To begin, quantifying the self is the idea that fitness is determined by self-tracking and defining progress or health knowledge through through numbers.
Instagram hashtags are extremely effective in creating a communities who share like minded goals and views. When you search up a particular trending hashtag, a whole array of pictures that look quite similar to one another pop up on the feed. Eventually, these hashtags have an audience so large that a movement starts. They become so large because people frequently rely on the motivation, advice, and support in these posts; users become connected by a single hashtag. In the case of various fitness movements on Instagram, there are a variety of popular hashtags that people diligently participate in. Many of these movements have led to quantifying the self because of how based they are in only numbers. The Instagram hashtag movements that we will discuss are the ones that have reached millions: #fitnesstips, #lifting, #weightlossmotivation and #weightlosscommunity. The content in each of these hashtags overlap so much that they have had profound effects and contributions to quantifying the self.
1. #fitnesstips
Looking at #fitnesstips, these users are sharing their own knowledge on health and thereby creating a community together. In this community, all of the trends are followed as a means to stay part of the community. Social media users often look at what’s trendy and follow it in order to maintain their social status (Serazio & Duffy 16). Users and contributors to this fitness movement spread trends, such as calorie comparisons, listing off numbers of habit changes, scale differences. These specific metrics determine if you are worthy enough to be part of the fitness space. Each number based trend is another chance to prove social worth and social media presence on the platform.
2. #lifting
The #lifting movement serves as way for users to compare themselves. They can determine if their workout routine will get them the results they want simply by looking at aesthetic photos based on numbers. However, the pictures heavily emphasize size, as if the bigger the muscle, the more fit you are. Media are communication technology systems that enable and constrain human activities, knowledge, and agency (Fuchs 40). The platform allows users to continually scroll on these popular posts within the hashtag, encouraging them to absorb the information they promote. The content posted on Instagram directly affects the behaviors of individuals and influences them to track this behavior by posting their own results. These results would mimic the ones they see: quantifying their fitness goals with the measurable size of their muscles or the amount of days they workout.
#weightlossmotivation is filled with tracked challenges, food pictures, and comparison photos. These are the pictures that determine the type of standard that users in the fitness community are striving for, especially because the most popular posts are attention grabbing and include personal insights (Serazio & Duffy 13). Most of the posts at the top are the ones that catch the most attention based on high numbers of rules, steps per day, or looking at age. By focusing more on these number based results, the community also thinks that they have to achieve the highest numbers in order to be noticed in the fitness community. It almost becomes like a race to create quantifiable content that is the most eye-catching, so that users feel validated that they are fit.
#weightlosscommunity has spurred a lot of controversy on how authentic these posts are. Since native advertising can disguise itself as organic posts, some of these posts may just be pushing a product, instead of being supportive in a weight loss journey. (Serazio and Duffy).
As a result, social media marketing strategies are difficult to spot. These products often highlight macronutrients that many people in the community obsessively track. The promotion of counting macros, bars with great amounts of protein, measuring tapes, and noting down your weight everyday are methods that have led to a fitness culture relying on quantification.
These movements are all related to one another, outlining the overall fitness culture on Instagram and how users determine their fitness levels based off quantification. As large communities have adopted these practices, it makes it seem that fitness is synonymous with weight loss and tracking. It seems almost impossible to be considered fit unless you fulfill certain numbered expectations, like how many calories you eat or burn per day, which are set by these communities.
1. Fuchs, Christian. “Social Media: A Critical Introduction.” 2nd ed. SAGE Publications. 2017.
2. Serazio, Michael and Brooke Erin Duffy. “Social Media Marketing.” The Sage Handbook of Social Media: https://www.academia.edu/30852925/Social_Media_Marketing