Friends’ pictures on social media have biggest impact on body image

Seeing friends’ carefully curated selfies on Facebook is more likely to induce feelings of guilt or shame among young women, and lead to unnecessary dieting, than images of models or celebrities they see in magazines.

Academics found that young women are more likely to compare their appearance with that of their peers’ images on social media than they were with celebrities on TV, adverts or other forms of traditional media. When they then make an unfavourable comparison with the other woman they are looking at, the impact is more pronounced when the image is on social media.

Women are also more likely to diet and do exercise when negative comparisons take place on sites such as Facebook or Instagram, the research found. The vast majority of study participants were not overweight and did not need to diet.

Researchers said the study, which will appear in March in the journal Body Image, has implications for how schools should teach young people about the influences that might affect their self-esteem.

Jasmine Fardouly, lead researcher at the centre for emotional health at Macquarie University, Sydney, said there are several reasons why social media may be more damaging than traditional media. “Celebrities may seem more distanced and their appearance may seem less attainable than people you work with or see regularly.”

The study, which questioned about 150 young women who completed five daily surveys over a five-day period, found that participants overwhelmingly considered themselves less attractive than the people they saw both online and in traditional media.

The negative impact that thin models and airbrushed adverts have on young women has been a source of concern for decades, but increasing attention is being paid to the role of social media. Around 70% of women aged 18 to 35 regularly edit their images before posting them – as do 50% of men in the same age group, according to research by the Renfrew Center Foundation, a US organisation that specialises in tackling eating disorders. Airbrushing on social media has become commonplace: Samsung users have reported that their phones default to a “beauty” mode that alters their faces and smooths out imperfections.

Last month Be Real, a national campaign, was launched to improve body confidence by providing resources to schools, as well as calling on the diet industry, media and businesses to promote different body shapes and sizes. The campaign was launched in response to a report by the all-party parliamentary group on body image which found that girls as young as five were worrying about their appearance.

Natasha Devon, the former children’s mental health champion, and co-founder of the Self-Esteem Team, said that PSHE (personal, social and health education classes in schools) – which cover topics such as body image – should be made compulsory, if these issues are to be taught properly.

Friends’ pictures on social media have biggest impact on body image

Roving clinics tackle TB among Myanmar"s poorest people – in pictures

Tuberculosis is among the leading causes of death for people aged 15-49 in Myanmar, but the cost of reaching a hospital for a diagnostic X-ray is often prohibitive for those in isolated communities. A scheme that sends mobile teams out to test and give medication is helping people get much needed treatment

All photographs by John Rae/UN Office for Project Services

Roving clinics tackle TB among Myanmar"s poorest people – in pictures

Eliminating infectious blindness in Nigeria – in pictures

Since 2013, NGO Sightsavers has been part of a programme in northern Nigeria to prevent unnecessary sufffering caused by seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) – blinding trachoma, bilharzia, elephantiasis, river blindness, hookworm, whipworm and roundworm. It includes training community directed distributors (CDDs) to deliver medicines to remote areas. In 2016, 25 million people received treatment through this programme

Eliminating infectious blindness in Nigeria – in pictures

Why pictures trigger buried memories much faster than words

As you’ll have noticed, in our issue devoted to this year’s most memorable news images, there is an immediacy to a photograph that we can’t help but respond to. A picture can trigger a buried memory and recall a precise moment in time much more rapidly than words. But why exactly?

Neuroscientists have known for many years that humans have an extraordinary ability to encode pictures. In one study, first carried out around 50 years ago and repeated since, people are shown 10,000 photographs and, a few days later, another 1,000 – half from the original batch and half new. Within seconds, respondents point accurately to the ones they’ve seen before. Which is why, at this time of year when you look through a photo review, a picture glanced at six months ago will still chime and feel familiar, even though you couldn’t call it to mind a minute ago.

This is possible because our brains are so efficient at storing the ‘essence’ of a picture, capturing not just the subject but specific visual qualities. You can’t bring this to mind actively, it’s what we call a ‘passive effect’. If you were asked to recall a news image from March, you may struggle, but if you saw a stack of photos from that time, you’d instantly know the ones you’d seen before.

Before we get too full of ourselves, it’s worth knowing that at least one other animal shares a similar ability – the pigeon. In studies they show high levels of recall when presented with different images – helpful for finding food. For us it may be linked to social relations or just navigation.

