How to cope if social media affects your body image

Topics mentioned: body image, social media, self-esteem, self-care

About: Our blogger shares four tips to help you look after your self-esteem and feel better about yourself if you're struggling with social media and body image.

Growing up with the constant pressure of social media is incredibly difficult. Navigating adolescence at this time can often feel overwhelming, but you are not alone.

I’d like to share my tips on how to cope with the effects of social media, in particular the impacts on our mental health and perceptions of body image.

It is important to remember that social media is not a true representation of real life. It is so easy to get caught up in what we see online, but we have to remind ourselves that social media posts are often an idealised version of reality - a highlight reel of people’s best selves.

We can choose who we follow, so make sure you are following accounts that make you feel good about yourself and celebrate diversity, and unfollow accounts that encourage unrealistic beauty standards. Filtering out sources of negativity can make our experience online much happier and prevent feelings of insecurity.

If social media makes you struggle with how you look, spending time doing things that you enjoy can help boost your self-esteem. Scrolling through social media can feel aimless at times and doing something else that makes you happy is so important. It helps you live in the moment and realise what really brings you joy.

If social media starts to feel like a negative space, it’s okay to step away and do something that you know is good for your mental health, instead of comparing yourself with others.

Remember that your body’s main job is to keep you healthy and happy, whatever that looks like for you, and help you do the things that you love. Try not to measure your worth on the appearance of your body. Instead, appreciate it for what it does for you each day.

It’s remarkable what our bodies go through to keep us alive! Your body does not need to look a certain way to be appreciated, that is not its purpose. All bodies are beautiful, and no two bodies look the same. That’s what makes yours so amazing.

The most important thing is to be kind to yourself. You can change social media to make it work for you, but you don’t need to change anything about the way you look. You are more than enough just as you are.