How Can Social Media Impact Our Perception of ‘Normal’ Skin?
How do you use social media? Are you a prolific poster, your stories constantly filled up? Do you post every now and again, but you’re a keen scroller? Or you might be like me, somewhere in between.
Either way, what’s your relationship with social media like? Again, if you’re anything like me, and no doubt millions of others, it’s on a love hate basis.
In this article
How Can Social Media Change Our Appearance?
The Effects of Social Media on Our Mental Health
The Positive Side of Social Media on Body Image
What is ‘Normal’ Skin, Anyway?
How to Make Social Media a More Positive Experience
I love social media in that I can keep up with what my distant friends are up to. I can laugh at pictures of my niece and nephews doing cute things. I can find joy in reading uplifting, positive posts of people and their long lost possessions, reunited. And I can have a curious look at what people I don’t even know are up to. (Stalker? Me?)
But equally, I have a dislike of the way social media can make me feel.
You know how it is. In weaker moments, we tend to have this belief that everything on social media is real. But it isn’t. Especially so, the way people look . With their perfect “beach” bodies (what even is that?) and flawless skin.
So in this article, we’re talking about how people can so easily change their appearance online, how that can make us feel and how we can make peace with it.
How Can Social Media Change Our Appearance?
We’ve all been there. We get a notification to say a friend has tagged us in a photo. We feel existential dread for a few seconds until we see what we look like in said photo. We then either breathe a sigh of relief, or we frantically text our friend begging to be untagged because we feel we look “awful”.
If we’re posting a picture of ourselves, we tend to make sure we look good in it. We might even do a bit of research on how to pose, what angles suit us best and the most flattering lighting, so that we stand the best chance of looking good.
There’s online tutorials on how to create a bigger looking booty, or thinner arms. I even saw something once on how influencers use triangle shaped poses to get them the best looking body. (I didn't quite understand it , but I only stumbled across it for some research, and didn’t ever have any intention of learning from it.)
But in addition to how we stand or smile, we might add a filter to our Insta pictures, and whether we’re a bright Lark fan or we prefer a more subdued Reyes, we’ve all done it.
But can we take things further? We most certainly can, if we purchase software that actually gives us a full on body edit and virtual skin resurfacing . It’s actually quite scary what you can do to edit photos these days.
Or rather, what other people can do.
Other people, that is, probably influencers, whose job it is to look good, pay good money for their photos to be retouched to make them appear something that they might not be.
Then we look at them as we’re scrolling and purchasing, thinking “why don’t I look like that?”. And that’s where the problems start.
The Effects of Social Media on Our Mental Health
We’re all adults, and we’re not stupid. We know that a lot of what we see on social media is given a little (or a big) tweak.
But we also have our own self-esteem issues (or at least probably most of us do, and suffer a crisis in confidence every now and again). So does seeing doctored images on social media affect our mental wellbeing if they make us feel inferior, and not quite good enough?
Studies suggest that this is very much the case, with one noting that “social comparison significantly decreased self-esteem ” with subjects reporting “poorer self-perception, lower self-esteem, and more negative feelings”.
This same study also concluded, “Social media users often compare themselves with others’ appearance, ability, popularity, and social skills. Such comparisons trigger strong psychological responses, particularly when others selectively present more positive information. Instagram provides various filters to edit and enhance photos, and the exposure to these idealised images of others can activate negative emotions, contributing to poor psychological well-being such as social anxiety.”
Which makes me really sad.
Not least, social media has changed our perception of often unattainable, unrealistic beauty standards .
We also have to ask, how do we feel after doing this to ourselves? What if we tweak our photos so much to give us a flawless look, and then we see people in real life who think, oh wow, they really don’t look like their pictures?
Does this cause us to have low self esteem? Could it mean that we avoid certain social situations or going out, because we fear people seeing us in real life ? Studies seem to suggest so, with some concluding that body dissatisfaction is a growing problem .
I personally wonder that when I see people I only know in certain social circles, and they look totally different to how I see them online - how do they feel? Do they simply have the self confidence (that I totally admire) to own everything about their look? Or do they worry how they’ll be perceived without a filter on?
The Positive Side of Social Media on Body Image
All of this said, not all social media is used for bad. There are positives to be had, for example, if we follow accounts that are focussed on dealing with the issues we might have, which can vary from acne prone skin to mental health problems to physical disabilities to serious illnesses.
We can also use social media to source treatments and skincare that has worked well for others. We’re no longer reliant on magazines or ads, and we have real life reviews we can access.
However, if we have skin that’s prone to acne, studies show that social media can sell us acne treatments that might not be as good as they promise and that might even go against what our skincare doctors tell us . And that could very well prove detrimental to our skin.
So it’s best to stick to sites with trustworthy reviews and robust science… Ahem, just like us here at Sönd *waves hello*
What is ‘Normal’ Skin, Anyway?
As a skincare brand, when we talk about ‘normal’ skin, we tend to mean it in terms of skin that’s not too oily, not too dry and doesn’t tend to break out. The Goldilocks endorsed porridge of skin, if you like.
But in this article, we’re referring to normal skin as skin that has all of those quirks and traits. The skin of normal, everyday people, who might suffer oiliness and acne breakouts, redness and irritation or dryness and the odd spot, as well as anyone who has ‘normal’ skin in well, the normal sense.
To that end, normal skin is skin that hasn’t been tweaked with lighting, angles, filters and flattering software.
Therefore, the skin we might see on an Instagram scroll, that’s been altered to reflect the societal views of what perfection is, could very well therefore be classed as abnormal … Right?
How to Make Social Media a More Positive Experience
I recently had a large cull of the accounts I was following on Instagram. I unfollowed anyone who didn't make me feel good. Be it those that made me feel bad all those years ago in school (why I was “friends” with them then IRL or now online, I’ll never know) or those that were strangers (read: famous) that portrayed such a perfectly ridiculous life that I felt stupidly inferior.
And I can tell you, it feels so good that my timeline is full of positivity, real life, fun and things that align with my views and lifestyle.
I urge you to do the same, and fill your timeline with body positivity accounts. Three of my favourites are Danae Mercer , Molly J Forbes and Megan Jayne Crabbe (known as bodyposipanda ).
If you’re having a bad skin, hair, body day, then try to avoid social media, and for all the other days, try to develop an awareness that all you see isn’t necessarily true. This can help you nurture a more positive self-esteem and belief in yourself.
Because trust me, you and your skin are more than worth it.
References:
https://www.insider.com/how-social-media-affects-body-image
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/a33264141/face-filters-mental-health-effect/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120912488
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-how-social-media-affects-body-image
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pde.14091
https://www.instagram.com/danaemercer/