Instagram is not necessarily a negative platform. It encourages individuality and allows users from all over the globe to share their everyday lives in creative ways
What’s dangerous is people taking it out of context; believing that what they see on their screens are perfect examples of how one should be.
Read on to see how Instagram is ruining your daughter’s self-esteem.
#1 Obsessed with ‘likes’
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In this day and age, most kids get obsessed with likes. A ‘like’ is often deemed as society’s way of giving you a thumbs up.
For them, Instagram isn’t so much a platform to stay connected to their friends, as it is a way to showcase themselves and their lives.
When scrolling through the home feed, a quick double-tap on a picture is a way to show you approve. So when your daughter isn’t getting as many ‘likes’ as her friends, she may think it’s because something is wrong with her.
#2 Society’s approval becomes their drug
Your daughter might be too consumed with what it “means” to be a tween. She might become obsessed with looking at the way others behave in social media and mimic them just so she feels validated and accepted in society.
Once in a while, remind her that society tends to follow values and beliefs that align with temporary trends and that it is unhealthy to constantly feel like you need to be like the others.
#3 “Why can’t I look like her?”
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Instinctively, a lot of girls tend to get really obsessed with how other girls look and tend to match the popularity of these girls with the number of likes they receive on their Instagram posts. This obsessive behaviour tends to get dismissed by many adults because they don’t realise that their children are actually feeling the pressure to “look good”.
#4 False expectations
Life isn’t perfect — the content you see on social media should not be deemed as something that’s perfect. Most of the time, it gives you false expectations of reality, and your daughter shouldn’t be too caught up with being on par with what she sees on her screen as it’s never the bigger picture.
#5 Constantly comparing herself to others
As your daughter scrolls through her feed every day, it’s highly likely she’ll be comparing herself to those she follows. Subconsciously, she starts to feel inferior because she doesn’t look as pretty or doesn’t have that “perfect life” every girl apparently has. Before you know it, she’ll do just about anything to be like the people on her screen.
#6 Relying on filters to feel beautiful
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In a society where photoshopping and airbrushing thrive exponentially, Instagram offers more than 20 filters your daughter can use to alter her pictures to look the best she can.
The problem is that she can become so reliant on filters that she is no longer able to accept herself simply as she is.
#7 Fame defines her
To many young girls, being popular in their social circle is what matters most to them.
Instagram may be a platform for you to connect with your friends, but to her, it may just be a way to categorise herself and others as someone who is popular with many followers and likes or someone who’s just “mediocre”.
She might let the amount of followers get to her – losing her sense of self and security in the process.
#8 Diminishing sense of self
Your daughter’s sense of self is in danger when she spends her time projecting the part of herself that exists only at a superficial level. Soon it gets to the point when she can no longer be her true self around others for fear that it won’t coincide with how others perceive her. Eventually she may even lose touch with her true self and identify as her false self.
#9 Not living in the moment
By constantly finding the need to upload and share moments of her life online, your daughter is not going to learn to live in the moment.
It gets dangerous when she has the strongest urge to post something just to prove that she “has a life”. Trying so hard to be “Instagram-worthy” will gradually lower her self-esteem and individuality.
#10 Social media consumes her
Constantly looking through her feed isn’t going to help her find true meaning in life as social media tends to disrupt real-world thoughts and meaningful interactions.
#11 It diminishes quality values of self
Too much of something isn’t always a good thing. Instagram might impact your daughter in both negative and positive ways – depending on the type of users and opinion leaders she follows as well as how she perceives them to be.
Obsessing over fuller-looking lips or slimmer looking waist isn’t going to help your daughter realise her full potential outside of superficiality, so try to get her to see the beauty in core values they might possess.
Also READ: How parents ruin kids’ self-esteem