The gym is in! A recent article on USAToday.com explains that Americans are making healthier choices more today than in the past 20 years. These choices include eating habits, exercising, and meditation. Recently, students have been posting gym photos and work out pictures on their social media.
“Yeah, this boom came out of nowhere, now all of a sudden people want to be health freaks but I’ve noticed over the past year,” says Cypress student Alan Guerrero.
Does social media help motivate students to live a healthier lifestyle?
“I already do that to begin with, but I’m sure that would be an influence,” says Johnny Agajanian.
Another Cypress student, Mark Lin, 22, says “Lowkey it does. Last year my buddy was over weight and just recently he posted before and after photos. It shocked me! Now he’s posting his meal plans, and it had me thinking about my health and it inspired me to go to the gym. It was like a domino effect too because once I started going, my other buddies started going, it’s crazy”.
Regina Rhymes, a psychology and sociology teacher here at Cypress College, explained how social media makes people follow others in what they do.
Professor Regina Rhymes
“We are a visual society and it’s enhanced with the social Media and it’s part of the culture we are in,” she said. “As far as for social media, we are now local celebrities and each celebrity has a brand; and that’s what we’re looking at, we’re looking at out personal branding. And with the personal branding, we are able to influence so many people on the web.
“We look at something like Facebook. The average student has about 1000 friends,” she adds, “so when you post something up, as a celebrity, people are going to imitate that behaviour. So why is it that we are inspired by these videos or photos on social media? Again, it’s because we are local celebrities and we want imitate something positive and would want to improve our personal status.”
As this branding continues, it’s safe to say for now, that social media is actually influential for some lives. Social media is known for exposing lives but if it’s something positive, then let it be known. So grab your phones and see what’s the latest trend, and if you can’t beat them just join them.
