The first thing I open my phone to on Tiktok is some drop dead beautiful girl lip syncing to the most perfectly chosen song. She has the perfect lighting, perfect face, her hair flows in all the right ways, her clothes sit comfortably on her—she has it all. I catch myself asking, “Why can’t I look like that?”
I’m not the only girl who asks herself this on the daily when looking through my feed. Millions of teenage girls across the globe wonder the same thing. But have we ever stopped to ask ourselves how long it took for them to get the perfect video, capture the perfect photo or even stand in the perfect position? Each thing posted online has likely been watched twenty times, sent to multiple friends for their opinion, and potentially even edited. Which leads me to my main point, social media is not real.
All social media platforms encourage girls to look down on themselves and constantly compare themselves to who they see online. It is rarely ever discussed that the posts we view on our phones are not the same as what we see in person. People choose what they post online, they get to pick which parts are seen by others and what is not, which is why we only see the good in each post. As viewers, we only see what they want us to see. From the ripe age of seven years old, young girls are downloading platforms and getting exposed to ideas they should not see that young. As they grow up, through their teenage years, they constantly have ideas thrown in their face, which leads to jealousy. No one wants to see something they can’t have, whether that be the newest iPhone, shoes, a car—or to look a certain way.
Social media is so damaging to all the young ladies who are trying to figure themselves out. It pushes a feeling of comparison that does not disappear as they grow up. Instead of girls learning to love themselves, they are stuck trying to change themselves to fit what the media tells them to. The reality of it all is that nobody looks the same as what they do on the internet. It is so much easier to hide things online and not show the full picture, and this is not talked about enough. Teenagers should be learning how to value themselves and pick themselves up, not put themselves down because of something they see.
Not all parts of social media are bad, however there are major parts to it that should be brought to light more. Posting on Instagram, or Tiktok is not bad—everyone does it! The bad part is when people start to dislike themselves because of others. This is your reminder that you don’t need to change yourself because of what you see on the internet. Most of it is fake and edited to appear much more different than real life. You are amazing the way you are and nothing online could ever change that.