Behind the Smiles
The impact of social media
By Michelle Douglas
By Michelle Douglas
“Yeah good job, ya gonna eat that too?” the laughter of the small group of 5th graders just blared in her mind like sirens. She felt the tears welling in her eyes as the words swirled in her head. Her self-esteem began sinking like a rock thrown in a lake. She only had one friend, nobody else really liked her, because she was “thicker” than most girls. She looked at all the “skinny”, “beautiful,” “perfect” celebrities on TV, that’s when she realized that she looked nothing like them. She wasn’t skinny, she didn’t have big eyes or long straight hair. She was convinced that she wasn’t beautiful. She was often made fun of. Once she got to her second year of 7th grade she took a wrong turn in her life and by the age of 13 she had already begun her downward spiral into the devastation behind the smile.
Why do people have low-self esteem? The media. Social media gives people a chance to reinvent themselves in the way that makes them feel good. Typically that results in viewers feeling bad or feeling envious. The media is a large part of our culture. It’s everywhere, from the billboards on the streets, to the tiny screens in our pockets. We use the media to see funny videos of cats, to see the latest “selfie” our friend posted, and of course, to see the twig-stick celebrities looking perfect as always. It’s become a way of not only positive interaction, but also a way of negative interaction. Everyone, including our teachers and parents, is on Facebook and Twitter. 24% of teens that are online were recorded to be on Twitter, whereas 19% of online adults were recorded to be on Twitter. 74% of women were recorded using social media in 2013 whereas men were recorded at 62%. About the same amount of adults are on Facebook as the amount of teens. 71% of adults and 77% of teens. It’s no surprise that with a large amount of adults online, not many of them care to notice the destruction that happens below the surface. Let’s go back to the girl from the first paragraph. No one knew about the comments people made, and those that did, didn’t care. No one knew how many times she was called “fat,” “ugly,” "worthless,” and again, those that did, didn’t care. And no one knew the pain and suffering she went through, and again, if they did, yep you guessed it, they didn’t care. Her self-esteem quickly got so low, she resorted to self-harm to find comfort. The more pain she felt, the more blood she saw, the better she felt. But the feeling was only temporary. After a couple of weeks of beauty ads, reality TV and Facebook, the thoughts of suicide and self-harm began to resurface. After 6 months of this cycle, her mother broke into tears and was encouraged to seek a therapist. Despite the girl’s hatred of talking to adults, or anyone, about personal issues or feelings, she agreed to go. After a couple of sessions, it was revealed that her low self-esteem stemmed not only from academic and family struggles, but also being exposed to so much media, and that has led to her depression and anxiety. According to the many staff members at dosomething.org, an organization dedicated to "making the world suck less," 70% of high-school girls avoid going to school because they feel bad about their looks. 40% of middle school boys work out on a regular basis with intention to increase muscle mass. 75% of girls with low self-esteem have been recorded participating in activities such as drinking, doing drugs, smoking, eating disorders, and cutting, while 25% of girls have high self-esteem. As far as high-school students go, 15% of boys attempt to lose weight while 44% of girls attempt the same. As for the main star of our story, well, she continued therapy for about a month. She began feeling better, and found herself spending less time on Facebook and more time being happy. While she still had her depression, she found better, more creative ways to deal with it. She talked to friends, she wrote stories and poems. They made her feel even better than her old habits made her feel, and the happiness lasted longer as well. These little habits also helped her with her anxiety. She started to slowly feel a bit better about herself. It had been an entire year without a single cut. Her friends were proud of her, her boyfriend was proud of her, and most importantly she was proud of herself. I should know, because that girl was me. |