Social media, it’s great right? All-access to the whole world just in a few clicks and scrolls, but what happens when those “clicks and scrolls” become negative to your mental health?
When I was a little kid, social media was a whole new amazing world at my 6th-grade fingertips. What I also had was body image issues. Back then, we never realized the severity of what was to come for our future of loving ourselves as women. As I got older and became conscious of what I was actually looking at, it started to hit me, I do not look like those girls online. I do not have that Kim K body, that tiny waist, hips, breasts, butt, lips, hair, and more. All of it was like wow, I do not look like that. And that “body” became normalized in society for women way too fast and it turned toxic.
Nowadays, I rarely see or meet women who truly love themselves. That could be because of bullying, ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, or family members, but it’s mainly because of social media. Sometimes, you can’t even scroll on Instagram or Tik Tok because you compare yourself to the women on the sites. It is so sad to see the lack of self-love among women and being so unhappy with their natural bodies. There is always a worry. If I sit down will there be rolls on my stomach? Yes, skin bends when you bend. Why does my stomach not look flat? Babe, you just ate and have organs. Why is my skin not clear and why am I gaining/losing weight? You are blossoming into a woman, you are not 16 anymore, and you can not have a child’s body.
There needs to be more women on social media who show natural bodies. When you are seeing certain bodies as a little girl, it scars you. You grow up with the idea embedded into your mind that you need to look a certain way or else you are not worthy of love, when in fact, you most definitely are worthy of more love than you can imagine, but it all starts with yourself. Social media is not going to change, people are so engulfed with its toxicity of it, but what can change is how we talk to ourselves. We, collectively as women, need to stop comparing ourselves to every other woman we see because there is no way or even need for us to look like anyone else. We need to love ourselves and let go of these ideas that we have to fit inside of this box that society sets or else we are not good enough.
Next time you go on social media and you see a woman and you catch yourself comparing, stop it. Be kind to yourself. Set your own standards and never, ever, let anyone else tell you that you are not worthy of self love.