A new wave of fitness and gym influencers is exposing young boys to a constant barrage of pursuits for physical perfection, and experts warn it poses a serious mental health risk.
So begins one of the countless fleshy blurs of locally-produced fitness content pumped algorithmically into the feeds of Australia n Instagram , TikTok and Facebook users.
"There's been a huge jump in the last two to three years in the amount of boys opening up in workshops around their body," he said.Mr Ward believes there's no coincidence it's occurred alongside a "big spike" in the amount of fitness and gym influencer content turning up in their feeds. Images of muscle-ripped celebrities and athletes serving as aesthetic inspiration, if not an unattainable physical ideal, is nothing new either.But it's the nature of that exposure — the type of content and the saturation of it — that has experts concerned.
Ms Prichard, a former fitness instructor whose research sits at the intersection of psychology, social media and exercise science, believes the constant barrage of perfectly sculpted bodies could destabilise the mental health of some teenage boys.In the bush, burbs and on country, this generation of teenagers is fighting a mental health crisis like no other. Spoiler alert: they're winning.Of the estimated 1.
"It can reinforce in your mind that your worth is very closely tied to, if not wholly dependent upon, your appearance, which is not the basis for healthy self-esteem," Dr Griffiths said. In Man Cave workshops, boys often speak about being bullied over their weight, only to reframe it as a positive. "The toxic, maybe unhealthy, part of it is that there are so many different kinds of bodies that a teenage boy would have, and they're all being channelled into this one kind of mould of what the body of a disciplined person looks like," he said.Where parents and teachers may try, often in vain, to ward young boys away from specific individuals like Tate, telling them to ignore an entire social media ecosystem is even harder.
Ms Prichard recommended seeking out content creators with relevant qualifications or failing that, the accounts of athletes and those who emphasise physical performance over aesthetics.
Boys Instagram Tik Tok Fitness Gym Influencer Ffitfluencer Bigorexia Gymfluencer Liver King Australia Blokes Mental Health Feeds Diet Muscle Dysmorphia
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