25% of girls say that they are scared to post their bare face on social media. 90% of girls say they follow at least one account on social media that makes them feel bad about themselves. 72% of teenagers feel the pressure to feel “perfect” due to social media beauty standards.
There’s a problem on how we look at ourselves: a problem that we have only just started to uncover. As the internet becomes more and more embedded within our lives, it becomes inescapable from seeing any form of content, even content that makes you self-loathing.
No matter what social media platform you are on, you do not escape judgement, whether of yourself or the people around you, establishing an incorrect and unapproachable standard.
Trends
TikTok has made checking your own “beauty” a trend. A year ago, TikTok circulated a trend that focused on Facial Harmony, where a person would zoom in on each portion of their faces and then reveal their whole face in total, to see how well these features work together. This invited the comments to judge freely how this person looked. If their nose was too big, or their lips too small, or their eye-bags too deep.
There was also the Symmetrical Face Filter and the Inverted filter on TikTok, that developed trends of seeing how symmetrical one’s face is as a judgement of beauty. The changes of one side to another is incredibly minimal, but highlighted by this trend. Symmetry is not “beauty,” it is simply a way of how people look.
Trends are completely made up. Even when they are made without ill-intention, it still makes one think about their body or their face as beautiful or not beautiful.
Interface of Social Media
The like count on social media directly influences a person to what is popular or not, what is liked or not. With every social media post, there is always an easy way to see how others react to your content.
Hashtags such as “Fitspo” and “Thinspo” have also arisen in the past year, embedding a trend onto social media on looking thin and fit, rather than feeling healthy. It becomes a means necessary to reach the physique of what others look like, even if it is not possible.
Social Media becomes a performance rather than a showcase of your life. It becomes a competition to look your best to get the most amount of likes and reposts. Your own perception of who you are, what you like, and how you look is now a judgement of others instead of what you yourself thinks.
Real or Fake?
A lot of things we see online are not real life or achieved naturally.
Especially with the rise of artificial-intelligence, it becomes harder to discern what is genuine. Even when it is easy to recognize that it is not real, social media can still change our perception of ourselves. Tiktok, Snapchat, as well as other apps have facial filtering mechanisms into its interface, it has detrimental effects on one self.
TikTok’s Bold Glamour filter enforces a western-centric sense of beauty standards and enforced gender bias, the filter closes what we believe is beautiful into a single look.
In 2018, came the emergence of Snapchat Dysmorphia, or Selfie Dysmorphia, where plastic surgery patients would ask their plastic surgeon to alter your face based off of filtered selfies or altered pictures of themself. Without these filters, they most likely would not have suaght out this treatment.
Although there is nothing wrong with getting plastic surgery, the lack of transparency of some users on social media if they obtained their look naturally or not, raises others to believe they need to alter themselves to look as they do, even if it is not possible without facial alteration.
Conclusion:
Overall, despite social media saying what is right and what is wrong about one’s face and body, there is no true answer of what it is. There is no right face. There is no right body. There is no such thing as the “ideal standard.” Social media often shows super edited and unrealistic versions of beauty that make it seem like everyone always looks perfect.
Beauty standards change all throughout the years and in all cultures. What one’s body looks like should not become a trend of bigger or smaller, taller or shorter, etc.
Instead of commenting on one’s body, no matter what is said, on social media, we should practice body neutrality.
Body neutrality is where we look at our own bodies and others with indifference. It is not about loving or hating, but instead of acceptance. Without acknowledgement, there isn’t pressure on either, giving you space to love your body.
So, how can we start building a healthier relationship with our bodies?
Focus on what your body can do:
Instead of worrying about how your body looks, think about all the amazing things it can do, like dance, play sports, laugh, create, and move through the world.
Call out unrealistic beauty standards:
Remember that most of what we see online is edited, filtered, and posed. Talk with friends about how these images can mess with our self-esteem and remind each other all the different ways bodies will look.
Practice gratitude
When you catch yourself critiquing yourself, try to name one thing you appreciate. Maybe it can be how your hair looks, your energy, or how strong you’ve become. The more you do this, the easier it gets to see yourself with kindness instead of judgement.
Learning to accept and appreciate ourselves doesn’t happen overnight, but every small step counts. When we let go of impossible beauty standards, we make room for confidence and communicate care. Continue to ask yourself if you are being compassionate with your own body.