Body Image in the Age of Social Media

Why don’t I look like that?

In a world dominated by social media, it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t asked themselves this question.

Body image is a concern of many young people as they navigate through life on social media. The thoughts associated are often negative or have people wishing they fit into society’s much too often unrealistic

Illustration by Julia Trhnv beauty standards. This all too frequently leads to unhealthy

eating habits and relationships with food and exercise

among these young people.

Realizing this is a delicate topic is important in understanding why people are so concerned with how others view them. This recurring theme of the focus on the body in everyday life has turned into a sort of obsession with how we look and how we are perceived by others.

Many are self conscious of their appearance when comparing themselves to the body types they’re seeing on social media. People are often made to feel less than or bad that they don’t look exactly the same as influencers they see on social media.

Celebrities are too often the cause of a poor body image in young girls as they look up to these influencers as a standard of beauty. It’s hard when someone younger is comparing themselves to people who are much older and look much different solely based on the fact that they are often fully developed. Young people are being fed inaccurate information about body image from a young age which significantly impacts their relationships with their own bodies.

Labels. Labels. Labels.

The plus-size label is given to so many people who don’t fit into society’s beauty standards.

But why?

Labels are often a cause of a poor body image. They are meant to categorize people into groups, and based on your grouping, you may be made to feel bad or that you don’t fit ‘the standard’ of beauty.

Plus-size is really a meaningless term only used to separate people as they are viewed as a completely different consumer demographic. This does no more than marginalize people and group them outside the mainstream when in fact the average size for a woman in the US is actually a 16 to 18.

Over the past few years, many brands have started to be more inclusive in terms of models and sizes. This has people feeling more represented as a group in the mainstream helping to broaden beauty ideals within society. It’s important that all body types get represented in the media as fitting the ‘ideal’ beauty standard that in the past has been of much concern to so many.

This turn in the consumer market has allowed more people to see their body types represented and respected as they should be which will likely positively impact how we perceive body image in the future.

In terms of social media’s impact on all of this, young people are being fed not always accurate information about body image from a young age which significantly impacts their ability to understand that every single body is built differently.

Truthfully, everyone needs to find the healthiest way to take care of their body and keep themselves healthy while realizing social media does not portray all of someone’s real life most of the time.