Essay Sample: Impact of Social Media on Young People's Body Image

“Social media is training us to compare our lives, instead of appreciating everything we are. No wonder why everyone is always depressed” Bill Murray. Nowadays, life is all about social media, peer pressure and appearances. The stress and longing to be at the top of your high school/university never ends.

Social media influences our thinking both consciously and subconsciously. The updates and details of everyone’s life is put up on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and various other social media platforms, with the most emphasis on one's looks, clothes, social acceptance through likes and comments. These create body image issues, where we want to look a certain way, which is the introduction of eating disorders causing anorexia and bulimia which take a toll on our mental and physical health. We don’t realize that many times these posts of ‘perfect’ bodies are actually created by photoshopping and editing, while we consider it to be aesthetic and appealing.

We fall under  peer pressure of having to be a certain way. Traveling abroad to exotic places is the ‘in’ thing, visiting the marvelous cities that our own country has to offer is looked down upon and considered ‘uncool’. Eating in five-star restaurants is a must, unless we want to have people put us down for that as well. Using public transport is considered ‘cheap’ and we must only use the more expensive cars for our transportation to be ‘cool’ enough. Shopping must only be done in high-end branded shops such as H&M, Zara, Marks & Spencer’s or that too will lead to another reason for us to be put down. Teenagers who don't conform to these 'rules' are bullied and looked down upon, which causes them to get depressed

There is an excessive need for us to be at the top of our class in everything due to family and peer pressure. There has also been an increase in the cut-off rate of the marks that students need to get, to get into the top colleges and universities, which leads to tension. This can lead to anxiety among us when we don’t match up to the ‘expectations’ in terms of marks of the college or institute. Furthermore, there is unhealthy competition where we also start to envy others when they do better than us. To meet up to these ‘expectations’, there is constant studying and obsessive thoughts going on in our minds which leaves us with no time for any extracurricular activities or any time to relax. This mentally exhausts us and damages our mental and emotional health.

This modern life that we are living in, which is supposed to be the most advanced version of existence that any generation has lived so far, has ironically not provided us with the inner happiness, peace and satisfaction that should be the end result of any success or progress. In fact, it is slowly pushing the youth and the future of the world down a black hole full of self-doubt and loss of self -confidence. Improved technology has resulted in teenagers getting exposed to more and better options every time, making our lives in a state of dissatisfaction all the time. It has also exposed the private lives to such an extent that young people view and judge themselves through the critical and envious eyes of their peers, and find themselves forever wanting. So, paradoxically instead of improving the quality of life, the modern era has yielded a generation of youngsters who are mentally and emotionally depressed. Is this true modernization? It is a question that we need to ponder upon.