The Dark Side of Social Media

by Amanda Healy | Design by Emma Hill

Social media is a very powerful tool. It connects people with friends and family all over the world. It is a place to store memories and share ideas, but it also creates unrealistic expectations. People often believe they must look or behave a certain way because of how people present themselves online. It is very easy to make your life seem perfect through a screen, and different platforms have made it easy to present these unrealistic features. For example, face tune and photoshop are often used on many influencers’ posts showing idealistic body types that are not real. Yet, they credit their features to new workouts, healthy diets, or trendy products. These photos across platforms make it even easier for people to compare themselves to these so-called beauty standards. When someone is dishonest about how they obtained a specific look and encourages their followers to try a certain product that may not work, those individuals spend time, money, and effort on something that may not show results or could potentially harm their physical and mental well-being.

Celebrities and influencers live fascinating lives that captivate their audience. Whether it is wealth, elaborate events, or once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, these unique characteristics capture the attention of others to keep them coming back to their social media accounts to hold over their followers, where they can promote a product in a simple Instagram story and thousands of people will feed into the impulse and immediately buy a product they may not need. If someone is promoting a product like a supplement that will help you lose weight, it sounds enticing. Drinking one glass of water and powder every morning and see results in a couple of weeks, how easy is that? However, the reality is that these influencers are getting paid to say these wonderful things, so how do you know if it is even true? can twist the truth behind eating habits, I thought back to the lifestyle Youtubers I would constantly watch during the 2010s, such Bethany Mota, Alisha Marie, and Rclbeauty101, just to name a few. Many YouTube trends at the time included what I eat in a day videos and five-minute healthy breakfast, lunch, or dinner ideas. While it may not be the intention of these videos, at a very young and impressionable age, I started looking at what I was eating every day and comparing it to their “healthy” routines. I would then continue to try and make their different snacks for myself, under the impression that I would be like them if I ate like them. Social media can easily shape the minds of young children and adults just by self-comparison. However, these types of videos can be easily edited, and the audience never really knows if this is exactly what they are eating or if it is just a video idea to get more views.

The popularity of TikTok has increased the power of influencer marketing. However, these short-form videos only show 30 seconds, one minute, or three minutes of someone’s life. Reality is easily cut out. Many accounts post healthy recipes or easy workouts, guaranteeing that their chosen method will produce results as it did for them. There are multiple issues with most of these videos on TikTokl; these people are not just doing this one workout or eating the same meals every day, they are doing a combination of things to stay healthy in order to showcase their fit aesthetic. Even if they are only doing the service they are promoting, just because it works for them does not mean it will work for you — everybody is different.

One supplement brand I have tried is Plexus Slim, a powder you mix with water 30 minutes before your meal to suppress hunger, which they market for weight loss benefits. This was a product I enjoyed using because it tasted yummy, and I felt good when using it. However, the price is a large downside to these types of products, even if they work. Depending on where you purchase the product, Plexus Slim can range from $80 to $100. It is incredibly expensive for just 30 packets, and if you enjoy it, you run the risk of spending hundreds of dollars. I have also tried ActivateYou Morning Complete, a daily wellness drink. This product retails for $80 on their website, but you get a large amount of product compared to Plexus Slim. However, the flavor of this product is apple cinnamon, and I could only consistently take it for a week until I got sick of chugging it as fast as I could because I could not stand the taste. I definitely did not take it long enough to see any results.

Supplement culture is another sector that constantly gets promoted on social media. Five minutes rarely go by while I am scrolling on social media, where I do not see an ad for a nutrition supplement. One that I see more than others is Bloom Nutrition. I have never tried Bloom Nutrition, but influencers promote the powder as if it is the holy grail item of a healthy lifestyle. I am not interested in trying the item, because I worry that it will be easy to develop an unhealthy fixation with the product solving all my problems regarding healthy eating. Even if it is beneficial, you still need to do a plethora of other things to maintain a healthy life.

Everyone’s relationship with food and a healthy lifestyle is different. The most important thing is ensuring you are doing things correctly, so you are not accidentally harming yourself. When we first went into lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic, my TikTok page, like others, was filled with different at-home exercises, daily walks, and healthy alternatives to different dishes. A couple of weeks into being at home, I kept seeing one term when it came to losing weight, and that being a calorie deficit. The general idea of being in a calorie deficit is that you burn more calories than you consume throughout the day. There is a healthy way to do this, and it is how you can successfully lose weight. However, anyone can post on social media, not just professionals. I would see different accounts explaining how to calculate your personal calorie deficit properly, but they would contradict each other. I picked a random video and tried it for myself, but this led to under-eating. I would skip meals if I felt like I did not exercise enough, which meant I was not burning enough calories, and in my head, I needed to eat fewer calories. From here, I started reading the calories in everything I ate and tracking what I consumed in an app. I regret listening to TikTok and doing a calorie deficit in this way, because it changed my appetite for a while. At times of the day when I would typically get hungry, I no longer did because I was training myself not to eat full meals. These trends can cause severe damage. If you are trying to lose weight, tone your body, or just eat healthily, make sure you are doing it in the right way, and talk to a professional if you need guidance, do not just look at social media.

Social media can be a great tool, and many people use their platforms to share helpful information and give a voice to those struggling to be heard. However, it can be a place of negativity through online bullying, passing judgment, and sharing misinformation. When it comes to your health and eating habits, it’s crucial to ensure you are doing it correctly so you do not harm yourself. Trends come and go. People want to share their own journey and what helped them, but their motive may be to gain followers, not to help people’s physical or mental well-being. I have been through my fair share of ups and downs trying the new “best” workout and eating as clean as possible, but for some people being so strict makes it even more complicated when you have those cheat meals, and you feel guilty for doing something that was not recommended. The relationship between food and social media can be fun to explore through new recipes and encouragement to try new cuisines you have never tried before. However, trends and editing can create a hostile and unrealistic space, so it is essential to recognize the fabrication that takes place behind the screen.