Trying to Measure Up: boys under pressure

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Dan C. investigates new research on young people’s body image

Many young people find it difficult to talk to their parents, trusted adults, or anyone about their appearance and scrolling on social media isn’t helping.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood report 2025 found that more than 1 in 7 children aged 10 to 15 were unhappy with their appearance, rising to more than 1 in 5 girls. Young people also reported that social pressures and the content they see online can affect how they feel about their appearance. Eating disorders and unhealthy dieting remain serious issues for both boys and girls.

A study published in the National Library of Medicine in 2025 found a strong association between viewing muscularity-focused content on social media and muscle dysmorphia among boys and men. It included more than 1,500 participants aged 15 to 35 and found that content showing muscular bodies, muscle-building supplements and muscle-building drugs could reinforce unrealistic ideas about what a male body should look like.

Social media is changing how we see our bodies. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram intensify these pressures with algorithm-driven content making it harder for young people to avoid idealised or heavily filtered images.

One measure to help address the problem is Media Smart, a not-for-profit media literacy programme backed by the UK advertising industry. It provides free resources to help young people understand advertising and how it can influence them, including guidance on social media, digital advertising, influencers and body image. Its resources have expanded significantly as the media landscape has changed, including the Boys’ Biggest Conversation, which focuses specifically on boys’ body image and mental wellbeing.

As a teenager, I believe that the media is having a negative effect on young people today. Eating disorders and body image issues feel more intense because the media plays such a big role in our lives, not just through our phones and apps, but through the constant, personalised content that follows us everywhere.

Putting my feelings about body image into words has been one of the most valuable things I’ve done

Digital image manipulation, whether through Photoshop or the built-in filters on every social media platform, has resulted in teenagers having an unrealistic idea of appearance. On the other hand, not all teenagers will be affected in the same way, as some understand that the images they see are not real.

I feel the introduction of initiatives such as Media Smart will help young people identify extreme body images and hopefully reduce feelings of insecurity. This could also result in eating disorders becoming less of a problem in the future with teenagers being more educated about how the media works and how it represents bodies and celebrities.

For me personally, being able to write about this, to put these feelings and frustrations into words on a page, has been one of the most valuable things I’ve done. With the support of Exposure, I have been able to bring these issues into the light and the response from friends has meant more than I expected.

I’m not 100% certain what I can do next but there is something powerful about written expression. When you’re carrying difficult emotions, it’s not always easy to say them out loud. But on paper, you get an uninterrupted chance to be heard, and others get an uninterrupted chance to hear you. That matters. I’m also excited about where this will take me.

I’d like to start climbing the ladder into a role in the media industry and I feel hopeful that my experiences with Exposure are helping me build a clearer, more honest picture of how the world works, how stories are told, and whose voices get heard. That feels like something worth building on.

Check out these organisations that are working directly on the issues raised here. Don’t stay silent.

• Men’s Health Forum: provides information and support on men’s health, including issues affecting young men.
• Beat: provides information, advice and support for anyone affected by eating disorders.