Our Body Image and Social Media: Live Life Unfiltered | Keisha & Teagan Simpson Simpson | TEDxOttawa

[Music] [Music] so I bought a brand new dress I spent two hours on my hair and makeup and then for another hour I smiled and posed for photos this year I had a date an athlete and an all-around great guy maybe you've been here before smiling for photos looking happy and then posting the photos to social media for the world to see the crazy thing is I didn't actually go to the party after these photos were taken I made up an excuse er to and I insisted on being alone I stayed home crying by myself because I didn't feel beautiful feeling confident in my body is something I've struggled with a lot feeling beautiful is something that I'm working on my point though and the important point that I hope you understand is that based on this photo I was a happy young woman about to go out and make memories as far as my mom was concerned I found a dress I had a date and always well if you were to judge Who I am solely based on my Instagram you would have an inaccurate idea of what my life is like Instagram is not always what it seems for decades Sesame Street has taught us to relate to find commonality to be accepting encouraging and inclusive these were the building blocks for our youth relating to one another but times have changed now we live in the era of social media constantly and endlessly comparing ourselves to one another our bodies our lives and our relationships measuring our happiness by likes and followers doesn't matter is comparing ourselves harmful we think so and so do many others the United Kingdom's Royal Society for public health is concerned that social media may be fueling a mental health crisis and young people failing social media to the 70% increase in anxiety and depression over the last 25 years I repeat crisis not a mental health problem but a crisis before we go on let's make sure we're on the same page different ages use and interact with Instagram differently for example if we're all to pulled our phones right now what you would see in your account would be very different from what I would see because all depends on who you follow I'm gonna take the guest the majority of you don't follow hundreds of young women but I do when I go on Instagram I am overwhelmed by photos of girls my age many of which are posed and perfected versions of my friends and mere acquaintances what a teenage girl sees on Instagram it's drastically different from what the average adult sees and overtime scrolling through these photos can really take a toll on your self-esteem maybe this concept helps it's kind of like comparing your house at this very moment probably with dogs cats dirty dishes and laundry to the award winning dream homes in magazines this comparison is not only unrealistic but it's extremely unfair my name is Keisha and this is my sister Tegan my twin sister growing up I labelled Tegan as a skinny twin and honestly I thought everyone liked Keisha more yet we were both been smiling happy girls we are actually more alike than we were different as twins and best friends we grew up understanding just how destructive these comparisons can be and yet come University we continue to compare our lives and bodies to those in the photos we saw on Instagram we deemed Instagram a university necessity despite knowing deep down that is probably going to affect our self-esteem body image and even our general happiness were we the only ones who felt this way well with a quick Google search we found numerous studies that link social media especially Instagram to increasing levels of anxiety depression loneliness and body image issues and young women but cut our friends really be feeling this way to know no way there's no way because when we go on Instagram well we see our happy beautiful and confident people there's no way that these girls are going through the same thing that we are yet the more we researched and googled the more concern we felt for instance renowned psychologist Jeanne twanging links increases in teenage depressive symptoms and suicide rates to social media and she had two main findings one the amount of time that you spend on social media matters and to teenage girls are more negatively affected than teenage boys so we sat down with our friends and we told them what we are going through and I'm sure you're probably not surprised to hear but the majority of them felt the same way long story short we founded live life unfiltered a social media movement designed to improve the insert game experience for young women we've interviewed hundreds of women across Canadian campuses and almost all of them admit that's scrolling through Instagram affects them negatively causing the end field only insecure anxious and sometimes even depressed many of them admit that they feel compelled to using filters and have become hooked on getting likes and followers I think the biggest surprise fatigue and I was how many young woman admitted to using Photoshop regularly basically there's new apps that allow us to digitally alter the way we look with just a few clicks I could go on right now and in a few moments I could have a photo of myself with longer legs a thinner waist I could remove acne remove a fat rule or I could even give myself that perfectly round butt that everyone is talking about now these issues aren't new we think of paying ourselves to photoshopped images forever I'm sure many of us have been in a grocery store where we opened up a magazine standing at their pages of perfectly photoshopped beautiful people but what if you open up these