Essay on Social Media and Beauty Standards

We surround ourselves every single day using technology and looking through social media watching the latest posts on public figures we follow. We tend to always seem to run into a certain image that is defined as the ‘beauty standard of the moment’. Although beauty has evolved within the years many see it as an ordinary thing, as a joke, but as mentioned before there are two sides to this controversial topic. Many change their appearance to please themselves. Although many think that among teens for them to look at a female and even male figure looking a certain way is alright, actually it can produce negative thoughts and promote poor self-esteem. This is why it is believed that it promotes low self-confidence within a person, and should be taken into action to be able to make a change on what beauty really is. Images of beauty have been negatively used on social media, which have caused decreased self-esteem in ways that reflect on beauty and increase rate on anorexia and depression. Therefore, social media users must stop posting negative comments in order to make the world a kinder place and problems free.

“Cosmetic surgery in the UK has seen a 73 percent referral to images of the Kardashian/Jenner sisters. After Kylie Jenner made her statement confirming she had lip fillers, cosmetic surgeons saw a 700 percent request for plumper lips” (Payne, 2017). Has social media really increased beauty expectations? Beauty is a word that many find difficult to define. It is proven that it has an impact on inner self esteem, and leads up to an unpleasant health development. However, as it impacts it also induces more confidence and hard work to make a change in male or female. It is important to know that a physical stereotype can be improved or prevented, to avoid situations of anorexia etc.

The article VIVA ‘Is Social Media Changing Our Perception of Beauty’ by Emily-Rose Payne proved how also back then everyone was concerned about their physical appearance. She stated “There has always been influence making people want to change their appearance...There has always been influence making people want to change their appearance” (Payne). The standards of beauty don't just happen on their own they have to be introduced by an individual who inspires others to be exactly the same. On social media and across certain platforms people share things within themselves who later then turn into a public figure such as Kim Kardashian with an hourglass body with curves and a butt. Stuff like that is what is harming people nowadays, although we can't control what people post on social media. We have to acknowledge it can be harmful, there have been deaths due to dangerous procedures just so they can be accepted and be seen as a definition of beauty.

In the article ‘The Beauty Myth’ by Naomi Wolf, is perturbed by a different social control she argues and proves the beauty myth. An obsession with being physically perfect that ambushes the modern women today than back then, and that spirals to less hope, self-consciousness and self-hatred as one tries to fulfill up to the beauty standards they see on a daily basis. Wolf mentions “The more legal and material hindrances women have broken through, the more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to weigh upon us” (Wolf, 486). The statement Wolf provided in the article states that now in the twenty-first century there are high expectations for how a female should look. I believe that this way of putting ‘weight’ on a person to look a certain way isn't healthy at all. If everyone were to follow how a ‘beautiful’ person looks then no one would be unique in their own way. This sense of having high expectations traps a person to make a drastic change in their body from plastic surgeries or excessive workouts and eating habits. She also mentions “During the past decade, women breached the power structure; meanwhile, eating disorders rose exponentially and cosmetic surgery became the fastest growing medical specialty”, so what does this say? Well clearly this has established a problem within a person because from what they see on social media and out in the world they try to compare themselves to that certain image that's why they pay thousands of dollars for cosmetic surgery, and submerge themselves to a life extent problem of eating disorders just to cut back on ‘the calories’, so weight can be lost. Wolf’s argument of beauty is that out on social media it affects a person mentally, and physically it submerges them to have a certain image in mind and become that certain images to fit in. That leads to poor self-esteem, and promotes high risks of health problems.

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Seeing a certain body image on the media can be traumatic for some individuals. According to the Mirror Mirror Eating Disorder Help, lets us know the importance of understanding the impact of body image in the media. Reason why it's important is because nowadays images have a huge impact on mental health and the way an individual sees themselves. The MMEDH stated that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the typical American spends about half of his free time in front of the TV. Television is not the only form of media that influences our body image, of course. We watch movies, see pictures online, read magazines and other periodicals, watch performances by rock stars, see ads for clothing (featuring ridiculously skinny models) and so on. In all these forms of media, we see images of very skinny women. When a regular person sees that it promotes the urge of becoming that exact person, and that's where eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia come in. Not just eating disorders can affect an individual but also depression and anxiety can appear since they are worried about their appearance because they feel like they aren't up to the standard of the ideal popular body.

Although having an ideal definition of what a perfect body is and its beauty standard is, it could also promote assuredness of being unique from everyone else. In Natalie Jacewicz’s article ‘Social Media Can Boost Self-Esteem in Young People’, she stated although “The negative effects of social media on young people’s mental health are well-documented by researchers and the press. Social media can drive envy and depression, enable cyberbullying, and spread thoughts of suicide” (Jacewicz). We do acknowledge that just a screen can affect someone's life entirely in less than five minutes.

If we were to stop and think social media also boost someone's self-esteem by building your own character and making you feel good about yourself, making it your own, then that promotes support because of how you want to see yourself. She stated: “But some academics and therapists are proposing a counterintuitive view: they have found that social media may also help improve mental health by boosting self-esteem and providing a source of emotional support”. Having the minimal emotional support can impact a person and think that everything surrounding her may have a different impact on her that what she thought. It is a platform of ways to express yourself in any way you want to be seen, you choose your best attributes and what you are content with and that promotes mental thinking and make yourself excited about your persona because your content with what you shared with the world. For what is worth having self-confidence is better used on social media because what beauty is seen as in that platform is just being honest with yourself, ‘show your true colors’. Demonstrate who you are because honestly receives more support than trying to be someone you are not. That leads up to improving better mental health because it promotes confidence and self-esteem because you're letting yourself out in the world like who you are not changing your image to fit in. But is putting yourself out there going to change how people view you, there is still going to be opinions on how you are despite if you believe you look your very best.

Small actions should be taken to make a change on social media and how everyone views it. One thing that has started circulating the Internet is Instagram removing the likes on a person. So only the owner can see how many likes or views he/she has going on and no one else can see it. As well not just on Instagram but on other media platforms things have open up to become more restrictive on your profile if you choose to.

Conclusion

In conclusion, beauty has various definitions, but the real definition of beauty is what you want to believe, express yourself in various ways and feel good about it. Not caring what others think, not following a trend because if you don't then you won’t ‘fit in’. Having that open mindset all around the world promoted unity to support one another and not affect one another. It's worth caring about, increasing someone's self-esteem not by social media forcing an individual to look a certain way. The effects, that would have, are far way worse than posting a picture where you don't look your best. I believe that in future years, social media is going to be a platform where anyone express themselves even more and people might have a different kind of thinking than they have now. Such as being unique is the new trend and then that could lead to following other trends then having a typical physical stereotype to follow. If no action is taken the rate of mental health and eating disorders were increased triple than what it is now.