However trivial the picture, it’s the recognition and the rush of familiarity that is fun – an added benefit that’s lost on pigeons but satisfying for us.

Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London

Why pictures trigger buried memories much faster than words

Romania"s drug-resistant tuberculosis patients – in pictures

TB has now surpassed HIV as the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and Romania has the highest number of drug-resistant TB cases in the EU. Tom Maguire, who works for campaign group Results, visited hospitals, sanatoriums and prisons in Romania to meet with drug-resistant TB patients. His photos capture the loneliness that many patients feel being away from their loved ones, recieving treatment that can last up to two years

• TB kills three people every minute – the world must wake up to this pandemic

Romania"s drug-resistant tuberculosis patients – in pictures

Inside Turkey"s Circumcision Palace - in pictures

Much is made of male circumcision (or sünnet) in Turkey, a ritual that many believe marks the first step of a boy becoming a man. Photographer Bradley Secker has gained access to Istanbul’s Circumcision Palace, which claims to have performed more than 100,000 of the operations since it opened in 1976.

Inside Turkey"s Circumcision Palace - in pictures

Giving Life: organ donation in Australia – in pictures

Giving Life, by Andrew Chapman, charts the life-changing impact of organ donation. The photographer began his project after receiving a donated liver in 2011. ‘I’m only here because of a miracle of modern life,’ he says. ‘Following catastrophic liver failure, I was in a coma with only days to live when I received a donor organ. For this gift of life I am extremely grateful, not only to the donor and his family but also to a wonderful team of doctors, nurses and support staff at Melbourne’s Austin hospital liver transplant unit.’ For more information go to Donate Life, ‘and once you’ve registered, don’t forget to tell your family and friends of your intentions,’ Chapman adds.

Giving Life: organ donation in Australia – in pictures

In pictures: Urban explorer visits abandoned asylum in Maryland

A stretcher stands in the middle of a hallway inside an abandoned asylum, although patient information lay scattered on the floor. Erected in 1925, the 200 acre, 22-creating Forest Haven asylum, in Laurel, Maryland, housed some of the area’s most mentally troubled residents.Picture: Johnny Joo/Barcroft Media

In pictures: Urban explorer visits abandoned asylum in Maryland

That is us told… posters from when the nanny state knew best – in pictures

Warnings about the value of hygiene on holiday and early campaigns about wholesome foods featured in some of the most striking government-problem graphic posters. A new guide showcases a selection from the 50s and 60s, a golden age of public details artwork in Britain

Cigarettes harm your health
1962-3, Reginald Mount, Ministry of Wellness
In 1948, 82 % of men were smokers and 41 % of girls. In the 1950s the link in between smoking and lung cancer began to be apparent and the amount of smokers started to decline. However the government’s anti-smoking campaign did not commence until finally the 1960s, following the publication of a Royal University of Doctors report and it was then that posters this kind of as this 1 had been produced. Designer Reginald Mount (1906-79) worked for the Central Office of Info and a number of government companies in the postwar era. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Vacation well being depends on vacation hygiene
c1966 Scottish Home and Health Department
Following on from the well-liked “Coughs and sneezes spread diseases” slogan 1st utilised in the second planet war, well being and hygiene grew to become a central theme of public data campaigns in succeeding decades. To get the pressure off the NHS, the public was encouraged to aspire to a healthier, outside lifestyle while sustaining great specifications of hygiene. The message in posters this kind of as this was clear: very good hygiene is fundamental to all our aspirations, underpins loved ones wellness and prospects to idyllic summertime holidays. The era’s conception of a common household is pictured generating the most of what was considered crucial – the time, space and freedom to get pleasure from existence to the complete. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Rogue’s Gallery
1960s, Reginald Mount, Ministry of Overall health
Pathogenic bacteria spread from particular person to particular person largely by way of the touch of hands, and the significance of antiseptic procedures the two in clinical practice and in everyday lifestyle have been a staple of public-well being campaigns given that the second globe war. These are a lot more important than ever in today’s world of MRSA and Clostridium difficile. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Do not inquire a guy to drink and drive
1966, Reginald Mount and Eileen M Evans, HM Government
This poster was published in the same yr as the Street Security bill (enacted 1967), which made it an offence for drivers to have far more than a prescribed limit of 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood and introduced roadside breath-testing. Before that, motorists suspected of having drunk as well significantly have been asked to walk in a straight line (typically utilizing the road markings as a guide). The vertical white lines in the poster allude each to the street-relevant message and to the walking test. The wording also reveals how it was expected then that a man in a couple would drive. Reginald Mount and Eileen M Evans worked together for the government before establishing the Mount/Evans studio. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Suspicious? Contact the Police
c1968, Unknown, HM Government
The 2nd half of the 20th century saw a dramatic rise in the level of recorded crime, and it was towards this background that the Home Workplace launched its anti-theft drive in 1968. Though the figures unveiled an upward trend, the extent of the rise is most likely to have been exaggerated by the development in the reporting of crime. Ironically, in encouraging people to inform the police if they spotted somebody acting suspiciously, posters this kind of as this might have contributed to this perceived surge in criminality. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Body constructing meals/power foods
1954 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods
Schools had been offering meals to pupils prior to the war, but it was not right up until the Education Act of 1944 that the provision of free of charge college meals and milk became a statutory duty. By 1951 college lunch was eaten by 49% of pupils. With a excellent proportion of youngsters acquiring this nutritional minimal, it is maybe not surprising, if surprising, that a 1998 research by the Medical Analysis Council identified that children in the 1950s were more healthy than their 1990s counterparts. Interestingly, the promotion of excess fat, starch and sugar as constructive factors in a diet regime, allow alone as energy food items, is at odds with the message adopted later on in the century. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Maintain Britain tidy
1962, Hans Unger, Ministry of Housing and Neighborhood Government
This poster was developed by German-born graphic designer Hans Unger (1915-75). His encounter of the Nazis in Berlin in the 1930s probably influenced his rather threatening depiction of an accusing finger bearing down on an offending guy. The layout seeks to emphasise both the official nature of the campaign and the importance of individuals in taking accountability for their surroundings. In the 70s the KBT posters took a significantly softer line. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

