Whether you’re waiting to catch a flight or relaxing at home, we’ve all experienced scrolling through social media accounts and thinking things like “Wow, I wish I looked like that” or “How do I get THAT many followers?” Social media has the power to create worldwide trends, rapidly spread news, or even be a source of a large income in the case of influencers. In these ways, social media is great, however, social media can be detrimental to the way we see ourselves and the world around us.
100 Or 100K Followers - Does It Get Easier?
Nobody, not even our favorite celebrities, can ignore the power that social media can have on our self-esteem. In fact, Billie Eilish recently spoke out about the negative impacts of social media saying it’s, “ruining my life.” Eilish went on to say that she had to make herself stop reading the comments and she all together attempts to stay off the internet.
Other celebs have recently spoken about their hatred for social media, some opting to stay off platforms all together. For instance, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson have stayed private through the years saying that social platforms give them too much anxiety. Emily Blunt and Kristen Stewart have both spoken about how time-consuming it is and much prefer to be doing something cooler.
Some celebrities, such as Kate Winslet, altogether ban social media from their household. Winslet points out that unrealistic posts cause young individuals to try to be someone or something that they think other people will like. In some cases, the desire to be likeable can cause eating disorders or other severe mental illnesses.
A Brighter Future
Some celebrities and influencers have taken matters into their own hands and started a movement for real, raw social media posts. Fitness trainer, Hayley Madigan, posts photos and videos of her unedited, unposed figure and an edited, posed one to show users how easy deception really is.
Similarly, teen model and social media influencer, Essena O’Neill recently deleted 2,000 edited photos from her account. She has recaptioned many of the remaining photos to reveal the edits that went into the final post. The teen also renamed her account “Social media Is Not Real Life” and launched a new website to empower authentic beauty.
The iconic Tyra Banks followed in the teen’s footsteps by posting an all-natural photo of herself and expressing the difficulty she experienced in doing so. She went on to express her desire for her fans to see the real her and included the hashtag “RawAndReal”.
These celebrities are taking the first very important steps to rid social media of unrealistic beauty standards. Moving forward, we can only hope that more A-listers will follow and the culture of social media grows into something positive and authentically beautiful.