Internet Causing Body Image Issues
by Grace and Dalisay
In a world centred on what people look like, many teens are finding it even harder to feel confident with the way they look.
Body image. It’s a problem. After the advancement of the internet, social media has taken the world by storm. As incredible as this is, it is currently causing much unnoticed damage and distress to vulnerable teenagers’ brains. We are bombarded with images of “perfect” bodies and what we “should” look like subconsciously influencing teenagers’ opinions of their own bodies, consequently having devastating and depressing results comparing their bodies to models from different social media such as Instagram and Facebook. It’s something many youths find themselves doing. Quite frankly, it’s wrong.
During Body Confidence Week, researchers found that almost 10 million women in the UK “feel depressed” because of the way they look.
All of this can affect the way someone looks and, more importantly, the way someone feels and, as a result, deeply affecting their mental health. Depression, anxiety and anorexia are a few of the most common effects of body negativity.
Seeing these photos and the comments towards others, teenagers feel the need to be like that “role model” therefore putting themselves down to the point where they feel like they will never experience happiness again. If the person who is suffering doesn’t get help or speak to someone, suicide is a very common after effect.
Without knowing it, anxiety will have a big effect on someone. They will feel like everything they do is wrong and worry about nearly everything in their day to day life. For example: what they wear, how they look, how they walk and what they say. Finally, the biggest one: how and what they eat.
That leads me on to a deadly effect, anorexia. Girls and boys will in fact starve themselves to ‘achieve’ the ‘perfect’ body shape. Unfortunately, once these people have decided they don’t like the way they look, it’s final. You will struggle to change their mind. There are services that are made to try and help vulnerable people to see the good in their body instead of the bad. An estimated 1.6 million people suffer from anorexia within the past 30-40 years in the UK alone. 20% of these people will die from this terminal illness.
Furthermore, unrealistic media ideals of female beauty have deeply influenced what teens think about women. This has a negative impact on the opinions of young minds, distracting them from school friends and happiness and leading them to grow up convinced that they need to look a specific way. Since social media is practically unavoidable in this day and age, there will be more of a struggle for people to be different, due to all of the so called “perfect” images permanently surrounding them. Everyone should be happy with how they are and we should all celebrate the body we have been given.
People should be encouraged to celebrate individuality and uniqueness, of being them!
Social media. It can be insightful. But with it comes danger. Influenced by online beauty ideals, many people spend their time concerning and even changing for others, but not themselves. The world needs to be more encouraging, to teach others to love yourself and your flaws, and never let the opinions of others change you. It’s time to live with confidence, without letting social media get in your way. It’s time to be yourself.
