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Influencers, Real or Digital, Make Us Question Our Looks
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Social media today is saturated with personalities sharing snippets of their lives. Some are real people, while others are computer‑made characters that look almost human. A new experiment examined how these two types of “influencers” affect women’s feelings about their own bodies.
- Participants: 303 adult women, ranging from teens to seniors, recruited online.
- Groups:
- Real human influencers on Instagram
- Digital characters performing similar content
- Neutral comparison: images of buildings
Key Findings
| Result | Human Influencers | Digital Characters | Neutral Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body dissatisfaction | ↑ (unhappy with bodies) | ↑ (unhappy with bodies) | — |
| Face dissatisfaction | No significant change | No significant change | — |
| Interest in plastic surgery | None increased | None increased | — |
- No difference between the human and digital groups; both produced similar results.
- Age (18–74) and frequency of appearance comparison did not alter outcomes.
Conclusion
Whether a social media star is real or virtual, she can influence how women feel about their looks in the same way. The findings raise questions about what kind of content on our feeds might be shaping self‑image and why we should think critically about the images we consume.
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