Recently social media is filled with beautiful people, handsome & good-looking ones. But as that goes on, a new beauty standard is set. The new beauty standards so high up. Many people start comparing themselves with anyone and everyone they see on social media, all because they see that many people like the post and comment on their beauty. But the thing is, there is no need to compare yourself to someone, because everyone is beautiful just the way they are. Self love is something everyone should have but it is not easy to gain nowadays.

All over the world we see titles like ‘pretty people’, ‘beautiful’, etc. and we start comparing ourselves with them because we do not like the way we look and feel. We feel like we are not good enough for the world to see us the same way. But the thing is our own people put us down. That’s what they do and will always do no matter what. Those people are called “the haters” but everyone is one. Because we have normalized talking bad about people and it’s a whole cycle someone talk bad about you, you talk bad about someone else, never ending. But when we see enough people liking a post of someone, we think to ourselves, “what if I were like them? Would people like me too?”

That’s called comparison. And it’s not healthy for anyone. This affects someone mental health and puts them in a bad place, it can trigger many other problems like an eating disorder and that can be deadly (in this page you can also find “eating disorders and social media” that is another article where I talk more in depth about it and its affects).

When asked why self-love is important, a website called Betterup.com answered like this, “Self-love is critical to our overall well-being. And despite what the perfectionists think, loving yourself does not mean that you do not hold yourself to a high standard. Without feeling positively towards us, we may find it hard to be motivated. Many studies suggest that we need self-love in order to act, take chances, and take on new opportunities.”

“Self-love is important because it motivates much of our positive behavior while reducing harmful behavior. It both empowers us to take risks and to say no to things that don’t work for us. It’s a key part of building self-compassion.”

Self-love helps us take care of ourselves, lower stress, and strive for success. But it also protects us from negative thoughts, self-sabotage, and pushing ourselves too far. It’s important to recognize that knowing what to say “no” to is just as important as learning when to say “yes.”

And this lets us know the importance of self love in our lives and day to day.

Beauty standards can be triggering in a lot of ways. According to Wikipedia, “The feminine beauty ideal traits include but are not limited to: female body shape, facial feature, skin tones, height, clothing style, hairstyle and body weight. In order to emulate said desirable traits, women have chosen to undergo facial and body-altering practices which range in severity. Some of these practices include: plastic surgery, skin bleaching, foot binding, neck rings, hair removal, makeup, wig installations, teeth lacquering, tanning, corsetry, etc.”

With fairy tales, mass media, advertisements, fashion and beauty-centered dolls such as Barbie dolls playing a prominent role in women’s lives, it adds to the pressure to conform to the feminine beauty ideal starting from a young age. Handling the pressure to conform to a certain definition of “beautiful” can have psychological effects on an individual, such as depression, eating disorder, body dysmorphia and low self esteem that can start from a adolescent age and continue into adulthood.

Another great article with a lot of helpful information about beauty standards was Dove.com.

According to an article Dove.com published about beauty standards, “Unrealistic beauty standards on social media are widespread. From Instagram to TikTok, what we see on our social feeds is rarely representative of how people really look, a fact that can be easy to forget. Digitally altered images, well-lit videos and face filters are the norm on social media, which means idealized bodies and faces are a standard by which many people measure themselves. While it may feel like harmless scrolling, we still absorb every image we see on social media.”

According to the Dove Self-Esteem Project report, “Toxic beauty advice normalizes unrealistic beauty standards, promotes potentially harmful beauty practices and suggests the key to self-worth and success is physical ‘perfection”.

Self love and happiness is someone every one should have but with social media widespread comes a lot of negativity affects to put down our self worth. It is important to not let it get to you, keep a healthy mindset, and know what is important in life

https://www.betterup.com/blog/self-love?hs_amp=true

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminine_beauty_ideal

https://www.dove.com/us/en/dove-self-esteem-project/how-unrealistic-beauty-standards-on-social-media-can-impact-self-esteem.html