The social networks and the tools they make available may not be the cause of a malaise but emphasize it or bring out a wound that has remained invisible until then.
With the advent of Instagram and Tik Tok, two social networks focused on sharing photos and videos, the aesthetics of the body has reached its apotheosis. “What defines users’ identity is their self-image. “I am the image that I post”, this is the meaning of the selfie, the business card to be known online »he comments Giuseppe Riva, Professor of General Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan. And if our image, immortalized in a (self) shot or animated in a short video, becomes the only way to present ourselves, then – it is the underlying thought – it is better to make a good impression. This is why they were invented i filters. The social platforms provide a myriad of them to retouch the face (those that change the color of the skin, those that smooth it, remove imperfections, lengthen the eyelashes, replace the color of the eyes and so on) and make it look like the winning beauty canon. «Social networks, on the one hand, make the aesthetic standard of reference in society immediately visible, through the number of likes that an image gets and the number of followers who follow a specific profile – continues Riva -; and on the other, they amplify it. In addition to being more seductive, people show themselves happier than they really aregenerating a sense of inadequacy in users who feel ugly or down in the dumps ».
Social confrontation
The virtual square is not comparable to life before the Internet. «Once the social confrontation took place within a small company of friends and acquaintances» observes Riva. The impact of social media and selfie-mania on adolescents’ mental health is measured by their degree of self-esteem. “Although today the tendency towards the visual representation of oneself is greater than in the past, the use of filters to appear more attractive can be simply a phenomenon of costume, a fun game, for those who like themselves as they are or otherwise has learned to accept their “defects” – clarifies Federico Tonioni, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, head of the web-based psychopathology clinic of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome -. If the boy from an early age was loved and appreciated for who he is by his parents, who knew how to be close to him and trust him even when he has disappointed their expectations, then he will have learned to cultivate his self-esteemto grow strong and healthy, and will not be conditioned by the beauty models embodied by influencers or even by a bully who on the web or off the web instigates and criticizes him for his physical appearance “.
Social media therefore, the psychiatrist emphasizes, “are not the cause of a malaise but can emphasize it either bring out a wound that had remained invisible until then“. Those who experience an intimate shame for their body, finding it hard to look naked in the mirror, find it more difficult to perform even on the virtual stage.
“An Italian study of 2020 on 693 adolescents, 45% males, with an average age of 16 – Riva resumes -, highlighted that the shame of the body, learned as a child, strongly predicted body image control in photos posted on social networks. It means that those who feel ashamed constantly verify that the image of themselves conforms to social standards, comparing it with that of the people of reference ».
Cyberbullying
Body shaming is a form of bullying or cyberbullying in which the victim is made fun of for their physical appearance. According to a survey carried out by Skuola.net in 2021, on over 6 thousand young people between 10 and 17 years old, almost 9 out of 10 teenagers have been victims of it at least once and for 3 out of 10 this kind of mockery is on the agenda. The consequences of body shaming could be devastating for those who already live their body badly. “Faced with the stress caused by the insult – explains Tonioni – there are those who, having a good self-esteem, react with irony, those who adopt avoidant behaviors, deciding, for example, not to attend the group in which they suffered the aggression anymore. , and who, finally, completely collapses from the sense of shame. It is necessary to understand what discomfort lies behind the person who collapses, who locks himself in the house, isolates himself from everyone else, to the point of thinking that he deserves those criticisms and self-injurious gestures».
October 19, 2022 (change October 20, 2022 | 10:32)
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