MY VIEW
As a young woman growing up at the same time when social media became popular especially among teenagers and young adults, It was hard for me to first identify the impact of social media on my well-being. Usually, the concept we consume on social media is something that is supposed to catch our attention meaning that most of it looks luxurious, enjoyable, expensive, and just simply perfect. But that is exactly the reason why media is such a huge, sometimes invisible, creator of issues. By the time I became older, wiser, and had more experiences with the life I realized one thing - nothing on media capture reality.
The women in the music videos are half-naked, with beautiful curvy bodies but no stretch marks. Ladies in advertisements for make-up products have beautiful skin with no acne or other imperfections. Blogs promote strategies accompanied by images of skinny models to convince readers that they can drop twelve pounds by using their pills too.
If a person consumes this and many more problematic features of social media usage and adds to it the fact that young people spend an average of 2,5 hours on social media daily (Statista, 2021), the consequences might be severe. When a person is exposed to triggering content such as the promotion of unrealistic beauty standards or is surrounded by media which implies only specific body image norms it can have a significant impact on their self-perception. Media and celebrities emphasizing the importance of appearance can lead people with lower self-esteem and insecurities to body issues and mental health problems associated with it. . Low self-esteem can cause an individual to compare themselves to others, weakening one's self-worth and contributing to mental health problems like body dysmorphia, depression or anxiety (Aftab, 2021).
All of these factors put pressure on people to look a certain way to be referred to as "attractive." Media almost created a stigma prioritizing the appearance that we could call ''pretty privilege''. Pretty privilege are in other words beauty bias which is a concept that believes that society benefits people that are thought as attractive according to the standards of beauty. Thanks to that, women usually associate appearance with success and happiness which leads them to chase unrealistic looks in terms to be happy and successful in their lives.
Also, because of the fact that a lot of women and men believe in the huge importance of their appearance the number of body modification surgeries has increased. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2020) most recent earnings statistics prove that almost $16.7 billion has been spent on cosmetic operations in the United States in 2020.
Since our society is exposed to media content so much, it is very easy to replace it with an accurate view of real life. This does not mean only looks, but also the way we live our lives and the way we behave. Media has become a built public place where it is acceptable to publish only well-selected and well-staged life situations that tell a perfect story. People, especially celebrities, spend hours analyzing all the small flaws, removing imperfections and creating the best caption before posting photos. It is almost impossible to not let all this pressure affect person's mind but it is essential to keep reinforcing the idea that beauty is more than just appearance.
Aftab, A. (2021). Unrealistic Beauty Standards On Social Media - Aiman Aftab. Medium. https://medium.com/@aimanaftab_82019/unrealistic-beauty-standards-on-social-media-9b47cbee94b6
American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2020). PLASTIC SURGERY STATISTICS REPORT (ASPS National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Procedural Statistics) [Dataset]. https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/News/Statistics/2020/plastic-surgery-statistics-full-report-2020.pdf
Statista. (2021, September 7). Daily social media usage worldwide 2012–2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
Dear Barbora, thank you for writing about such an important topic. Social media and seeing perfection can make you feel upset and not enough. Teenage girls suffer from seeing those perfect bodies and retouched faces. I assume it is important to show who you are, not to create a perfect, fake image. You made important insights there and I agree with you.
OdpovědětVymazatDear Barbora,
OdpovědětVymazatI really enjoyed reading your blog. I didn't know much about this topic to begin with, as I am not really somebody who's concerned by this, but I couldn't resist my curiosity. I learned a lot and I would be happy if more people were aware of this problem. You did a great job explaining!
Dear Barbora,
OdpovědětVymazatthank you very much for choosing this topic. Your topic is very close to me. Unfortunately, I myself have been very much influenced by social media since I was a child. "Perfection" is something that has bothered me for a long time. Reconciling with your body in today's world, when we see perfect skin, figure or appearance on social networks, it is becoming increasingly difficult. Your example of the Kardashians family is more than accurate. Even the fact that in Norway are published photos that are full of photoshop. Unfortunately, this is a problem all over the world. Almost everyone edits photos on social media, just to be perfect in the eyes of society. I'm glad you included an article on her blog about how all this affects mental health. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that what they add to social media can also lead to fatal consequences. Definitely continue to focus on this topic, I think this topic is very necessary and current. Great job!
I enjoyed reading your blog so much! I've been interested in this topic for a long time now, searching all these celebrities before and after videos. It can really mess with your mental health if you don't know the whole story, aka. Them having a lot of money to pay for literally anything. Often celebrities or big influencers deny having plastic surgeries while promoting "natural beauty," which makes me angry because young girls look up to them, thinking they were "born this way." A super important topic to talk about! Thank you for writing about this!:)
OdpovědětVymazatDear Barbora ,
OdpovědětVymazatI really appreciate you for choosing this topic, I think this is really good one to have sharing ideas with the other people that this your blog is the most valuable topic people are supposed to know and reconsider about posing edited pic. In my opinion, being too much perfect for every part of our look can be part of obsession and bring them to us as a lot of stress.