Social media plays a major role in communication throughout the whole world with different interests, content and so much more that brings people together. Many teenagers use social media as a way to fill up their boredom or free time.
I’ve used social media since I was around 11 years old with popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok (formerly known as Musical.ly) since 2018.
My most used app is TikTok along with around 1 billion users worldwide. I’ve seen many trends throughout the years like fashion, makeup and more. But recently, I’ve come across trends that target physical body structures.
A video of “If I’m TikTok pretty” popped up on my page–I was confused about what it even meant. But the more I continued watching, it was listing physical traits of one’s appearance that appealed to TikTok viewers and what’s considered the “standard” beauty online.
There’s even a trend where people associate certain parts of a human’s traits to an animal, asking if you’re that type of animal pretty. As an example, I remember seeing someone connect dark circles to being “raccoon pretty.” I’ve been insecure about having dark under-eyes, that association made it worse.
Then more and more videos targeted at physical beauty started appearing on my page–I was baffled.
This time It was whether or not I had legging legs or tank-top arms. What they meant is if you have legging legs, leggings are only suitable for those with thigh gaps. And tank-top arms mean tank-tops look better with those that have muscular, slender arms.
I’ve got fed up with the amount of trends I’ve been seeing. What’s even more confusing is whether or not I have a symmetrical face and a positive or negative canthal tilt. A canthal tilt is measuring what degree, upwards or downwards, your eyes go.
Upwards is positive and downwards is negative. Having a positive tilt makes one look more sharp and youthful yet downward makes one extremely tired and sad. I’ve never heard of a canthal tilt before.
Why would having it to a certain degree make me unattractive?
These TikTok Trends get reposted over and over again to the point where I’m seeing teenagers and young children take part in them. It’s damaging to see that the majority of young, teenage users want to fit into the standards of online beauty. It’s gone so far that people make filters to enhance and change one’s appearance online too.
As a young user, I’ve experienced insecurities from these trends and was angry that I didn’t have certain traits to look “beautiful” according to what social media said till now. I’ve changed my mind that I should accept how I am now rather than forcing myself to look up to the standards.
Over time, trends can start causing someone and feel the need to keep up with them. Yet, not all trends stay the same, and it can become hard to predict what could potentially be the next “standard” to follow. People need to stop creating trends that target physical appearances that are damaging, not just physically, but mentally impacting younger people.
