From Diet to Data: Digital Media and Women’s Experiences of Health and the Body

Abstract

This thesis examines how digital media shapes women’s knowledge, understanding, and experiences of health. It focuses on social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram), mobile applications (fitness and menstrual tracking), and content-sharing platforms (TikTok and YouTube). The study employs a qualitative approach that includes an online survey, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive thematic analysis, to explore how a group of women (aged 18–35) in Australia encounter and respond to health-related content on digital media. It examines the meanings they attached to this content and how it was integrated into their everyday lives. The data analysis is guided by sociomaterial theoretical perspectives, allowing for an exploration of the social and material interactions that inform and influence what these women think, say, and do about their health and bodies.

The findings indicate that digital media impacts women’s health-related practices through their engagement with social media influencers, wellness experts, self-tracking data, and online communities. These interactions encourage women to navigate concepts of personal responsibility, body surveillance, and physical appearance, leading to the adoption of various diet, exercise, and wellness practices. Often, these practices are motivated by a desire to gain deeper knowledge about their health and bodies, validate their sensations and emotions, and maintain control over their wellbeing. While digital media can facilitate a sense of empowerment and bodily autonomy for these women, it can also impose constraints by reinforcing norms that demand self-surveillance and adherence to consumption practices inherent in neoliberal ideology. This thesis addresses gaps in our understanding of how women interact with and internalise health-related discourses through digital media, and the implications of these experiences for the construction of the body, self, and a range of health-related practices.