ANTI-AGEING OBSESSION

Sadly in this day and age (!) ‘ageing’ is often paired with ‘anti’, but it shouldn’t always have to be. We dispel the myths and explore our cultural obsession with the eternal quest for youth.

As we are now in a booming anti-ageing culture, we have become highly uncomfortable with the ageing process, and many of us have lost the ability to embrace it. Where does this come from? Is it down to our own insecurities? Is society pressuring us to stay young? Or is it just our desire to turn back the clock that is nevertheless ticking away? We have always been told to respect our elders, yet becoming elderly is portrayed in the media as such a frightening way of life. Many people are deciding to hide the ageing process through plastic surgery and Botox. Is this down to vanity, or is there a deeper reason? The profitability of companies that benefit from this feeling pray on our insecurities and make us doubt one of the most natural parts of life. Let’s look at how the anti-ageing culture of today is really affecting our society.

The desire to want to look good shows great selfconfidence. You actually care enough about yourself to want to make a good impression on the people you meet. However, it’s good to enjoy the experience of taking care of your looks, but it’s another thing entirely to feel obligated to stay youthful in order to be deemed worthy.

On a more positive note, 40% of women say they find it easier to speak their mind now that they’re older, 35% of women don’t try so hard to impress others, and 1 in 3 women think one of the main advantages of ageing is increased confidence. This brings us full circle! Caring about how you look is a great sign of self-confidence, but just being yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks also shows confidence. The point is, it doesn’t matter how you are choosing to age, as long as you are happy with your decision and are doing the right thing for you, not anyone else.

The most obvious way people are exposed to the anti-ageing culture is through social media. Studies show that social media makes women in particular feel insecure and selfconscious about the way they look. However, what you see on the surface of social media doesn’t always match what’s happening deep down. People curate what they want their life to look like to others on social media, but when you’re the person looking at their photos, all you see is the life you don’t have. You may see someone online who has glowing skin and zero wrinkles. Don’t get me wrong, some people have amazing genes, but at a certain age you are going to get wrinkles, and that’s okay. What you don’t see when looking at that person’s social media is how much work, effort, and money they have put into looking the way they do. And before you start analysing why you don’t look like your Instagrammable counterparts be safe in the knowledge that that is NOT what people actually look like anyway! According to The Modems in a Case 24 survey of 3,000 UK residents, a staggering 71% of people edit their selfies before uploading! A further 54% change imperfections on their skin and 33% edit their lips. Staggering!

Nowadays, ‘getting work done’ has become almost normalised in our society, so when older women say that they haven’t had anything done, it’s seen as shocking. However, there are still many older