HAS SOCIAL MEDIA CONDITIONED OUR MINDS TO COMPARE?
Introduction
People have always compared themselves to others. In the past, they might have looked at magazines, commercials, or celebrities and compared their looks. Kids and teenagers might have compared themselves to other students at school. Today, social media has made it easier than ever and more acceptable than ever to compare ourselves to others. Whether they are comparing looks, lifestyles, or even the amount of likes and followers, social media users are constantly comparing themselves to other people. Social media has allowed us to be more connected than ever to celebrities and influencers, but this might not always be a good thing, especially not if it's causing people to set unattainable goals and compare their lifestyle to that of a celebrity. Social media also gives people an outlet to share their feelings and compare themselves publicly, which makes it seem normal and healthy.
In Media, Self, and Society we have talked about a variety of topics including media and mental health, body image, and your identity online. These topics are affected and can influence our lives negatively when we compare ourselves to others online. Constant comparison can cause mental health to decline or could cause someone to be unhappy with their body image, for example.
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Recent examples of comparison online
Emily Ratajkowski
Model and Actress
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Ratajkowski recently posted this picture on Instagram, only 11 days after giving birth. Immediately after she posted the picture, other women started talking about how their bodies did not look like this post-partum. Many people felt like it was wrong of her to post this picture because looking like this after having a baby is not a typical experience for women. Body image is something many women struggle with, especially after pregnancy, which is why so many women felt like Ratajkowski should not have shared the image and that it seemed like she was showing off how quickly she lost weight. Even though Ratajkowski probably meant no harm when posting this image, it still affected other people and caused them to compare their experiences to hers.
Dua Lipa
Singer
After Dua Lipa's Grammy performance, dozens of people posted on Twitter about not wanting to eat anymore because of how her body looked during the performance. Similarly, on TikTok, many videos were going viral in which people joked about eating protein powder and needing to exercise after seeing Lipa at the Grammys. Obviously, the tweets and videos are meant to just be funny jokes, but they also show just how many people compare themselves to influencers and celebrities. Posting content like this on social media normalizes this kind of mindset and might influence others to think the same way.
