Social Media Standard

How social media is affecting body image

By: Grant Turner

In a time where nearly everybody has some form of social media, it can be hard not to be influenced by what is seen on the screen. After all, the people with the most followers are called “influencers” and can make a lot of money off their accounts. There are hundreds of people with over 100 thousand followers and more than 50 with over 1 million. Some of the most popular and influential accounts on social media belong to models. 

On social media, people are often only shown photoshopped and carefully posed in the perfect lighting. However, in a world where negative body image is such a struggle for so many people, it is important that people, especially kids, know what an average person looks like.

Scrolling through an Instagram feed will show beautiful person after beautiful person. Since teens are exposed to these seemingly perfect-looking influencers every day, it makes it seem like everyone should be this way. However, this is a false representation of how most people look. 

Instagram has impacted what people want to look like so much that Colby Smith, a makeup artist that works for superstars such as Dua Lipa and Tove Lo, says, “I think ninety-five percent of the most-followed people on Instagram use FaceTune, easily.” FaceTune is an app that removes blemishes and enhances how you look. She also talks about how most of the people she works with have cosmetic procedures, such as brow lifts, done.

According to Emotion Matters, “Studies show that 88% of women compare themselves to images they observe on social media, with over half of them emphasizing that the comparison is unfavorable. Whereas, 65% of men compare themselves to images on social media with 37% indicating that the comparison is unfavorable.” This shows that over half of people compare themselves and many people want to look more like them. This can be a very bad thing because some people think they need to look like celebrities and sometimes go to extreme lengths to do so.

In today’s society, there are many people that have eating disorders because they think they need to look a certain way. According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition the percent of people with eating disorders “increased from 3.5% for 2000–2006 to 4.9% for 2007–2012 and 7.8% for the 2013–2018 period.” According to Verywell Mind, “negative body image is prominent in eating disorders because many people with eating disorders place a high value on their body shape and weight when determining their own self-worth.” This proves that the stress on body image caused by social media is making many people, often kids, go to extreme lengths to look better. 

There are more and more famous people that are beginning to show what they actually look like on social media. A good example is Natalie Mariduena who is an Instagrammer who doesn't use any editing or posing. This is a good thing because many kids think they need to look like all the famous models who are incredibly slim.

People can look different and still be healthy because healthy looks different on a lot of different people. Everyone needs to make sure that their kids and they themselves are aware of what it is really like to be healthy.