We Wanted to Protect Our Daughters From Social Media Influences - Do We Now Need to Protect Ourselves?
I remember when my daughter first started using social media. I was extremely nervous and concerned. At that time, social media was still a relatively new concept but there were already worries being voiced about how it could negatively affect a young woman’s perspective as it related to their body image, self esteem and overall mental health.
These impacts have since been extremely well documented.
For example, the University of Alberta published an extensive article outlining the risks entitled Lifelines – the Impact of Social Media on Body Image and Mental Health. They shared the following;
“With repeated exposure (to social media), our thinking can perceive “exaggerated or imagined flaws” in how we look, resulting in Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Social media often objectifies bodies and can shape people’s relationships with food, fashion, and fitness under the guise of inspiration.”.
Fortunately, after having conversations with my daughter on the potential risks and dangers of giving too much credibility or being too engaged with social media, she managed to maneuver her way through her teenage years without any issues or concerns.
But I’m starting to get concerned again. This time not for my daughter but for myself and other older women.
For example, I haven’t been using Instagram for too long but happened to notice that in my feed, I was starting to receive more and more images of older women that didn’t align with my personal views of how I viewed aging.
Some were promoting anti-aging products to make you look younger, some were showing how great they looked in a bikini or skimpy clothes and others were demonstrating how to put on makeup to hide your wrinkles and your age.
As I was thinking about this, I was wondering whether this was just something I was experiencing on my own feed and maybe somehow the algorithm thought I was interested in this type of content or whether others were seeing the same thing. I checked in with a few girlfriends who confirmed that it wasn’t just me. They too were being bombarded with these images. So here is my concern.
Are older women now being targeted with unrealistic expectations of what aging and the aging experience should look like on social media?
We know that older women have been long ignored in the mainstream media for years. And often when they were highlighted it was often accompanied by comments such as “look how good they look for their age” – and we all know what that means.
But as more older women are engaging and promoting themselves on social media, are we now the ones possibly applying the societal pressures on ourselves of what aging as a woman should look like?
Research has now confirmed what damage social media can cause to our psyche and overall well being. So similar to what we did for our daughters, do we need to now protect ourselves from this potential harm and recognize that these images are not what we should be comparing ourselves to?
I think so.
So, if you are an older woman and active on social media, beware.
Do not buy into the images being flogged of what aging is supposed to look like. Instead, I would suggest you decide what your own view of aging is and then surround yourself with authentic people who lift you up and make you feel good about yourself and what you are doing.
