There’s this beauty standard followed by so many people. The idea that you have to be a certain weight or have a certain hair color. This ideal has led people to lose self confidence and try and find ways to change themselves to better fit these standards. But why do we have them? Social media does have a negative effect on teen beauty standards. It encourages comparison, it gives unrealistic standards, and gives teens this pressure to meet these standards leading to things that can harm their mental and physical health.
One of the negative effects of social media on beauty standards is the constant comparison. In the article “How social media shapes beauty standards” it states, “When users constantly compare themselves to polished influencer images or celebrities, it can foster harmful perceptions about their own appearance.” This is showing that people use social media as a way to compare themselves and try to get an idea of how they think they should look instead of loving how they already do look.
Another example of the negative effects on social media on beauty standards is how unrealistic they are. In the article “The link between social Media and body image” it states, “Increased access to photo editing tools has made it easy to curate an image of perfection on social media. A 2021 survey by Consumer Reports found that one in five Americans has used a beauty filter before posting a picture or video. Respondents younger than 30 were much more likely to have used beauty filters (47% of those aged 18-29), indicating that the trend is much more common among younger generations.” This shows how common filters are and that while teens set this expectation for themselves they’re basing it off of something that’s not real. People are making themselves seem perfect for the internet without displaying that its not possible to be 100% perfect and that it’s unrealistic to give people that expectation.
The last example for how social media negatively affects beauty standards is the mental and physical health damage it causes. In the article “Social media, thin ideal, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating attitudes: an exploratory analysis” it states, “This body dissatisfaction emerges because of the distortion on the body image, its perception and, therefore, body concern . This dissatisfaction also plays an essential role in disordered eating attitudes since it provokes emotional and psychological distress.” This shows how once people get in the mindset of having to be or look a certain way because of social media, it leads to harm to them in one way or another.
Social media does have a negative effect on teen beauty standards. No teen should feel the pressure of looking a certain way. We should encourage everyone because everyone is pretty and should have confidence even if it’s not based on the standard that social media is pushing on teens. We should uplift people and encourage different styles instead of judging because it’s not what people consider the norm. Social media isn’t real and while it takes time to understand it, remembering that someone’s post can be edited and they can add filters. Always be confident with yourself! You don’t and shouldn’t follow the society standards just because it’s what’s expected, be different and encourage that others to be different too!
