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Title
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Text-based interactions in Instagram: The impact of text and perceptions on girls’ wellbeing (ICGS, 2025)
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Author
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(2025)
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Year Published
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2025
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Description
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Paddock, D. L., Cassarly, J., & Bell, B. T. (2025). “OMG you look amazing”: A systematic examination of the text-based interactions surrounding UK adolescent girls’ self-images on Instagram. Body Image, 52 , 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101839 .
Researchers from the UK have focussed on adolescent girls’ use of Instagram to gain a better understanding of how girls engage with visual social media platforms and the impact of this engagement on body image, self-objectification and self-presentation. This is a critical area of research given the proven impact that image-based social media platforms can have on girls’ wellbeing (ICGS, 2025; Paddock et al., 2025, p. 1). This new research is innovative and important for educators because it explores girls’ experiences with publicly available image-based content beyond engagement with images alone. It extends to incorporate girls’ use of text-based interactions and commenting and considers how this impacts girls’ experiences of body dissatisfaction.
While visual content is central to image-based platforms, they are also designed to encourage engagement and interaction via text. This typically occurs in the form of commenting. Understanding how these text-based interactions occur alongside images on platforms such as Instagram will play a crucial role in better understanding the impact of this content on girls’ wellbeing. Research has shown that appearance commentary on social media can have profound influences on adolescent girls and young women, especially in the areas of body image concerns and self-objectification (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 2). Social media has rapidly developed as a “primary communication tool for adolescents”, which makes this a vital consideration, especially for girls (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 2).
This article focusses on “highly public and permanent Instagram posts, which are usually shared within a large network, making the interactions surrounding them inherently performative and aimed at a broader audience” (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 2). This includes responses to posts that may occur over time, and not immediately following the initial upload of content. Girls from cities across England were included in the study, which was based on interviews combined with analysis of actual content posted on girls’ Instagram accounts. The girls who participated all had “private” Instagram accounts, and many were already engaging “in a process of self-curation wherein they deleted or archived previous posts” (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 3). The researchers analysed the girls’ social media content according to four themes: Images of the participant, captions posted with the image, direct comments on the image, and first replies from the participant to any of these direct comments.
The researchers identified several categories of content consistent across the project. Image content uploaded by girls included “selfies”, “groupies” and a mixture of these within the one post. Captions on these posts were then categorised as non-appearance related, appearance-related, self-deprecating appearance remarks, positive appearance remarks, neutral appearance remarks, emoji only (no text) and no caption. Direct comments on posts were observed to contain four types of compliments based on appearance, performance, possessions and personality. “First replies” to these comments were considered to fall into a range of categories that included denial, empathy, probing/asking questions, reciprocation and gratitude.
Based on observations around these themes, the authors observed common ways that adolescent girls typically interact with self-images on social media. These interactions are complex, influenced by societal norms and self-presentational strategies, and have implications for girls’ wellbeing. While comments on self-images are typically related to appearance and are positive, it is important to remember that adolescents often curate their posts so that only content with positive comments remain. This typically occurs as part of a broader self-presentational strategy. Negative comments may still be present, but are often seen in private channels such as direct messaging, and therefore do not form part of this analysis of “public-facing, highly curated Instagram posts” (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 8).
The types of comments observed in this study were different from those found in previous research. Whereas previous studies found comments focussed on weight and other specific appearance-related attributes, this research found compliments were more generalised about appearance, and included very limited comments (if any) on weight. In fact, girls in the project were “hyper aware of a compliment culture wherein general appearance compliments can have a positive impact on the receiver, whilst simultaneously recognising that specific appearance compliments may impact the receiver negatively by reinforcing an appearance ideal” (Paddock et al., 2025, p. 9).
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Type
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Research Report
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Research Category
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Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing
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Media, Social Media & Technology
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Year of Study
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2025
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Identifier
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46174
