On average, internet users may have 7.6 social media accounts. Social media’s influence on our lives has truly climbed to incredible heights. It’s no surprise that we want to be connected instantly to millions of people around the globe.
But with the benefits of connections and attention, the darker side of social media also reveals itself. A side too many of us fail to recognize.
Social media has become much more than a simple distraction. Misuse has increased to epidemic proportions, especially among young women. It’s often used as a replacement for face-to-face interactions and bullying.
Social media is the cause of so much self-hate. I see the effects everyday in girls with the astounding numbers of teens struggling with their mental health and the “ideal” body image.
Maranda, WOOD TV8’s women and family expert, has years of media experience and multiple awards under her belt including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Women in Radio and Television West Michigan Chapter. She believes the trends in the social media of this day and age can dangerously impact a girl’s psyche.
“We have all of our friends [on our phone],” Maranda said. “People talk to you [online] but they don’t talk to you at school. You feel connected virtually, but not physically.”
It’s possible to feel incredibly lonely, even with dozens of internet friends, something I’ve experienced first hand. This should make us wonder how the content on girls’ phones are affecting them, and how they respond to it.
A whopping 88% of women compare what they see in all aspects of media to their own bodies. Half of women make negative comparisons about their physique.
Girls are constantly bombarded with images of women they feel pressured to measure up to, even if they don’t realize it. From their hair, to their weight and what they wear, it’s ridiculous how much more criticism women typically endure than men.
In today’s society, women are expected to be flawless.
It’s hard to try to live up to these expectations. Behind every perfect selfie can be a hundred attempts and an internal sense of insecurity. FHE Health, an addiction recovery center in Florida, said that Nearly 50% of women take 2-5 selfies before settling on the perfect one. And 28% said it takes 6-10 selfies until they’re satisfied.
Yet women have more opportunities now than ever before and where representation in social media and television fall short for women, working in the media industry picks up.
Megan Dileo, an intern working with Maranda, experiences this first hand at Ferris State University. There, she studies the technicalities of media. For the first time, the number of women working in media production has sky-rocketed in her classes. Dileo has never seen so many women in typically male-dominated fields.
“We’re actually being respected and heard,” Dileo said. “Not as much as ‘oh, you’re a girl, you can’t do that.’ I think from that side of it, it’s getting better.”
If we can boost the portrayal of women behind television, we can certainly do so in television. And with the right intentions, social media also has the potential to be a platform for community and the empowerment of women.
I believe that today’s youth already face the difficulty of growing up in this digitally-focused world. We’ve already seen what it does to women. They have fought to be seen since the beginning of time, even in the smallest of ways.
We can’t let screens, whether big or small, take away from how women want to be viewed and respected.
“When it comes to women in media,” Maranda said, “be a light. Empower each other. Lift up people. You don’t need to be a brat online. [Social media] is a powerful medium, and everyone has access to it. So use it for good, I dare you.”
