Remember when you were 13 years old and Instagram existed simply for posting Tumblr text post memes, the occasional CamWow selfie and doing silly internet challenges with your best friend?
When I was around this age, I started becoming insecure about my looks. While itâs totally normal, I know part of the rhetoric my brain fed to me about self-image came from what Iâd seen on the internet. There have been different phases of beauty trends in general, but online, things like these are always emphasized and quickly spread.Â
âInstagram browsâ didnât exist but having a thigh gap was top priority. In addition, we wore feathers as earrings, wore Sperryâs because everyone else did and purposely made our hair look wet for the âscrunchedâ look. It was a confusing time indeed.
Beauty standards havenât left the chat; rather they just keep getting harder and harder to keep up with. Having the perfect pout, full lashes and brows, clear skin, a small waist, curves⊠unless youâve won the genetic lottery, a lot of us donât have all of these.
Instagram is no longer a safe place to goof off with your friends. Peopleâs profiles are now perfectly polished and carefully curated portfolios to prove theyâre attractive and lead a fun, adventurous lifestyle. Donât get me wrong â I think itâs admirable to see people take pride in their pictures and put in the effort to develop a theme for their feed â whether it be in content, aesthetic, filter, etc. However, itâs undeniable that such strive for perfection has caused pressure about what to post.
This phenomenon, known as posting anxiety or social media anxiety, is a very real thing.
An article from The Thirty supplements this idea, ââResearch has found that women who report frequently comparing themselves to other women, especially women in the media, are more likely to show signs of negative mood and body image disturbances. Women participants’ brief exposure to media images of females led to increased levels of body dissatisfaction and weight anxiety.â It’s true: Images on Instagram can create a crippling feeling that plagues self-confidence.â
Certainly, this doesnât feel far-fetched at all. I, personally, donât have the energy, patience or self-esteem to hop in front of the camera for photoshoots these days, especially since the start of the pandemic. And I donât think anyone is trying to see me in my pajama pants and tank top, polishing off the look with my hair in a messy ponytail and a bare face. Because most days, this is what I look like.Â
Other apps like TikTok also feed off achieving maximum attractiveness. After all, if you use it to film yourself talking or trying out a new TikTok dance, youâre only getting an inverted view of yourself. (Yes, Iâve seen how I look when the camera doesnât automatically flip the picture. I donât want to talk about it.)
Not to mention the constant comparisons to all the beautiful people on your “For You Page” who make you reevaluate whether a brow lift is such a ridiculous procedure after all.
âThis bombardment of commentary on trivialities and willingly being judged by strangers can create the same negative side effects as pageants â from severe body-image disorders to eating disorders,â said Olivia Brooke Sally, former beauty pageant titleholder.Â
On the flip side, itâs totally possible for social media to boost confidence. Engagement with your posts works as insta-serotonin (but how satisfying can it be if the fulfillment ends when the likes start slowing down?).
Many people also genuinely love getting dressed up and going out simply for having photoshoots and showing off how good they look. And this is awesome! I love seeing people loving themselves.Â
Instagram can just make it difficult to see if these photoshoots are for fun or if they come from the pressure to post and look perfect.
The best advice is to not take social media too seriously. I know, easier said than done. But posting about your life should be fun, and you should recognize that it is a privilege to those whom you choose to share it with. You donât owe your followers anything!
Perfection is overrated, but you arenât. Now if youâll excuse me, I think itâs time to start planning my outfit for my biannual Instagram post.