Mental Health: Is your New Social Media Face Killing your Confidence?
Every day, 95 million videos and photos pass through social media, according to recent Instagram records.
So, where do Face tune, filters, and augmented-reality tools leave our mental health?
After spending long hours on social media in the company of influencers, celebrities, and people who have been filtered to perfection, people end up with their list of everything they wish they could change. Smooth skin, defined jawline, higher cheekbones, I mean the list is endless.
In 2020, with the ravaging pandemic and the stay-at-home regulations, screen time has increased dramatically. This has resulted in the amplification of this all-too-familiar spiral. Social distancing has forced many people to transform their spaces into both works and play hubs.
This is the peak of living life virtually. Nowadays people go on FaceTime dates, zoom weddings, telemedicine checkups for health concerns, workout classes are now streamed live and people only celebrate Houseparty birthdays.
As of Jan 2021, more than 50% of American adults were reportedly using Instagram. At this point, Instagram was reported to be the second-most popular social media platform. Facebook, the parent company was the leading social media site.
Now more than ever, we are inevitably staring and evaluating our physical appearance. It’s weird that even Zoom, a video-conferencing app has an option for “touch up my appearance.” All these leaves us with the question, “how much does all this affect our mental health?”
The answer is, a lot!
Dr. Peace Amadi, Hope International University’s associate psychology professor in California reports that “There’s a well-established link between social-media usage and psychological concerns. Instagram has not only been tied to anxiety and depression symptoms but also concerns such as anxiety related to physical appearance, increased body dissatisfaction and lower self-esteem.” She reports.
Now that more time is being spent on social media, you can assume that these concerns may have multiplied ten-fold.
These apps are perfectly designed to pinch, mold, and add volume wherever you want. Most people make decisions on their appearance based on social media trends. For many people, social media has a big influence on how they look at the end of the day.
It’s not just Face Tune. As soon as social distancing began, Lightricks, Facetune’s parent company reported a 20% increase in its app’s usage. What’s even worse is that during this period, reports show that people have spent 25% more time editing videos. All these on top of an already influential market giant.
You may not be among the over 100+ Facetune users ready to part with a $3.99 subscription fee, but you might be among the 1 billion people under the influence of built-in filters in apps such as Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
In just one swipe, your face can be transformed completely. You can enlarge your eyes, slim your nose, or make the jawline more prominent. You can even add lipstick, lashes, and eyeliner to your face.
It may seem harmless at first, after all, it’s just small edits here and there, right? Well, Dr. Amadi doesn’t think so. These small edits can result in obsessive-compulsive tendencies when it comes to body image. These alterations detach social media users from reality.
Nobody is created perfect, no one sparkles and glows 24 hours a day in real life. The social media culture has set the beauty standards too high to reach. This digital lens that is slowly being adopted as the reality we live in is shifting our self-perception massively.
It becomes quite dangerous when there is a wide gap between your polished digital alter ego and how you appear in real life. Dysphoria is created when there is a huge, distinct difference between the actual self and the ideal self.
This is a slippery slope, says Dr. Amadi, “The chances of developing mental concerns and disorders like depression, anxiety, eating disorders and OCD-related problems such as body dysmorphic disorder also increase.”
Your naked eye is gullible, especially on social media. 35–40% of the time, you will be unable to pick out a filtered picture online. Reports indicate that of 12% photos with the hashtag #nofilters are filtered.
Your negative beliefs around self-image are confirmed by filter use.
Dr. Terri Bacow Ph.D., a New York-based Psychologist suggests that people should avoid using filters, photoshop, and any face-altering tools on their social media. This is known as “exposure therapy.” Exposure therapy simply shifts the brain’s perspective by doing something contrary to what it believes. The brain resolves the conflict of what it believes, to the new concept by making a positive shift.
These days, everyone is asking for check fillers like they are simply buying a pair of jeans. People are looking for perfection and trying to be “selfie-ready” 24/7. The problems go deeper than the physical aspect. Sometimes these insecurities need therapy more than surgery.
The beast of comparison is hard to beat. It’s like running on a treadmill, it has no destination in sight. When you scroll through your feed, do you feel worse?
Well, here are some tips that can help you build resilience and love yourself as you are;
· Be grateful for what you have, instead of saying, “my eyes are not pretty,” say “with my eyes, I can see the beauty around me.”
· Reduce your use of social media
· Practice affirmations
· Embrace mindfulness.
· Have meaningful values, for example, instead of focusing on “how to get rid of wrinkles,” focus on “how to stay healthy and happy.”
Value yourself and your assets, after all, appearance is just but a single aspect of who you are. Long-lasting relationships don’t work out because of physical perfection, remember that!
