Social media has become the breeding ground for self-esteem issues in adolescents today. Instagram, a photo and video sharing app, is a platform that rewards users in the form of Likes and Followers based on the content they produce. In recent years, Instagram has moved from being a place for friends and family to share big events in their lives to being a portfolio of pictures for models and aspiring models. Due to the unrealistic (i.e., unachievable for many people) portrayal of bodies on the app, many users have resorted to photo editing to make their features more similar to the models and influencers on the app. However, many famous Instagram influencers admit to photoshopping, too, as they feel increasingly more pressure to look a certain way. Famous Youtuber and social media influencer Tana Mongeau has been repeatedly called out and caught for editing red carpet photos before posting them onto her social media. While she acknowledges that she retouches her pictures, she continues to post heavily edited photos for her young audience to see. It sends a very damaging message to the fans who look up to and idolize Tana, as she repeatedly announces to her followers that she is unhappy with the way she looks. Instagram makes the intangible value and worth of a user quantifiable by their number of likes, followers and comments. Essentially, the platform reduces users’ entire being into a shallow, two-dimensional portrayal of themselves and their lives.
Girls experience a drop in self-esteem and display depressive symptoms at a rate twice as high as boys during their teenage years (Wichstrom 1999). Puberty is a transition that is already difficult for most girls because of mainstream media’s unrealistic portrayal of women. Instagram only amplifies this issue by rewarding ‘Instagram models’ with verification symbols and unique partnership opportunities, highlighting the importance of outer beauty in the job market. Additionally, the social networking app has an “Explore” feature that introduces popular users similar to the accounts a user is already following. By rewarding a certain appearance, Instagram’s algorithm magnifies the insecurities of young girls (and boys) and ultimately contributes to a mental health epidemic among adolescents on the platform.
The good news is that many users use their Instagram accounts to contribute to a new wave and movement of body positivity in digital spaces. The Victoria’s Secret fashion show has been cancelled this year because of the CEO’s transphobic and degrading comments on women’s bodies. A famous beauty Influencer, Nikita Dragun, took to Instagram to post her own version of the show, starring herself, a trans woman with a body not conventionally portrayed on the runway. This post gained a lot of attention and support, showing many other users on the platform that it is okay to go against the beauty standards set by influencers on Instagram.
References
Wichstrom, L. 1999. “The Emergence of Gender Difference in Depressed Mood During
Adolescence: the Role of Intensified Gender Socialization.” Developmental Psychology 35: 232-245.
DC 3209: Fitness and Quantification of the Self 