Through social media, people showcase their supposed ‘picture-perfect’ lives and fit bodies, putting their viewers in a state of mind that makes them feel ‘not good enough’ in their own lives and bodies.
Influence of social media, desire to look flawless on instagram can lower child's self esteem (Creative Commons)
In a society where “likes”, “shares”, and “followers” dictate trends, youngsters are increasingly struggling with self-esteem and body-image issues.
Concerning trends already link heavy social-media use with feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt — especially among teenagers.
However, a recent study suggests a simple remedy that might just turn the tide: Taking short breaks — even for just one week — from social media can significantly enhance self-esteem and body image among young adults.
This comes at a critical time when digital platforms, saturated with images of idealised lives, are globally shaping the perceptions and mental health of millions.
Mental health experts South First spoke to explained that the power of social media was not to be underestimated, as its impact was far more destructive than anyone knew and could ever measure.
For many people, such as influencers, it could be a source of their livelihood; for others, it played a role in socialising, and yet others used it to learn new skills. But these needs being met came at a heavy cost.
Through social media, creators showcased their supposed picture-perfect lives and fit bodies, putting their viewers in a state of mind that made them feel not good enough in their own lives and bodies.
Without a lack of supervision around social media, a growing number of children were joining platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and X by lying about their age to feel grown-up. They are unwittingly ending up entering this dangerous and addictive world on the internet.
This “other world” becomes a place for aspirations and fantasy, often leading to a disconnect from reality. Young people begin to question their self-worth, and this leads, in turn, to rising feelings of self-hatred and deprecation.
Agreeing to this Dr Manoj Sharma, who heads the Service for Healthy Use of Technology (SHUT) clinic at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru said social media had become a double-edged sword when it came to body image and self-esteem.
On one hand, it offered platforms for self-expression and community building. On the other, it often perpetuated unrealistic beauty standards and fosters a culture of comparison.
He said, “Children — especially teens — are exposed constantly to curated feeds showcasing only the best moment and most flaterring angles — easy for users to feel inadequate or insecure about their own appearance. These idealised images can lead to negative body image.”
Meanwhile, with the exposure to Korean series and the likes on OTT platforms, actors with so-called perfect body shapes and skin tones are leading viewers to believe that theirs was not adequate.
“I have several clients who come asking for glassy clear skin, as seen in Korean entertainment,” South Bengaluru-based dermatologist Dr Girish Sa told South First in an earlier interview.
A social media user in her teens who didn’t want to be named told South First, “People only show the positive side or the side they choose to show, especially with things like body image, success, and expectations. It has created a very toxic and hostile mentality among the youth.”
A recent study — conducted at York University in Toronto, Canada — on the impact of a one-week break from social media on a group of young women had 85 female undergraduate students volunteering to earn a partial course credit. The participants were between 17 and 24 years old.
The researchers ensured that the group was diverse including South Asian, Caucasian/European, African, and other ethnic backgrounds. Their measurements of self esteem were taken before the experiment was done.
The participants were asked to completely abstain from social-media platforms for a week. The results were significant: They proved that even a period of seven days was enough for their participants to have a boost in their self-esteem and body image.
It was interesting to find out what psychologists and mental health practitioners had to say about this study.
The participants demonstrated higher levels of self esteem compared to the control group, whose members continued their usage of social media usage. It worked for body image as well.
The study even anticipated that participants with higher levels of thin-ideal internalisation — those more influenced by societal standards of thinness — would benefit more in terms of body satisfaction from the social media break than those with lower levels.
Shabari Bhattacharya, a consultant psychotherapist from Bengaluru, told South First that she agreed with this study; however, she emphasised that the most relevant aspect of this research was that “a change could be observed within such a short period of social media abstinence”.
This, she said she believed, has crucial implications for recommendations for clients when they present with low self-esteem or body image in counselling.
“If getting off of social media can have an immediate effect on self-esteem, then clients are more likely to be able to maintain the behaviour,” she noted.
She also emphasised how important it was to take breaks from social media, if only for the other benefits such as more face-to-face contact with friends and family, or just regular conversations on the phone, which served to decrease loneliness and increase social contact.
“Social media algorithms are geared to reinforce our insecurities and stimulate dopamine production, making it addictive,” she noted.
That being said, mindful social media use could provide access to body-positive messages as well, but users would have to consciously seek these out, she said.
South First also spoke to Venmal Elango, a secondary school counsellor at Stonehill International School, Bengaluru, who works closely with high schoolers. She said, “A study like this is absolutely important because it only reiterates what we’ve constantly been talking about as counsellors or as teachers, even with school children.”
She addd: “It is important to take a break because I feel like somewhere we’re forgetting the concept of just being human and just being able to accept the whole concept of being interpersonal to relate to and to communicate with one another.”
Everything that we do now is determined by this external source, which was not the case earlier; a lot of it was earlier determined by the environment we’ve grown up in or our genetics.
To get recommendations for individuals who want to learn how to cope with the adverse effects of social media, Nabonita Banerjee — a therapist and narrative practitioner for adults and families from Bengaluru — said: “Taking regular and methodical breaks, in my opinion, will firstly allow us to claim time that we otherwise seem to lose over devices.”
She explained: “When we bring back time into our lives, it will open up spaces in our lives to do the things that we want to do, or rather, bring focus into areas of our lives that are not behind a screen. — be it our work, relationships, activities of preference. Most importantly, it will bring us back into our bodies.”
Social media is here to stay in one format or another. Also, youngsters must know that it is extremely important to understand that social media is developed, run, and funded by machinery and industries governed by large entities with multiple stakeholders.
Meanwhile, in an earlier interview to South First, Dr Manoj Sharma gave tips to prevent social media addiction:
(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal/With inputs from Chetana Belagere)
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