Maria Kayama
With the recent increase of social media users, many people’s self-esteem has deteriorated because of the standard of beauty portrayed on social media. For instance, models that are prevalent would have similar features, which would then be manifested to be labeled as “beauty”. Despite that, but also with the increase of social media also correlated with an increase in bullying– but online. The accessibility to anonymity can incite one to comment about the appearance of one, which would then make one feel “unattractive” and incomparable to the models on social media– which would cause detrimental feelings to occur, feeling the need to disregard their own identity and conform with the beauty standards instead.
The conformity to beauty standards would cause identity crises, as they are attempting to ingrain the “beauty standards” into their own identity but cannot, as deep down inside, that is not who they are. In fact, it could cause long-term damage to their mental health, as they would only live for others’ eyes, instead of their own– where later they will realize that they wasted all of their time for others, and the previous years of their life would not be reminiscent, but regretful.
Just because such negativeness and criticism are prevalent, it does not mean social media is unnecessary in our society. In some sense, social media may also be a positive platform, where many would seek out to help another. While standing on the same ground, it may be viewed as the opposite of the “appearance-based” environment. Therefore, it can be said that social media would be a platform for help and support towards many in the world– which is in fact very much needed in our current society.
To conclude, social media should not be taken lightheartedly, nor should be acknowledged as half-hearted, as it is a free space for anyone, from anywhere to comment. The hate will never fully disappear, but the least we can do is to spread love in the free space that we stand in.