Between “morning sheds” and excessive vanity restocks, social media fuels unrealistic consumerism in the beauty industry, creating the very problems it claims to fix. The promotion of beauty products is inescapable, undermining the concept of selfcare.
“Overconsumption makes kids our age want the next new product. So many people who claim to have skin problems may be using too many products in their routine that aren’t recommended or prescribed that are actually harming them,” said freshman Bitsy Allen.
The online concept of “selfcare” specifically targets girls, who are sensitive to cosmetological scams. Skincare especially can become harmful when promoted and used by the wrong audience.
Scientists have noticed a surge in dermatological issues among young people due to the misuse of skincare products.
A group of Gen Alpha kids, mostly girls in the USA known as “Sephora Kids” have gravitated towards retinol, an anti-aging ingredient, after viewing its effects from influencers. Misapplication can result in irritant contact dermatitis, a compromised skin barrier and lifelong sensitivities.
Children view overly glorified goods as necessary purchases, resulting in fabricated self-consciousness in the younger generations.
“It makes women and especially young girls feel the need to start putting a ton of products on our face, like we’re aging the second we step out of middle school,” junior Sagan Shapiro said.
The advertising distortion affects everyone. Influencers, often claiming to have good intentions, spread false information due to being compensated by companies for promotion.
Beauty expenditures are often promoted as medically certified by industry experts, compelling thousands of people to purchase.
Freshman Shoshana Milch says, “I often find myself wanting to buy certain products advertised to me in order to fit a certain model. Overconsumption of selfcare affects society negatively because people are prone to think that they need to spend their money to make themselves fit into society’s beauty standards.”
Social media promotes unrealistic beauty standards. Videos of glass skin and edited bodies alongside random products convert envy into money. These harmful beauty standards are detrimental to mental health.
“Women already have the stress of constantly looking older and feeling our value from our appearance, so it instills that stress earlier into young girls,” Shapiro said.
Even if viewers can identify these harmful trends, social media still draws them in, exposing viewers to more and more negativity.
“Social media is taking all of us almost hostage, and I feel it myself. I feel like when I am relaxed on Instagram, reels engage me too much and I can’t turn it off,” said GOA biology teacher Mrs. Goldstein.
Social media’s addictive nature is rooted in human psychology. Platforms capitalize on dopamine rushes, taking advantage of psychological vulnerabilities.
Finding a gratifying video floods the brain with dopamine and serotonin. This turns into a rewards-based cycle: consumers find a video they like, and then they keep scrolling until they find another.
This “doomscrolling” absorbs viewers into a seemingly neverending, habitual compulsion to stare at screens for hours.
Through this combination of human psychology and engineered technology, social media synthesizes a specific susceptibility to the overwhelming promotion of goods. In turn, they profit off people’s insecurities.
Social media’s harms are not going unnoticed by society. The first jury trial over social media’s negative impacts finished in March.
Upon executive testimony and internal corporate data retrieval from Meta and Youtube, disturbing documents questioning authority on the neglect of teenagers and wellbeing. One piece of evidence reads that the “goal is not viewership, it’s viewer addiction.”
The six-week trial included many high profile witnesses, such as Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and YouTube’s vice-president of engineering Cristos Goodrow, as well as testimony from the lead plaintiff known as KGM.
KGM expressed her early onset exposure to social media. The premature addiction left her struggling with diagnosed depression, body dysmorphic disorder and social phobia attributed to Instagram and Youtube, according to her therapist.
Social media companies would face harsh financial penalties if jurors rule in favor of KGM. The prosecution lawyers hope these fines will lead corporations into changing key aspects of their platform’s functions, said officials.
Overall, it is crucial to control your reactions and sift through the misinformation and standards that social media engrosses viewers in.
