Instagram: Empowerment or Pressure?

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 Instagram: Empowerment or Pressure?

 

            As a user of social media, I can firmly say that I have been on social media platforms since about fifth grade. Beginning with Facebook, where I got my first glimpse into cyberbullying and the social pressures applied right through your computer screen, I knew social media was never going to be an easy thing to use. I was relatively young when I saw the double-edged sword that was social media and the impact that it can have on people outside of the computer and phone screens.

            

            Around middle school, I was introduced to Instagram while it was all the rage within my class. From then on, I realized that social media was nothing short of a performance for your peers and people whom you do not even know. Many people can relate to the fact that social media has potentially made them feel like an outlier amongst their peers or even question their own self-perception. Movies such as Cyberbully shown light onto the issues that surround social media in middle and high school settings and the real-life impacts that it can have on one’s mental health.  Even as an adult, I still discuss how taking breaks from social media is incredibly essential to re-centering your focus and reconnecting with yourself outside of the impossible standards set by social media. 

 

            On the opposite hand, social sites can also be a source of empowerment and confidence. Posting a photo of yourself or a group and receiving positive feedback from your peers can be a great source of confidence and pride which makes you feel more connected to those in your community. Many times, mutual friends are made through interactions on social media and it can contribute to the unity of the community in which you participate in.  This empowerment is often relatively temporary with each post and can be diluted in the never-ending pressures to look s certain way at every given moment. Photo editing applications that enhance features to create a “more ideal” version of yourself only contribute to this issue and arguably worsen it but creating an illusion of oneself while perpetuating insecurity. 

 

Overall, social media sites such as Instagram can have two diverse ways to impact young people and it depends on everyone’s particular situation. Often, we get lost in the world of social media and lose touch with the reality that beauty standards are nothing short of social creation, they are not real indicators of your worth. Social media is wonderful in empowering and getting in touch with people around you while spreading positivity and compliments but can also take jabs at your self-esteem if you’re not careful when comparing yourself to someone else. Most people are guilty of self-comparison as it is a natural human behavior but taking breaks and practicing self-care is crucial to maintaining a healthy relationship with all your social media accounts.




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