​​​Debunking Social Media's Beauty Standards

By Julius

Influencers, models, celebrities, and every one of us are victims of social media's wrath created in society today. All around the world, people see these elegant pictures or moments captured but do not dive deeper into the darker side of "beauty." As it may look almost close to perfection, the camera does not always catch everything, including the harsher and more realistic versions of these humans we glorify so much. Next time you say, "Why can't I look like that", remember those looks do not always come easily, and those pictures are far from perfect.

These beauty standards are practically imprinted onto us as we grow into young adults; society suggests women remain skinny and men to be more muscular, but why are these standards in place? Why do you have to look a specific way to be placed into the spot society plants for you?

These are all questions that can not easily be solved because there are no answers. If you think about this, it is all a social construct. A social construct means that it is something created by human interaction, and objectively is not real. As humans, we created this unrealistic beauty standard within social media that most of us expect to reach, and it is up to us to defeat it once and for all.

In my experience, many demons follow me around when it comes to my appearance and laugh when I feel unworthy of my looks, especially when I am on social media. There is always a voice in the back of my head that asks why I will never have those muscular arms or tone abs many guys have, and it breaks me. Sometimes, it affects my entire mood and puts me into a state of mind where I feel like nothing I do will ever amount to me feeling good in my body and appearance.

Some advice I could give to counteract these demons is to:

• Look at yourself and find one feature that makes you feel beautiful. I guarantee there is one that you will find, and I want you to convince yourself you can find more. Beauty is so subjective that everyone will find something different about you that is beautiful. If you think there is only one thing engaging about yourself, remember others might have an additional feature in mind. These differences are accurate because if you examine a social media model, people will find different things about them engaging than you might.

• Have some form of self-care. From my experiences, whenever I take time to focus on myself and make myself feel good, I do.

  • Taking a shower

  • Styling your hair

  • Dying your hair

  • Switching up your style

  • Doing makeup

  • Having mental health days

  • Listening to music that boosts your mood

  • Doing something you love

  • Meditating

  • Taking walks and enjoying nature

  • Working out

  • Staying off your phone

  • Taking breaks from social media

There is such a diverse spectrum for the process of self-care that it can include anything, only if it makes you feel good. Doing something you love or that makes you feel better will only boost your confidence and mentality for the rest of the day, and if you keep doing these routines daily, it will become a habit. I suggest doing one of these things at the beginning of the day, so you set yourself in the right direction for the rest of the day.

• Compliment yourself! Look into the mirror and say that you look good. Praising yourself will build not only your self-confidence but your vision to see the beauty you display every day. If you convince yourself you look your best, you will feel like it. Going back to what I said earlier if you keep doing this, it becomes a habit that will set the tone for the rest of your day.

​The vision of beauty that society has pushed for so vigorously provides you with a stance to manipulate the process of what beauty is and create your own standards, so you have the power to change it. Never will it be easy, but if you focus and move forth your efforts, you could find a whole new level of self-confidence and beauty you have never seen before within yourself and others without social media standing in your way.