This is a critical argumentative essay written in October 2024 for the (Theta Omicron Chapter) Omega Psi Phi Essay Contest which I ended up winning first place for. My essay discusses the oversaturation of beauty content and products online that only serve to make a person insecure about everything about them. The main themes are as followed: beauty, mental health, body image, and social media.

Social media. Every young person uses it. It stimulates the mind with its endless videos, pictures, and sounds. And more than ever, it allows people to become connected in ways we could never imagine before. But, in this bliss, there lies a dark side. One that relies on hate and deceit to break others down to their worst and give in to whatever they say. This side of social media will make you feel like you will never be enough.

Apps like Tiktok and Instagram are chock full of conventionally attractive people telling others that they HAVE to purchase or do something unnecessary to make them look better. “Link in the description to buy my anti-aging products!” “Buy my online course to learn to look as good as me!” “5 areas on your body you’ve been neglecting that will make you older than you are!” Phrases like these are everywhere online, seeping into our heads and manipulating us to conform to what they deem is beautiful. These messages make us feel ugly. Like if we don’t mold ourselves into the “ideal” version of what random people online label attractive, then we have no purpose or are worth nothing in the world. The biggest issue with this is that what is called attractive changes faster than the flip of a switch. So a person will be trapped in an endless cycle of pursuing an impossible beauty, listening to the voices of influencers who tell them what overpriced beauty gadget to buy next.  But it doesn’t matter in the end. Because someone will always find a minute thing to say “You’re ugly” over.

Moving away from just physical appearance, social media is also used to find relatability or show off something you enjoy. Whether it be talking about your favorite show to see if others like it too or just showcasing a piece of art you made, people love to share what makes them happy. The problem arises when strangers online virtually tackle these people for expressing joy about an interest of theirs. One such case is the online art community. Too often on social media, when a beginner artist uploads their art to a social platform, they are dogpiled by other people in their community who want to criticize them purely just because they feel like it. “That certainly is…a piece of work.” “Art lore!” “Maybe you should’ve waited a little longer.” To be insulted by not just random users, but users who supposedly like the same things you do, can crush your passion for your interest or make you feel alone within your niche. 

Additionally, if you scroll through the hundreds of thousands of movies or show rants on Tiktok or Youtube, you’ll feel like you’re not allowed to like anything. And while it is completely fine to have opinions on a piece of media, that’s just what it is: an OPINION. But the way these creators voice these opinions are very hateful and almost condescending sounding to anyone who might like the thing they hate. This thus causes these people to feel ashamed for enjoying their medium and want to hide it away to avoid being shunned anymore.

On top of all this, social media is ultimately meant to waste your time. It has been designed so that an individual will scroll for hours on end, looking at mostly meaningless posts to pass the time. And as you spend your time scrolling, you can’t help but wonder “Is this really all I can do with my life?” The world moves so fast that if you’re too focused on what’s happening online, you’ll miss what’s happening in the real world and you get left behind. And when a person gets left behind, it can destroy their feelings of self worth. 

That’s why it’s important to talk about issues like the ones aforementioned in this essay. Mental health is a fragile thing, and once you mess it up, it is very hard to make it fully recover. Social media harms us in many ways; it makes us unhealthily compare ourselves to other people who don’t care about us, it causes us to feel detached from reality, and it gives strangers the freedom to bully others with little to no consequence. 
While social media is not going away anytime soon, remember that there is so much more than what’s online. Put the phone down. Take a step back. Look at yourself and understand that you are enough.