Teen Girls Plagued By Social Media Perceptions
Written by Trinity Teen Solutions, Posted on
“Selfie!” croons a group of tweens, holding an iPhone out as far as their adolescent arms can go. Inevitably, one or more of the girls will screech that they look “terrible” and “let’s do one more!” At some point, all of the girls will concede that they’ve done their best, and allow the pic (or two or ten) to go onto a social media page, from which they will then glean likes and comments and determine just how “pretty” they are.
Social media has taken the entire world by storm, and people of all ages have found much of their social life tied to social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and even the notorious SnapChat have become the platforms for teen questions, teen angst, and teen validation.
In an article on Trinity Teens Solutions, a website for a school that supports troubled teen girls, the author points out,
“Teenage girls who are active in social media are exposed to a number of factors that affect how they feel about themselves and how they perceive themselves. For instance, advertisements promoting beauty products, teen skin care products, and fashion often feature teenage girls and women who have been Photo-shopped to death, projecting an unrealistic image that teens think they need to live up to. This is a huge hit to their body image . . .
“In addition, the exposure of unhealthy imagery is so concentrated in the social media realm, that selfies and other imagery posted to social media sites are often being posted as more of an art form—one which glamorizes depression, self-pity, and self-harm.”
Social Judgement
Young girls are highly susceptible to the opinions—both negative and positive—of their peers. No longer do they only hear those opinions at school, because social media follows them almost everywhere. It’s on the home computer, it’s on their phone, signaling notification after notification, or on their friends’ phones, who are more than willing to let someone know when a comment has been made. It isn’t healthy, and more studies are finding that this contributes greatly to depression in these impressionable teen girls.
It is impossible to stop the madness, as social media will forever be here from now on. Closer monitoring of your child’s activity, as well as being proactive in their self-awareness, will go a long way to helping our girls understand just how valuable they are.
