by Lorena Cristea
Over the last decade, social media has played an enormous impact on people’s behaviour. And with the rise of influencers nowadays, it is safe to say that they carry great responsibility for the content that should be exposed on the internet.
A recent study shows that social media addiction can negatively impact our psychological well-being. It has been directly linked to symptoms of social isolation, depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
Reported symptoms of loneliness on social media users. Courtesy of Lorena Cristea
Michele Manteaw is a 27-year-old content creator who became famous online after her smooth skin became viral on Reddit. She has been doing content for social media for over four years now and worked with brands such as Superdry and Anika.
“I think most people would agree that social media can have a detrimental factor in regard to mental health, especially if you are using it excessively. It is easy to fall into comparison when you are scrolling online and kind of lose touch with reality,” she said.
Michele can be found on Instagram under @melaninmiche. Courtesy of Michele Manteaw, @getsliq & @rebeccaxalison
Alessya Duran is a 20-year-old student who is most keen on content about skincare, Korean and Japanese entertainment, and business. She says that social media did have a major impact on her personality, and she tends to be careful with words on public platforms because of online trolls.
“Social media may have a negative impact on people’s self-esteem or personality. We are spending our days in front of a screen that dictates how to live our life. We are not perfect, but we try to prove that we live a perfect life,” Alessya says.
Are people obsessing over creating fake personas online?
Elisabeta Bucel is a 21-year-old student who believes that people portray a “perfect image” on social media as a coping mechanism. She feels that they can find themselves in unpleasing circumstances throughout their daily life, and therefore they need the approval that everything is, in fact, doing great.
“Celebrities have probably had a huge effect on that too, by setting unrealistic lifestyle standards that people feel the need to adhere to,” Elisabeta then adds.
Alessya agrees that setting unrealistic standards and portraying a certain way of lifestyle can take a toll on one’s mental health.
“How can you not be lonely? And how can you not be depressed, when these kinds of platforms tend to push you to act like you are someone you are not? It is difficult to create a different, fake persona overnight just to please the people around you,” says Alessya Duran.
Twenty-year-old student Alessya Duran talks about people on social media who are setting themselves to unrealistic life standards
“However, I do feel like social media is moving away from that and people are starting to appreciate honesty over perfection because perfection does not exist. As young people become more aware of the effects that social media can have on the perception of self, the world, and mental health, I think that also contributes to them appreciating people who show off authentically online,” Michele adds.
A study conducted by Holloway Express shows that 37.5 percent of people experience loneliness due to social media, while 43.8 strongly agree that online platforms make them feel like they should improve their lifestyle.
Social media trends are a toxic environment for body image, people believe
Social media can lead to poor body image in women especially, says Michele. She believes that online platform trends promote unrealistic and unhealthy views of women’s bodies.
“Personally, social media has not actually had an effect on my body image because I am aware that these standards that are on social media are so unrealistic. I am very mindful of the media that I choose to consume,” she says.
Alessya states that social media is not safe enough for vulnerable people. Despite that, she claims that she was not a victim of poor self-image, as she is aware that imperfections should be normalised and are part of the human being.
Elisabeta says that she copes with unhealthy beauty standards by adopting a healthier lifestyle. She does that by eating food that makes her feel good, working out, and not setting herself body image expectations.
“When I was younger it probably had a negative impact but now that I’m older, I am no longer anxious about my body, nor do I follow people that actively try to fake their appearance,” she adds.
Twenty one percent of the participants in the study by Holloway Express said they experienced insecurity while scrolling on social media.
Are influencers to blame?
The study made by Holloway Express reflects that 68.4 percent of the participants strongly agree that content creators and influencers need to be more aware of what they promote on media platforms.
Social media personality Michele Manteaw believes that influencers who collaborate with brands that have a history of controversy over beauty standards are guilty of association and thus perpetuating the problem.
“If your best friend was a thief or murderer, or someone who has done things to break the law in society and you continue to be friends with them and not speak out to them about whether what they are doing wrong or could improve on, then by association you are also perpetuating the problem,” she says.
Melanin Michie. Courtesy of Michele Manteaw, @getsliq & @rebeccaxalison
She states that it is the content creator’s responsibility to look into the brand’s history of wrongdoings and decide if it is moral to associate with them.
Twenty-one percent of the participants experienced poor self-esteem while following content creators online, according to the Holloway Express study. On the other hand, only 15.8% of people trust influencers, whilst the majority are either neutral about them or consider they are not trustworthy.
“Just being real and vulnerable, I feel like that is when you get the most engaged following as well. When you can be your authentic self,” says Michele.
“Ten years ago, social media was quite toxic with black women”
Michele, now in her adulthood, labels her teenage experience throughout 2012 and 2013 on social media as ‘toxic’, especially on Twitter, where people were adopting a hateful attitude towards dark-skinned women.
“Growing up in a predominantly white area as a very dark-skinned black girl with natural hair already much lights me to the absolute extreme,
In more recent years, social media has created a really positive and inclusive space where all can belong, regardless of what you look like, your skin colour, or your gender. My younger sister, who is almost ten years my junior, does not have nearly the same number of self-esteem issues as I had with her natural hair and being a black woman,” she says.
Leave a Reply