With the introduction of many social applications available in this digitalised era, communication has gotten easier and faster. While many people believe that social media has brought people from all over the world together, it is a known fact that social media had also affected people in negative ways. One of the main issues that social media caused is beauty standards. The beauty standards that social media set for many people, especially young adults, has been shown to have an impact on people’s self-esteem in terms of body image, body modification, and how they see themselves in society.
Nowadays, social media is one of the most critical aspects affecting an individual’s mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. The media’s frequent portrayal of ideal beauty and body image comparisons. The media’s frequent portrayal of ideal beauty and body image comparisons affected people’s decisions and ideas on beauty. Adolescence is a critical period for both positive and negative development of self-esteem and body dissatisfaction. The constant pursuit of a perfect body and a pretty face may generate negative emotions like body dissatisfaction which will affect people’s psychological well-being and physical health in a negative way.
When we look at some research and interviews that has been done about the beauty standard issue and its affect on teenagers self- esteem, results stated that many young men and women feel the images shown in media are unrealistic and they feel like they don’t meet the expectations of media.
In today’s world, the self-presentation of beauty and perceptions of others plays an important role in developing identities in teenagers. Teenagers, especially teenager girls, use online self-presentation such as selfies and sharing outfit of the day photos to set themselves apart from their friends. Individuals continually seek feedback on social media platforms in the form of likes, followers, and comments in order to maintain a perfect and steady picture of themselves. Teenage females are particularly sensitive to upward comparison because it implies that they must better their beauty standards, leaving them unsatisfied with their physical bodies, doubting their self-worth, and even leading to self-harm.
To conclude, ’ positive ideas and attitudes can be influenced by social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other networking sites. These online platforms has given many individuals a feeling of “ a sense of belonging”. Thus I think social media should be used to spread body positivity and boost their self-esteem.