better off after the binge session. Due to the overwhelming amount of social media content on a plethora of topics that are conventionally labeled “distracting”, eg: films, food, skits, etc., we have internalized the idea that consuming content about self-improvement or self-help is equivalent to being productive. It’s simply a sophisticated form of procrastination that is masked under the more acceptable cover of “learning”. After all, no matter how many study techniques you learn about the night before an exam, it isn’t a substitute for the actual effort that’s required to ace the exam. Now that we’ve laid out the traits attributable to online self-help content, it’s time to examine their far-reaching implications.

Paradoxes and Pretenses

There’s an overwhelming amount of contradictory content that a user is bombarded with every time they open their Fyp. Let’s take a specific goal, say weight loss. Once you start following a workout routine or try out the healthy recipes from a specific creator, the algorithm immediately suggests more “health and wellness content”. The problem is, that the content isn’t tailored to your needs or body type. These are factors that usually don’t have huge implications in the case of other recommendations the algorithm gives, say, related to film reviews, sports, artists, etc., but can have grave consequences in the context of health-specific goals. This can be compared to skincare/ cosmetics, which need to be tailored to individuals’ skin types. This means you’re often scrolling through a health and wellness feed for hours on end, consuming superficial information under the pretense of health tips. Remember, many of these influencers have been known to photoshop their pictures to slim their legs, pose a certain way, get fillers or liposuction done, and routinely fall prey to eating disorders. Clearly there are cases when what they preach hasn't worked for them, so you might want to rethink how likely it is that it works for you.

Even as a reasonably informed user who’s been working out regularly, you’re bound to question your pre-existing knowledge when on the one hand influencers want you to try out intermittent fasting (ie, you don't eat for extended periods each day) while on the other they encourage you to have several small meals throughout the day. Both claim to increase your metabolism, yet are starkly different. Take for instance the mind-boggling paradox of the Keto diets, which demand that you add butter to your coffee while also asking you to avoid a sandwich with butter. Some videos are exulting 'spaced repetition' to the skies while others disparage it. At that point, you’re likely to constantly question what “good or healthy” advice even is and end up feeling thoroughly confused. This tends to break your habit of consistency, which is usually the key determiner of success. The prevalence of contradictory and under-researched information undermines the benefit of accessing a wide range of content online. Each influencer trying to maximize the amount of content they pump out to earn more money doesn’t help this problem in the slightest.

The 'you can have it all' advocacy

Given the significance of consistency, it’s key to explore the steep learning curve that’s set up by a lot of online personalities which can hinder your progress before you’ve even started. Somehow, influencers can walk 10k steps a day, work out for an hour after that, eat home-cooked, uber-healthy meals (which are vegan, gluten-free, and keto-friendly obviously*), socialize, get 8 hours of sleep, meditate, journal, and drink a green smoothie. This manifests itself as the idea of the “ultimate productive life” in our minds. Yet, we seem to forget that the very job of an influencer is to fit within stereotypical standards of what constitutes the “perfect” life. They’re paid to film themselves being extremely put together and can thus devote their time solely to the numerous activities listed above. Or there’s the more likely possibility that they belong to the sect of influencers who have access to their dad’s generational wealth and wish to flaunt it.

It’s this reason that likely causes them to operate from an isolated, elite bubble. While it’s not blatant, we observe a semblance of elitism in their thinking when they fail to recognize that, the average individual cannot possibly meet all these goals simply because it’s a new year. Their numerous productivity goals ignore most people’s basic time constraints given they work a 9-5 job to earn their keep. Having the time to cook oneself healthy food, read non-fiction daily, walk 10k steps, and spend quality time with loved ones while getting 8 hours of sleep is a luxury that most people structurally cannot access. Uniquely, this doesn’t just apply to low-income groups, but even middle or high-middle-income individuals who have strenuous jobs that leave little time or energy for achieving these goals. Unlike what anonymous commenters would insinuate, these individuals' lack of progress isn't a product of their "laziness” but due to legitimate exhaustion/ time constraints that their jobs demand.

This phenomenon is reflected profoundly in modern twists made to our diet and nutrition. There's been the recent craze around vegan diets that are also high-protein, and "non-boring oats with chocolate shells". Yet there's a reason most people don't eat quinoa, silken tofu, and medjool date barks regularly: they're expensive. Ingredients like high-quality dry fruits, protein powders, flaxseeds, and chia seeds tend to be on the pricier side which creates a disconnect for many audiences. Healthy food doesn't have to be expensive, but the 'aesthetic + healthy' dishes promoted most often, tend to be pricy. A bigger problem here would be the diverse cultural contexts and geographical differences that exist. It's simply harder to access ingredients like fresh berries or asparagus in India or find a close substitute for them.

Additionally, there's the issue of clickbait titles that encourage you to take up an intense, jam-packed schedule. For instance, Chloe Ting’s “Abs in 2 Weeks” or numerous individuals studying “12 hours a day” videos teeter dangerously between encouraging individuals or simply demotivating them. It’s easy to compare your lack of progress to the highlight reels of those online, and buy into these programs that go all out; without reading the tiny disclaimers masked by ambiguous legalese such as :

Creators dump a myriad of study hacks and proceed to state in the last 30 seconds of the video that, “This works for me, it might not work for you”, which no one bothers to watch. This sort of marketing, while understandable from the creator’s perspective, doesn’t nullify the toxic mindset it instills in those as young as 11 years (who’re chronically online).

