Looking five pounds overweight? Edit it off. Teeth aren’t white enough? Throw a filter on to brighten them up. Your butt and boobs need a little lift? Edit it.  

With May being mental health awareness month, it is important to touch on the unrealistic “beauty” standards present in today’s world.  In our world today, you can change or add anything to your photos. The people who are feeding us these unattainable goals are the people whose jobs are only to “look pretty.” In reality, they are just a walking filter with all the work they have had done. With that being said, we need to get rid of this distorted world of filters we live in. 

Skinny, light skin, face of makeup and no acne. That’s the image of beauty social media gives us. If influencers could have it their way, that would be the only type to exist. But it’s not. “A survey of 227 female university students, women reported that they tend to compare their own appearance negatively with celebrities,” this study was stated in an article published by BBC. They are making us believe in the unreal and giving it to us through filters. But the real world doesn’t have filters to cover what you don’t like. 

This distortion causes many to change and not in a good way. A study included in Forbes, states, “There is a link between social media and self-esteem… users of image-heavy social media platforms, like Instagram, are more likely to consider going under the knife, while 55% of plastic surgeons in 2018 reported their patients’ surgeries were motivated by a desire to look better in selfies.” If people don’t go in to have changes, sadly, they take matters into their own hands. This includes being anorexic, bulimic or doing whatever they can to look like the girl on their screen. Along with those effects it also causes mental health problems. Depression and anxiety are the main results.

There needs to be changes to what we call and think “beauty” is. Social media platforms need to get rid of the filters that promote false beauty. Along with that, the people whose job is to influence us should change so they cause positive change. If not, then they should not be getting paid. Lastly, as years go on more kids are getting technology access younger and younger. Age limits on certain platforms need to be enforced more. Subjecting young children to this brainwash is terrible.