We are living in the era of social media. While we are constantly connected with one another and always in-the-know, we are also exposed to an endless amount of content from seemingly perfect people with glamorous lives. Apps like Instagram constantly expose us to polished pictures that make us hyper-aware of our own insecurities. The use of social media has become a norm among preteens and teens, and it is for this reason that we should be teaching our children about the importance of body image. Overall, there are about 3.5 billion social media users and while 90.4% of millennials use social media, about 64.4% of generation Z use social media as well (Wagner, 2020) [1]. With easily accessible mobile phones comes excess usage which can lead to teens comparing their lives to others. It is so easy for these kids to assume that these perfect looking people reflect how normal people should look. This can disrupt their self-esteem and hinder their well being.
Body image is a person’s perception of how they see their body aesthetics in relation to the standards that have been set by the society around them. Body image can be positive or negative. It can include a range of things such as gender, race, weight, sexuality, etc. Body image can influence the way in which we take care of ourselves and how we present ourselves to others. The most common example that comes to mind when talking about body image is that of weight. Being skinny is celebrated, and anything above the ideal, you get “fat-shamed”. This is despite the fact that being skinny may be a sign of disease, and gaining weight according to your age and height might be what is actually considered healthy. Another body image issue that our society deals with is that of skin colour. Having dark skin in South-Asian societies is seen through a negative lens and associated with poverty and unattractiveness. Whereas in Western societies, people with pale skin yearn for a tan and that is considered to be attractive rather than having fairer skin.
Therefore, I feel it is vital for us to not transfer these toxic norms that our societies have conjured up to our next generation. We must always advocate for body positivity in front of our teens because we need to let them know that it is okay to not fit in these unrealistic Instagram standards. Recent studies have also shown that apps like Instagram perpetuate negative body image[2]. Negative body image can lead to a number of problems such as eating disorders, mental health issues, social anxiety, relationship issues, etc. Actively teaching our youth about healthy body images can help improve their self-esteem and overall health. They need to understand that they don’t need to look a certain way to be beautiful or attractive because beauty comes from within.
The culture of appearing perfect on social media can then have deleterious effects on survivors. Experiencing violence and trying to accept yourself after trauma is difficult as it is but it can be even more difficult because of social media. Seeing perfect bodies and perfect lives every day might make survivors question their healing process and even hinder it. Body positivity is something survivors struggle with a lot, so continuously being bombarded with pictures of models and celebrities with perfect skin, spotless bodies and petite figures can create impossible standards. This can make survivors compare themselves to people they see on Facebook or Instagram and feel bad about themselves because they don’t look perfect. I feel like this is why we need to teach our children from a young age that social media is not a platform where people portray their real selves. And that is what we do at Survivors to Superheroes, put out content about real stories and real feelings to help survivors know that they aren’t alone.
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144516300912
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