Although there has been a lot of talk about body positivity and beauty obsession for some time, many teenage girls still have self-esteem problems. Undoubtedly, excessive use of smartphones and, consequently, social media lower it significantly. In an interview with Vibez.pl, a psychologist admitted that, in recent years, it is mainly young people struggling with smartphone, internet or gaming addiction that come to his practice.

What do teenagers most often look at online? Beautiful, idealised bodies and faces, and this obviously affects their self-esteem and mental health. In return, more and more youngsters decide to undergo aesthetic medicine procedures nowadays. Are they becoming addicted to plastic surgery?

PAP (English: Polish Press Agency) spoke to Dr Maria Noszczyk about aesthetic medicine procedures, which are becoming increasingly popular among young people who want to improve their appearance so that it better fits the standards set by social media.

Dr Noszczyk says that young people most often opt for procedures that are supposed to correct visible aesthetic flaws such as a humped nose. They also dream of prominent lips and outlined cheekbones. According to her, they approach the subject similarly to enhancing photos on their phones. If you can do it on a selfie, why not transfer it to reality?

"They're used to the fact that if you take a picture with a camera or a phone, there's still a lot you can change and improve afterwards. They start to think about their appearance in the same way. And we will have more and more such patients. It is them who care most about the best possible effects of improving their beauty," said Dr Noszczyk.

The problem concerns not only Polish teenagers. According to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (ASPRS), almost 230,000 plastic surgeries and almost 140,000 non-invasive cosmetic procedures were performed on teenagers aged 13-19 in 2020. Adolescents were most likely to opt for nose and protruding ear correction, bust-related procedures and acne scars removal.

In 2023, a book entitled "Génération bistoury" was published in France. It explores the problem of the popularity of aesthetic medicine among the young and mentions that there were more 18-34 year-olds than 50-60 year-olds who underwent aesthetic procedures since 2019. The younger generation is said to be encouraged to do so by the promotion of plastic surgery on social media, The Telegraph reports.

It is worth mentioning that in the UK a new law came into force in 2022. It prohibits the display of advertisements designed to suggest that plastic surgery for people under the age of 18 is not a bad thing. The decision was said to be related to the growing interest among teenagers in such procedures.

Research conducted by the Dove brand in 2021 showed that as much as 80% of teenagers under the age of 13 had already used apps to change their appearance before posting their photos online. 77% of young people try to change or hide at least one part of their body before publishing a photo. Why do they do it? To match unrealistic beauty stereotypes.

What do they get in return? Lowered self-esteem. The study also found that young people who alter their photos are more likely to suffer from lowered self-esteem – 48% of those surveyed experienced this.

Another Dove research conducted in 2022 on a group of Polish girls aged 10-17 showed that up to 60% of them want to change something about their appearance after seeing an idealised photo. Their self-perception is undoubtedly impacted by social media influencers. 67% of girls aged 10-13 admitted that they would like to look like people the follow online.

Given that a significant number of the more popular influencers in Poland have undergone plastic surgery - Lexy and Natsu opted for Botox and Marcin Dubiel injected himself with hyaluronic acid - it is not surprising that their young followers want to emulate them. They see what they do and what their idols look like, so they want to be like them.

So are social media platforms owners doing anything to counteract these problems? Not really. In 2021 The Wall Street Journal reporters obtained an internal Facebook report which clearly shows that Instagram is harmful to millions of young people. 32% of teenage girls admitted that when they feel bad about their bodies, the platform only makes them feel worse. It also affects their perception of the body and psyche.

40% of US and UK teenagers admitted that they had started to describe themselves as "unattractive" as a result of using Instagram. In response to these allegations, the platform announced that it wants to change for the better.

Despite Instagram’s promise, a research conducted by Fairplay organisation in 2022 showed that the platform feeds content promoting eating disorders and anorexia to millions of users. Most of them are under the age of 13. Of course, this isn’t the only platform that influences teenagers' body perceptions.

A report published this year by the American Psychological Association shows that young people who reduced their use of social media, such as TikTok or Instagram, by at least a half, had better self-esteem. If we would like young people to look at themselves and their bodies more kindly, perhaps it would be worth following the path of France and banning the use of social media for children under the age of 15?

Source: PAP, WP Kobieta, Dove, Telegraph, Forbes, webMD