A new article posted by The New York Times reveals some pretty thought-provoking possibilities as to why girls tend to be a bit more anxious than guys.
Based on his research, the author, Leonard Sax, MD, PhD, tells some of us what we kind of already know. He says that during adolescence, girls are more dissatisfied with their bodies while boys begin to be more satisfied with their bodies. This ties into the differences in the ways that girls and boys use social media—According to the study, girls are more likely to use social media to post pictures of their bodies looking amazing, while boys are more likely to show off their accomplishments.
“If you don’t like Jake’s selfie showing off his big trophy, he may not care,” the article reads. “But if you don’t like Sonya’s photo of herself wearing her bikini, she’s more likely to take it personally.”
Another issue that was brought up in regards to social media seemed to have a lot to do with the comparison of each others’ feeds. We can all relate to the experience of looking at social media posts and thinking everyone else is off having amazing adventures that are so much cooler than our own. No matter how many times we’re reminded that everybody curates their social media profiles to look like the most fun, most beautiful version of themselves, it’s hard for that information to sink in—And many girls, as the article points out, end up thinking, “My life sucks.”
The results of the study are pretty interesting, though not very surprising. Read more about the research conducted on the topic here.