Social media is full of comparisons and false realities that lead teenagers, kids and adults to judge themselves and believe that they don’t look good enough for the standards that society has set in place.

Whenever somebody opens social media, they have to struggle with perfect images of models and celebrities forced into their faces through their screens. This has a large impact on a teenagers’ mental health given the large amount of time they spend on their phones. Teenagers average about five hours per day purely on social media. This amounts  to 35 hours per week, which can be detrimental to an adolescent’s self-esteem.

When teenagers use apps such as Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat, they are faced with pictures of celebrities, friends and strangers. So many of these people have gone to a certain extent to perfect their pictures so they feel comfortable posting them. Teenagers often view these posts and aren’t aware of the heavy editing done to the photos. This causes them to build unhealthy mindsets and create unrealistic expectations for themselves.

So many of the standards given to follow are conflicting. There truly isn’t one single standard, but instead hundreds of them that people all around the world are changing themselves for. It causes people to beat themselves up to fit a perfect mold that doesn’t really exist.

When shopping online for clothing, the people pictured are more often than not perfectly skinny. After the clothing arrives, it may not fit as imagined because the model doesn’t accurately depict all body types.

While modeling agencies have gotten more inclusive with time, they still have a lack of size-inclusivity. They have gotten more diverse, which clearly shows that different kinds of people look unique in different people’s eyes.

Models even have body issues because of the standards pushed onto them to look perfect for one specific look. In no world is this fair for anyone.

Regardless of which side of the spectrum you are on – larger or smaller, taller or shorter, male or female – everyone struggles with their own body issues. No one person should find themself struggling with it alone.

Men also struggle with body image issues. While it is slightly less common, that in itself leads to more problems. People assume that men don’t struggle with negative body image, and that false belief can lead to bigger issues. When they feel like they can’t talk about it, whether it’s from sheer embarrassment or anxiety’s sake, it can explode into bigger issues.

People always assume things; you’re either not eating enough, eating too much, not working out or taking too much time to work out. The pressure put onto teenagers and adults to fit in by the standards of the world makes their lives more difficult than they need to be. 

The beauty industry relies heavily on the fact that there are imperfections, or that something may not be perceived as good enough to get people to purchase their products, follow their diets or do their workout programs.

There is no singular standard for women to follow because they are always changing. If someone were to try to  fit themselves into a box that doesn’t even exist to try and fit in, there would be no benefit for that person. That specific mold would change, and the person would believe that they have to change again to fit into that new, unreachable goal.

The overall goal for any person is rarely ever static or achievable. The perfect look becomes a constantly moving and ever changing target that people will inevitably fall short of, making them feel less than. 

Instead of worrying about something inevitable, try and give yourself space to unlearn the unrealistic expectations that you have grown up with. 

Edit your social media to follow more people that maybe look more like you do, or to unfollow people who make you feel worse about yourself or make you feel like you have to compare yourself to them. 

It also helps to realize that most of social media is filtered or heavily edited.  What you see online is often an alteration of what is actually true.

Everyone struggles with body image issues. Even the people that you look up to most likely have some sort of negative thoughts about themselves. There is no wrong way to look. There is no wrong way to do things, and there is definitely no standard to follow. Trying to fit into the mold can only cause more damage in the future.