magazines and the photos were of your friends how would this make you feel about your own body well this is essentially what the Instagram experience is except when we're in a store we can put the magazine down and walk away but we can't really do that with our phones we take them with us everywhere it's just part of our culture think back 20 to 30 years ago about the alarming research of comparing yourself to Photoshop models and magazines well new studies suggest the comparing ourselves to the edited and perfected versions of our friends is far worse much more damaging to our mental health we should be concerned 72% of teens are on Instagram 68% of the 1 billion Instagram users or women scrolling through our feed looking at the altered unobtainable body images is not healthy and what's more what about the young women who are becoming addicted to altering the way they look let's just stop and think about this for a second we all have insecurities - my legs let's say that I start to photoshop my legs on Instagram if I do this on Monday I'm probably going to do it on Thursday and Saturday - once I start presenting this alter cyber cell how do I stop especially after the affirmation of 300 lights to be clear there's nothing wrong with wanting to feel beautiful and confident after you post a photo but if you're filtering or photoshopping excessively then the likes and comments you're receiving on your post aren't actually being directed at you but your altered cyber self so what is this going to do to your own personal insecurities how this affect your body image and self-esteem how this make you feel when you're talking to me in person but even if you're not photoshopping research still links taking a selfie just the act of taking a selfie with significantly lower body satisfaction striving for thinness eating disorders and especially bulimia the more time you spend taking a selfie and editing it the less satisfied you're gonna become with your own body parents used to worry about the influence of Barbies proportions well we have to ask have you seen the photos or daughters are scrolling through everyday Instagram has only been around for 10 years and yet the research is flooding in Instagram more than any other social media platform is negatively affecting our mental health as part of live life unfiltered we've created an account designed to remind woman that weäôve insecurities bad days and pimples despite what social media may portray we want to bring back perspective to Instagram each day we post an unfiltered photo and a quote from a young woman who wants to help improve social media for others this young woman shares that like her friends she photo shops and poses and many of her photos she says that when she sees a beautiful picture on Instagram she wishes she could look like that even though she knows it's been photoshopped this next woman talks about how she sometimes feels anxious before posting to social media these are just two examples we've heard these stories hundreds of times and it's getting really tired these issues are real and prevalent Instagram isn't going anywhere with over a billion active users it's here to stay and it is an amazing way to stay connected but what if we could improve the Instagram experience could we balance the perfected photos with unfiltered ones last year we ran a campaign to do just this it was called that as she is challenged where young woman are encouraged to post an unfiltered photo to our hashtag as she is this is a typical post from one participants Instagram account clearly she's beautiful but on the day of the challenge this is the photo she chose to post vulnerable and courageous she talks about her facial acne and her use of filters to cover it up this young woman's willingness to be unfiltered made a real impact on her followers and admittedly also herself from our experience when young women are willing to be vulnerable they express a sense of relief freedom from accepting and admitting that they have insecurities the fact is Instagram is affecting us negatively the research is real and we've really just skimmed the surface the first step is acknowledging the need for change we have we're now less filtered both on and offline on Instagram I'm stopped filtering my photos and honestly it's made my experience a lot more enjoyable for me I'm started being less filtered in my everyday life beginning with vocalizing my insecurities they're greater acceptance of my own body I compare myself less to others and it's made of real impact today I'm wearing heels something I never imagined I would do and it's pretty cool but don't just take our word for it have the discussions talk to your friends and talk to your daughters how is Instagram making you feel for some of us these comparisons will be subconscious so try monitoring your own emotions as you scroll the good news is we can make change we don't have to take on Instagram social media has played a role and the way Keyshia and I have felt in our own bodies we struggle to feel as beautiful as we thought others looked but what's unique about our story what makes our story worthy of the TEDx stage nothing our story is not unique and that's why it needs to be shared our story might be the story of your daughter your son or your friends our story might even be your story thank you [Music] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 28,153

Rating: 4.8253274 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Beauty, Behavior, Body, Identity, Mental health, Social Media

Id: iWc5rQ_YvYw

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 09 2019