Instagram And The Effects On Body Image

If we all collectively stop trying to push one beauty and one health ideal, and start promoting diversity that surrounds us, we may change current  shallow and trivial digital reality.

We are constantly being bombarded with images of “perfection”. Everywhere you look – TV, magazines, billboards, Instagram, all seem to offer this otherworldly ideal of beauty. This changes how women and men view their own bodies and in turn, can promote shame, low self-esteem and even depression.

Very narrow set of beauty ideals, such as perfect skin, thin body, perfect facial symmetry and so on, can be detrimental to a young person’s self-confidence. This is especially true when it comes to young girls. Nowadays it’s not just media that promotes unhealthy beauty standards, it’s their friends, family members and role models, all through seemingly harmless Instagram photos. There’s a filter for perfect skin, there’s an app for a perfect body, there’s an angle for a perfect face… and there’s no place for imperfections. There’s no place for reality.

Even adults are not immune to warped self-perception. When you are looking too long and too often the world through a filter, you forget its real shapes and colors.

However, there can be a positive side to Instagram too. If we all collectively stop trying to push one beauty and one health ideal, and start promoting beautiful diversity that surrounds us, we may change current  shallow and trivial digital reality. In fact, there are a lot of people already sharing real-life images of different body shapes and sizes, “imperfections” and diversity.