The Altered Life: The Consequences of Social Media
“The constant display of this altered version to teenagers, can pressure them into attempting to keep up with the trends, ultimately pushing them to breaking point.”
In today's rapidly changing world, social media has become a tremendous part of most teenagers' lives. In most cases, teenagers spend 3 or more hours per day scrolling on big media apps like Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook or even Pinterest. Platforms like these are meant for users to interact with one another, share photos, for entertainment and overall a way to allow people to freely express themselves. However, over time, slowly but steadily, social media has significantly changed, leading to negative effects on teens.
Social media can become a battlefield for many individuals constantly attempting to showcase a version of what they call a “luxurious life”, making it look appealing to younger audiences. Pushing this fake version of themselves on the media can be used to gain clout or more followers. This imaginary image of wealth, success and happiness they post can pressure teenagers online to match these circumstances. In most cases, people who post versions of luxurious lifestyles take advantage of their viewers by promoting routines that they do, products or even websites that require you to give in ur info. All of this is done in order to maintain the illusion of a wealthy, successful and happy life.
Many strive to obtain an unrealistic lifestyle or lavish lifestyle they cannot reach, but the biggest issue falls on body image.
Similar to luxury, beauty standards play a significant role when it comes to social media. Influencers, content creators, models, and even celebrities often use photoshop, filters and editing tools in an attempt to ‘perfect’ an image of themselves. Eager to fit in, teenagers may be compelled to hop into the trend of altering their image in order to seek validation from others, and when this happens there is no saying what will happen next. The constant display of this altered version to teenagers, can pressure them into attempting to keep up with the trends, ultimately pushing them to breaking point.
How does this affect teens as a whole?
Teens face constant pressure in order to fit in, but this leads to them feeling left insecure instead. This can contribute to unhealthy behaviors like body image issues and seeking validation from others, all while negatively affecting their mental health. Ultimately this may lead teens to rely on support and self esteem from the media rather than seeking professional help. In conclusion, social media can negatively affect teens' self esteem, even if the content that is being pushed towards them is misleading or false.