Feeling pretty is not easy
She is scrolling on Instagram but suddenly stops when sees Kylie Jenner’s new post. She drops the phone aggressively and looks at herself in the mirror, where her hands touch her body and they gently drop to her thigh. She thinks I wish I had a different body.
Our thoughts, our emotions, and how we react to the way we see ourselves is the perception we have about our body image. A positive body image perception means that most of the time you feel confident with the way you look. I’m going to wear a bikini on the beach. I don’t care if I have belly rolls. I want to tan. A negative one involves judging your body frequently. I don’t think I should go to the beach. I don’t want to use a bikini. People are going to see me. What would they think?
Loving your body is not accepting it 24/7; it’s natural for us to be critical, unconfident, awkward, but we need to remember that the ideal body type just doesn’t exist. The ideal body type on social media causes a negative body image perception in real life.
Should I post this? I kind of look pretty. But I have belly rolls. She thinks while looking at her photo, zooming in and out for recurring times. Maybe I should ask my friend if I should post this. But that means she would see my belly rolls. It’s better not.
She immediately searches on Instagram for Kylie Jenner’s account. She looks gorgeous. That dress fits her perfectly. I wish I had … her flat belly.
I’m going to edit the photo. I cannot post a photo with belly rolls. What would people think?
Minutes after, photoshopping is done. Wow! I look beautiful. I wish that body is what I see in the mirror’s reflection.
The article Photoshopping the Selfie: Self Photo Editing and Photo Investment are Associated with Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Girls, takes data from photo-sharers and non-photo sharers to know if photo manipulation is associated with body dissatisfaction. The data shows that photo-sharers have a body dissatisfaction of 24.22%, while non-photo sharers have an 18.52% of body dissatisfaction. photo-sharers indicate they self-manipulate their photos by 20.16% and had 1.66% more digital exposure than non-photo sharers.
Photo sharers have a bigger body dissatisfaction than those who don’t share because the more time we spend on social media, the more we tend to doubt and compare our bodies to other people’s bodies. This lack of self-worthing leads to the behavior of photoshopping; erasing our imperfections.
Have you ever felt that when you see models’ flawless bodies on social media, it makes you wonder why don’t I look like that? That happened to me:
“Valentina, I just sent you the pics we took in my house,” my friend texted me.
I instantly open the photos. I scroll fast and abruptly stop. I like this one. My face looks good. My body looks good. No, wait. Are my legs too skinny? Emm… I don’t know.
“Do you like this photo? I think I am going to post it on Instagram but don’t my legs seem skinny?”
“Let me edit it,” she replies.
I’m standing in front of the mirror sobbing, “Valentina, why do you have skinny legs? Nobody likes it.”
I posted the edited photo; my legs seem thicker. I was aware of how many likes and comments I received.
But as likes grew over days, I couldn’t stop looking at the photo. These aren’t my legs. This is a creation. I deleted the post. This is not me.
Being on social media, seeing celebrities’ perfect bodies, and knowing you don’t look the same was the reason I posted an edited photo. But now that my eyes see my legs are thicker, I’m questioning why I ever wanted to look like that?
Comparing, judging, photoshopping; thinking you are not good enough, crying alone in your room, wishing you were different are actions for a negative body image perception.
These symptoms come from social media. Every time you look at somebody’s photo you are teaching yourself what beauty standard you need to attain. Social media isn’t bad, as long as it doesn’t change the way you look at yourself.
If we spend no more than thirty minutes a day on social media, we are going to spend less time looking at celebrities’ photos, meaning, the less we are trying to appeal to an unrealistic beauty standard. As a consequence, the less we are to compare, judge, photoshop, indicating fewer probabilities to have a negative body image perception. How do you want to look at yourself?