Furthering Our Understanding of Social Media and Its Impact Through Two Studies

Social media is a multifaceted experience increasingly prevalent in the daily lives of individuals. Social media intersects with both the personal and professional lives of individuals and allows for opportunities and challenges. Although studies have examined social media, there is a gap in literature regarding personal and professional use of social media. This dissertation addresses gaps in literature through two studies, one investigating the personal use of social media and the second investigating social media use in schooling contexts. The first study explored the personal use of Instagram and its relationship with body image related constructs including body image, body image perception, and body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating. Results suggested a relationship between Instagram and body image related constructs, specifically related to awareness, internalization, and media pressure. Results also suggested there were positive body image trends occurring on Instagram. Both findings are important for understanding how Instagram influences body image related constructs and the different factors that can contribute to or help to mitigate influences on these constructs. The second study explored the use of social media platforms in a professional setting by investigating the perceptions of educators and pre-service educators through qualitative interviews. Results suggested that the perceptions of participants were important to understand, revealing benefits, challenges, concerns for privacy and ethical consideration, and the level of support from administration. The results from the second study suggested that educators have specific perceptions about using social media in the classroom. These findings add to the literature by documenting teacher perspectives as, prior primarily had examined perceptions of students.

INDEX WORDS: social media, Instagram, body image constructs, educators’ perspectives