sagallimore 
So now that we have identified this whole Social Media affects body relationship ideal and ways we can scroll away from the feed reminding ourselves of the potential enhancements made to the majority of photos, I can now talk about how this constant enhancement of photos produced somewhat of a chain reaction.
It all started about 4 years ago going into my freshman year of college. Before, of course like anyone else, I liked using instagram. I thought it was a fun way to connect with friends, see each other pictures, like/ comment , ya know all that good stuff. I never saw instagram as a potentially dangerous endeavor that I would find myself two years later being completely absorbed by. Anyways, going back to my freshman year of college, I noticed myself really becoming attached to this whole posting to receive attention type of mindset. My mindset turned from posting for enjoyment and engagement with friends to posting to receive a number of likes and comments. When I wouldn’t receive what I thought was a reasonable amount of likes or comments, I would end up disappointed with myself and treated that lack of attention as a reflection on my own worth as an individual. Each time I would receive an “x” amount of likes that set the expectation to receive even more on the next photo posted. Out of this change in mindset, which I believe has happened to the majority of instagram users over the past years, birthed influencer culture. Ordinary individuals began posting original content and out of thin air became what we know as “instagram famous”. They almost seemed like an overnight success. Sometimes I even believe these influencers have become more likeable by the public than our beloved hard working artists and actors. Who here hasn’t heard of Addison Rae? We have begun to treat these individuals as the Gods and Goddesses of social media culture. Right around this time, I began following several influencers, comparing myself to their faces and bodies, and ended up feeling insecure for not looking as they did. I was disappointed in myself for not being able to pull off the outfits they could and take the effortlessly beautiful candid snapshots. I wanted to be able to do that so damn bad. I was so determined to achieve that body goal: perfectly sculpted, no fat rolls when you sit down figure. I told myself I would be so happy and all my body image/ self doubt problems would be solved if I could just have the perfect body like the influencers in the pictures.
So TRIGGER WARNING
I did what I knew I could do to lose weight. As diet culture loves to tell us “the less calories you put into your body, the more weight will shed off”. As it did and it did quickly. I was down 20 pounds and more confident in my body than I had ever been before. I finally fit into the skimpy clothes and felt small in them. I was so proud. So proud, until I got soaked into the mentality that food was my enemy that would lead me to the scariest thing possible: gaining weight if I ate too much. I thought, the more food I take out of my everyday diet, the more I would lose. As everything goes, it starts off small and out of nowhere I had become controlled by food thoughts and completely absorbed in how I looked. I try to explain it as completely dominating my whole life. It took me out of myself. My whole life was controlled by whether or not I looked skinny or pretty enough that day. It’s sad but it was reality for me. It was reality until I couldn’t deal with it any longer leading me to get the help I needed.
So why do I tell you this?
I tell you this because I believe social media is absolutely one to blame for leading me down the rabbit hole. It all started with social media, influencer culture, and the mindset I had built around comparing myself to such an unrealistic depiction of reality. Not sure but something tells me I’m not the only one;) JK I know I’m not. But, it’s sooo important to recognize this as a problem especially for our young social media users. I am happy now that I am sharing this taking the opposite stance of understanding instagram as an “anything but candid” highlight reel. If our young are trained from the early impressionable years to use social media in the way that I used it before knowing its dangers, society is in for a rude awakening. The beauty baseline keeps escalating and, through constant social media reinforcement, keeps telling us that we need to achieve and maybe even surpass that baseline to be worthy. Let that sink in.
Follow my email list here to receive weekly updates Do we really want to live in a society that’s based all on unattainable, unrealistic looks? I know I don’t. So join me in changing the stigma
