The Freak Staring Back At Me
“If I just had a smaller nose.”
“If I just had fuller lips.”
“If I just had wider hips.”
“If I just had a slimmer waist.”
KATELYN MATTHEWS – These thoughts often come from the dark corners of our mind, but for a growing minority, these insecurities become obsessions that affect quality of life. Social media has become a blight that gnaws at the mind, heart, and soul of modern Americans. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and other blackholes have imprisoned millions in cells of comparison and dissatisfaction. Perhaps this would not be such a pressing issue if social media was only a small asteroid in the orbit of life. However, social media is the sun, the center, that holds together all other aspects of modern existence. The average day can be timelined by social media use: opening Instagram after turning off the alarm, scrolling for hours throughout the day, and finishing the night off with an hour of TikTok. When considering this rise of social media as an axis of daily life, the struggle with body dysmorphia becomes a heightened problem for society.
Underneath all the likes, filters, and hashtags, people are broken by an infinite quest to feel belonging in a platform that is ever changing. Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies that stems from this phenomenon is the rise of body dysmorphia. Psychiatry professor of Weill Cornell Medical College Kathrine Philips in her book, “The Broken Mirror” describes BDD (body dysmorphic disorder) as “an intense preoccupation…with some aspect of their appearance that looks defective in some way. They may describe the body area or areas as ugly, unattractive, flawed, ‘not right,’ deformed, disfigured, or even as grotesque…They think excessively about their supposed appearance problem; some in fact find it hard not to think about it.” While it might seem normal to have concerns about appearance, body dysmorphia takes self image to a different plane of impact by interfering friendships, intimate relationships, and work.
The causes for BDD can have a range of explanations, but the most obvious and probable is sociological in nature. When considering the staggering seventy-two percent of Americans who use social media coupled with the fickle beauty standards that are constantly imposed upon users, it is no shock that the shadow of mental illness is cast upon so many Americans. Further research from the American Psychological Association shows that “frequent SNS comparisons may mediate the onset of subthreshold BDD, leading to increased SNS (social network service) usage and maintenance of BDD symptoms.” These results suggest that social media creates a vicious cycle for people with BDD. Algorithms are programmed to display ads and posts tailored to feed on a user’s insecurities, and as a result, every click and search is another step into the quicksand of comparison. It can trap people with BDD by keeping them addicted to posts that perpetuate certain insecurities.
“It’s a feeling I’ll never belong anywhere or be happy. It’s a feeling that I’m unacceptable. I feel the outside world sees me as unloveable, rejected, ugly.” This is a statement from Sonya, a BDD patient mentioned in “The Broken Mirror.” In order to see a future with fewer victims of BDD, we must first acknowledge the validity and severity of this disease. While many with BDD suffer in silence due to feelings of shame and fear of being perceived as vain or silly, conversations must be initiated and help should be sought. Humans should be able to live in full radiance of who they are without social media robbing them of the simple but essential act of self love.
Copy Editor: Annie Patel