We live in a society where the majority of us live on our smart phones and therefor spend an alarming amount of time on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. These platforms can be great for helping us make friends within our community, share photos for long distance relatives to see, and keeping in touch with one another rather easily. However, there are also some disadvantages when it comes to social media. Children and young adults spend a lot of time on these apps and while they may be looking at pictures of cute animals and pretty scenery, they are also most likely looking at posts and pictures from their favorites celebrities. This all sounds fine right? But it’s not. The problem is that celebrities and models post pictures that don’t necessarily represent how things and people look in real life. The different between celebrities and normal people like us is that they have thousands, if not millions of dollars to spend on their appearance, on their clothes, their hair and make-up, cosmetic surgery, personal trainers, and whatever else they want to buy. This allows these celebrities, that young people are looking up to, to post photos of themselves looking pretty much perfect, flat stomach, perfect skin, perfect hair, you name it, they have it. The young people viewing these photos of people that they idolize begin comparing themselves to them, wondering why they aren’t that skinny and what they can do to look more like that. But the problem is that they can’t. Those photos and these beauty standards are not realistic, they are unattainable.
This desire to look a certain way, the way that our society defines as beautiful, can have some very serious effects. For example, the University of Pittsburgh found, through a study, that people who spent more time on social media had more than 2 times the risk of having concerns with their body image and eating. The more time you spend on social media, the higher the risk. Another study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that young adults are more likely to have problems sleeping and experience symptoms of depression as they spend more time on social media (Hurley, n.d.). Young adults and children on social media are constantly comparing themselves to this unrealistic standard of beauty that they see plastered all over their timelines. This is why we are seeing more and more young people struggling with things like eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. Along with that, there is also the fact that cyberbullying is constantly taking place. Children are no longer safe from bullying at home, they are constantly at risk of being bullying. This has even led to suicide in some cases.
So, while social media can be very beneficial, it is important that we use it correctly and not too often. Don’t spend all your time looking at Victoria’s Secret models and trying to figure out what you have to do to look like them. Spend your time on social media posting positive things and lifting people up. And most importantly, don’t spend all your time on social media; shut your phone off, get outside, and experience life.
Source
Hurley, K. (n.d.). Social Media and Teens: How Does Social Media Affect Mental Health? Retrieved from https://www.psycom.net/social-media-teen-mental-health.
I completely agree with your statements about how much of a problem that celebrities are for children and young adults when they are supposed to be acting as positive role models. Another interesting aspect of this issue is that young people are usually viewing the lives of these celebrities on the same website or feed that they are viewing people that are in their actual social circle. This intertwined view can make their perception of what is normal become unrealistic. On that point, the attempt of some celebrities to make themselves seem more normal for their audience, while entertaining and comforting, can also have the same effect. When a young person sees a celebrity acting normal and claiming to be an average person, the young person may start to wonder why they aren’t a celebrity as well. I’d love to know your thoughts on the idea.