The Dark Side of Social Media
I heard
something very disturbing the other day and I can’t seem to get it off my
mind. It’s a topic very near and dear to
my heart. Something I have battled with
since I was 8 years old…body dysmorphia.
Many of you guys know about my past with anorexia and how it still
haunts me today. This type of illness is
something you never get over, but something you just learn to deal with. You learn coping mechanisms, tools to help
silence the voices in your head, ways to find peace among utter chaos. This seed was planted in my head but what
really ignited the fire was social media.
How women are portrayed, the way we are “supposed” to look. How our bodies must conform to the norms or
else we are considered outsiders, ugly, fat.
I used to spend hours staring into
the glossy pages of magazines looking at all of these gorgeous, skinny models. I would go online and search for pictures of
these perfect women to hang on my walls.
They are what I aspired to be.
Now we have many more forms of social media; Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat etc. There
seems to be even more pressure for young women & men to fit these molds
that society has picked. In my opinion,
it’s bullshit. I would like to know who
these “people” are that have decided what everyone else has to look like. Since when is beauty based on how many ribs
you can see, what size pants you wear, or what the scale says?! I am guilty of it too, caring too much about
the number and not enough about my health.
But I am making a conscious effort to focus more on being a better
person, a happier, healthier me.
Since there are many more portals
for society as a whole to get our hands on, the pressure has multiplied. Now we can sit on our phones and scroll
through until we are completely sucked into this crazy world of social
media. There are now pages dedicated to
helping young girls become anorexic or bulimic…really? Is that what it’s come to? Instead of self-help pages we now have social
media sources telling us step-by-step how to become “sick.” I am truly disgusted at how messed up this
is. Since when is it okay to create such
a movement to tear down people instead of building them back up. You can create an account and message other
people that are interested in becoming anorexic or bulimic and create a “how to”
guide. These pages tell young women
& men how many calories to eat a day, how to make themselves sick, and support
one another along the way. This
completely baffles me.
When I was diagnosed I went through
years of treatment, met many other girls my age and older who were struggling
just like me. We learned to care about
each other and how to fight through the bad days so we could have better ones
ahead. Times have changed drastically
since I was 13. Social media can be a
beautiful thing but it can also be our worst nightmare. If we don’t take action now we are going to
create a very harsh, cruel, cold world for future generations. All of us at some point in our lives have
felt unworthy or alone but we are NEVER alone.
There is always someone else who knows what you’re going through or has
been in a similar situation. I was
ashamed for a long time about my past. I
thought I was an outcast and people would think poorly of me if I vocalized how
I was feeling on the inside but in reality, the exact opposite happened. I told people how I felt, what I went
through, what I was going through and they either embraced me or told me about
a close friend or family member who went through the same thing. I am taking a stand today and everyday to
careless about the scale and more about my mental and physical health. Beauty starts from the inside. Stay strong my loves… xoxo
