social media beauty standard

Social media platforms have quickly taken over the reality of the world it seems like. How many of you use tik tok, instagram, snapchat, facebook or other newer social media apps daily? What would you say your feed/ “for you page” consists of? If yours is anything like mine, it may have some food and animal videos. However, I also get a lot of videos of famous influencers advertising their looks and bodies. They are always looking great, but this has made the beauty standard hopelessly unrealistic. 

For girls, especially teenagers in high school and college they take what they see on social media very seriously. Girls these days start dying their hair and fake tanning at such a younger age than it used to be because of the new “beauty standard”. An even sadder reality is knowing social media has caused many eating disorders. Young females may think they have to have a certain body type to feel a certain way. I have seen a few tik toks of girls in their mid-late twenties comparing how they were in middle school to middle school girls now and the difference is crazy. 

Middle school is a time to truly be yourself before life gets too serious. However, now it seems like these girls are changing so much about themselves so early because they may think that’s the only way to look “attractive”. These assumptions I strongly believe come from what they see on social media. It is a weird feeling to see 13 and 14 year olds changing how they look in hopes to look way older.

I, a 20 year old in college can honestly say my confidence and self esteem has been affected numerous times from seeing the “beauty standard” especially on tik tok. I hate that this is a feeling, but I find myself sometimes leaving the app thinking “I really need to go to the gym and workout” or “I need to buy this girl’s whole skincare routine because her skin is so much better than mine”. It gets exhausting tearing myself apart and comparing myself to other beautiful girls. I like to think I have a better liking for myself and more confidence than I did in middle/ high school. 

So the whole tik tok and beauty standard makes me sad thinking about younger girls trying to be adults and be like other girls instead of just enjoying their childhood and being authentically themselves. They are still at the age with no real responsibilities. I sound like my mom when I say this but these kids should put their phones away and go hangout outside and enjoy their childhood while they can. It is easy to get wrapped up in social media, but they need to be reminded that half of that stuff is edited and fake. Kids need to grow up feeling beautiful in their own skin!