While many people have fully accepted the fact that magazines or just an average Instagram post will be altered in some ways, at scale this has created a plethora of mental health issues, particularly for young women. After all, the main way most of us see ourselves is in the mirror, which, importantly, does not really apply any filters.
Mass social media use, particularly among young people, has led to a growing dissatisfaction with how we look. Everyone wants to look like the people they see online, even when there is an implicit understanding that these images are often aggressively and even unrealistically altered.
How we think about our bodies is very directly tied to our mental health. This sounds like common sense, but it tends to not be applied to many of the things we do day in and day out. The result is that if someone doesn’t like how they look, they are going to be stressed, depressed and just unhappy.
Remember, liking or not liking how one looks, particularly at a young age, is often a matter of comparison. If you are constantly comparing yourself to your peers or, even worse, people with professionally digitally altered images online, you will often begin to hate the way you look. The knowledge that it “isn’t real” often isn’t enough.
Unfortunately, this creates a vicious cycle where a person (often a young woman) is exposed to unrealistic images and bizarre opinions, causing them to develop body issues. This negatively impacts their mental health, making them more susceptible to further body issues. It’s important to emphasize that you often can’t just “escape” this problem by being healthier, as the end goal is not at all realistic.
Even worse, this can lead to people taking pretty drastic measures, including dietary habits that are essentially eating disorders. Being fit is a good goal, but when you are comparing yourself to models and folks with personal trainer teams, it can feel “impossible” to look like that. However, that’s the point, the vast majority of people can’t look like that and the sort of lifestyle folks use to, say, be a model is often unsustainable and unhealthy.