Preserve Britain tidy
1965, Royston Cooper, Ministry of Housing and Regional Government
The Hold Britain Tidy campaign, which was begun in 1954 by the Women’s Institute, became an independent organisation in 1961 and began acquiring official government funding. Support also came in the kind of posters such as this one particular. Royston Cooper (1931-85), a painter and typographer as well as a designer of posters, yearly reports and packaging, had his own studio in north London for 23 many years. Poster courtesy of Thames &amp Hudson

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That is us told… posters from when the nanny state knew best – in pictures

Tyre fire at Yorkshire recycling plant seen from room - video and pictures

Taken by @djsalt1 by way of Instagram at Sherburn Aero Club on Thursday

A fire involving 15,000 tonnes of tyres at the Newgen Recycling plant in Sherburn-in-Elmet, near Leeds blanketed York in black smoke with heights of up to six,000ft.

The fire started out Thursday at around 08:forty GMT but the lead to of the huge blaze is however unknown. 

Photograph: @NorthYorksFire

Smoke from the fire was picked up by a Nasa satellite picture displaying the enormous plume of smoke towering over Yorkshire and the north of England.

A dark column of smoke was captured by a Nasa satellite – shown at the bottom right of the image Photograph: Nasa

Thick plume of black smoke witnessed from the Hull to Manchester train on Thursday. Photograph: Jonathan Cooke

North Yorkshire County Council recommended thirteen schools to maintain staff and pupils inside on Thursday, even though there have been no reviews of sick-well being as a outcome of the fire. 

Taken from Sherburn Higher School by @chelsmariexox on Instagram

Neighborhood residents had been suggested to keep indoors and maintain their windows and doors closed on Friday until additional notice. Public Health England’s Yorkshire &amp the Humber Centre said that the risk of long term health effects is likely to be really reduced with “publicity in excess of lengthy time period normally essential for harm to happen.”

@jblandy88 took this photo from his house in Brayton, Selby

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Support announced Friday morning that they were making it possible for the fire to burn up out: “We are scaling down our attendance but several fire crews continue to be at the scene, including two fire engines.”

Speaking to the BBC, North Yorkshire’s fire chief Nigel Hutchinson said that the fire is most likely to ”go on for days.”

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue announced they were scaling back operations Friday morning, with officers on site still functioning to stop the fire spreading. Photograph: @NorthYorksFire

A substantial volume water pump is relaying water from a pond at the edge of the web site. Water curtains protected the recycling plant overnight. Photograph: @NorthYorksFire

View our video report

Tyre fire at Yorkshire recycling plant seen from room - video and pictures