A vicious cycle that eats away at your self-confidence

Despite feeling motivated, falling short of the unrealistic expectations these videos have inculcated, means that you’re likely to fall into a certain vicious cycle that leaves you worse off compared to when you started your self-improvement journey. This cycle is one of not seeing quick results(which the influencer claimed you’d see), feeling guilty, going cold turkey to punish yourself(be it switching off your socials for a day or overexercising and undereating), and ultimately indulging in the bad habit without restriction(binge eating or extended periods of procrastination). The problem isn’t with you ‘not having enough willpower’ or being disciplined, but rather the pernicious marketing tactics that prey on these pre-existing insecurities. Yet, we blame only ourselves when we don’t get abs in 2 weeks or an A* in the exam because we see the perfect results that the influencers or even random people in the comment section have achieved using the same strategy.

A reminder that even if we all ate and exercised the same way, our bodies would look radically different.

This issue can be linked to the ‘one size fits all’ approach that a lot of online content tends to have. Even if we all studied the same number of hours, utilizing the same resources, our results would be radically different. Numerous factors play a part, especially when it comes to fitness, such as metabolism, the places where we store body fat, our bone structures, and more. It’s impossible to expect our journeys to be even mildly similar when it comes to weight loss or muscle gain. Yet, we have limited time and tend to avoid thorough research which is nearly impossible too; given there are millions of fitness programs available all over the internet. It’s easy to pick one, not see results, and blame yourself for failing while forgetting that the influencer’s program doesn’t take into account your specific cultural contexts, physical differences, etc.

What this does to your mental health

This only kicks us when we’re down rather than being motivational, which can be destructive to our mental health, body image, and self-esteem. Meta continues to profit off of this model despite FB’s internal research in 2019 which revealed that ‘thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse’. They know all too well how these posts are exacerbating body dysmorphia, triggering eating disorders, and depression; yet actively ignore demands to reform their marketing strategy for minors. The "what I eat in a day" reel may last 30 seconds, yet you're left with a worrying shift in mindset that'll take numerous therapy sessions to overcome. Being mentally resilient is a prerequisite for sustaining any new routine that will transform your life for the better. Imagine how dreadful this will be for an adolescent who's already adapting to several changes in life as they're tasked with more responsibilities and hectic schedules. The doom scroll, which provides several hits of dopamine to 16-year-olds, is the very culprit that slowly shatters their self-worth and denigrates their self-esteem bit by bit. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place, and it's their mental and physical well-being that's at stake. Crucially, starting a self-improvement journey shouldn't have to be exhausting and render one soulless. It should be an enjoyable process, one that's invigorating and rejuvenating. While it may initially be difficult, framing it as "a 75 Hard Challenge" or an obstacle to overcome, might lead to self-destructive mindsets which means you end up viewing the process as a burden rather than a journey.

To be fair, influencers aren’t solely to blame for these dire scenarios. Creating self-improvement influencers to cater to the vast working population is plausible, but the structural issue is that it’ll likely take too long and they won’t be as popular. Why? The reason is simple: an influencer who leads the perfect life will have videos that are more aesthetically appealing, clickbait titles that’ll attract more audiences and mighty claims that catch the eye albeit unrealistic(or unaffordable rather). This is what makes more money and is pushed by the algorithm for they follow the predictable, well-established success model. There’s little incentive on the creators’ part to try achieving these goals within a time constraint when they have the time and money to do otherwise.

The future isn't all that bleak

This isn’t to say that you should completely rule out social media from your self-improvement journey. It’d be shortsighted and naive to ignore such a treasure trove of information that has linked us with large communities of like-minded individuals who push us to be better versions of ourselves. It’s a repository of diverse experiences from across the world which we can access at the tips of our fingers, often free of cost.

These critical problems haven’t gone unobserved for we observe newer influencers(Han Zhango, Linda Sun, etc.) entering the online sphere and bringing with them a fresh outlook - be it efficient study schedules, or sustainable workout routines that you can follow without burning out too quickly. Some prominent influencers like Ali Abdaal(productivity and business), Growwithjo(fitness after childbirth), Colleen Christensen(tackling ED-causing myths and behavior), and Blogilates(body positivity in the fitness industry) for example are trying to advocate for more positive mindsets and mitigate the toxic interpretations of fitness, hustle culture, etc. that have proliferated on the internet. They hold immense sway given their following which can help in shifting what the algorithm reinforces as “health and wellness” to something positive, achievable, and enjoyable. Yes, it’s a slow process, but it means that there’s cognizance of the numerous niches that need to be catered to in a category that’s still relatively recent.

Ultimately, social media can be a powerful and efficient tool for self-improvement if you want it to be so. It’s the future and it is here to stay. The way to maximize social media’s usefulness is not by ignoring or worse - accepting its structural problems, but by being mindful of its flaws. Rather than taking one influencer’s advice as gospel truth, it’s important to take online content with a pinch(or even a spoonful) of salt. Doing your research in advance, setting realistic goals, and knowing what works for you is what’s feasible in the long term. You often hear only the success stories on the internet which you compare yourself to. This sort of information asymmetry in an ocean of information is ironic, yet something we must learn to contend with.