“Facebook is making it easier for people to spend more time and energy criticizing their own bodies and wishing they looked like someone else,” said Doctor Harry Brandt, director of the Center for Eating Disorders. The world we live in revolves around mass media. It started as a way of communication and a form of socializing, but it has turned into one of the biggest social influences in today’s society.
Facebook, one of the most popular social media websites, influences young women by portraying a certain body image that they must obtain in order to be considered beautiful. An article by CNN questions whether or not Facebook has become the “encyclopedia of beauty.” This website gives girls easy access to other girls photos, just to end up comparing them to their own. More than half of 600 participants who took part in a study stated that looking at uploaded Facebook pictures added to their self-consciousness. Another study found that the more time spent on Facebook, the more likely young women are to develop an eating disorder. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/04/05/the-true-costs-of-facebook-addiction-low-self-esteem-and-poor-body-image/)
Myself, being a young woman addicted to Facebook; has experienced what it is like to compare my own photos to those of girls who happen to have the “perfect” look portrayed by the media. It is very difficult for myself, and other young women, to look at pictures of girls with perfect hair, flawless skin and a slim body while not feel insecure at the same time.
Now, there is something that all these girls have in common, they all have a large number of “likes” on their photos; which in turn poses the question what does it take to get a “like” on Facebook? You will find that it is usually the more popular hotties that have all the likes. Normally they are the girls with big boobs, a tiny waist, perfect smile, perfect hair, and who are posing half naked in the majority of their photos. Society portrays this to the masses as being “beautiful” but what is truly beautiful about demeaning yourself just to get a “like” on Facebook.
I remember back in grade ten, a girl at my high school was cyber bullied over Facebook. She was always insecure about her looks as she was harassed online for not being pretty enough. But what I don’t understand is what wasn’t pretty about her? Was it because she wasn’t a size 0, didn’t wear brand names or didn’t wear skimpy clothes in her photos? I wonder how the bullies feel now, knowing that their hurtful words and constant put-downs caused someone to end their life. But then again, who is really to blame for all the problems occurring with girls’ body issues? For if it is not the girls themselves then the only thing left to blame would be the media, especially websites like Facebook!
Beauty shouldn’t be defined by a size or a specific look, every woman should be able to be comfortable in her own skin and feel nothing but beautiful. As Marilyn Monroe said, “to all the girls that think you’re ugly because you’re not a size 0, you’re the beautiful one. It’s the society that’s ugly.”
torigligic 