Pressure of the upload

It used to be that the only real time we seriously needed to worry about looking our thinnest, having flawless makeup and hair, and putting together the perfect outfit was for certain occasions. The weddings, the birthdays and the school photographs and balls. These where occasions that photos where guaranteed. Now every second of every day is picture day, with snapchat stories and the daily pressure for that ‘knock out’ Instagram, there is no time to not want to look your best.

Me and my friends are defiantly contributors to this affect. We will often without thinking film each other for a funny snapchat story without the other knowing, and usually laugh about it after. We are all well trained and always replay the video or preview a picture to the person before uploading, but it defiantly took some tricky situations to reach this point.

When we were slightly younger, and probably a lot more insecure, as it is  for most teenagers how you look is everything. Before social media, although I have no doubt that those years where still as awkward and unpleasant at times, the pressures where not the same. These supposedly funny videos or pictures where often not seen as funny by the other people in them. Gone are the days of destroying the evidence of the unflattering picture, or it being an embarrassing joke between just friends. Once the video or picture is uploaded it is there like in an art gallery, for everyone and anyone to see.

A commonly used phrase is ‘I only let people I know follow me’, but do you really know that friend of a friends cousin? This is without the worry that even with the picture up for just a few seconds it could be screenshotted by anyone, and it becomes permanent online. The awkward stage of hating how you look (even in you look fine) and being vulnerable to criticism from other insecure teenagers, is suddenly opened up to potentially hundreds of thousands more people. Thinking back this was often a cause of great unnecessary stress to already insecure and emotional teenagers, trying to understand life.

I remember, and to be honest still experience, the pure horror of seeing a tagged photo notification pop up on my phone not knowing if it is a photo you have approved. I am very aware that this sounds dramatic, but in a world that is now more than ever influenced by appearance and online presence was this reaction really so uncalled for?

We are fed subconsciously and consciously, the contradicting ideals of beauty. A girl should be naturally thin like a Victoria secret model, but still look like they don’t care while eating a burger. We love the natural beachy look, but only if you look like you have perfectly wavy highlighted hair, a suspiciously flawless tan. We are stuck in the cycle or looking at other people’s beautifully edited photos all day long. As a result we feel inferior so uploading your own fake picture to make yourself feel better. therefore, making others feel and do the same.

Our online presence becomes one of the first things people that we meet in real life, or that we will never meet, judge us on. In my opinion, having had these types of messages fed constantly throughout those awkward years, a reaction such as a flood of panic and a cold sweat to an unknown picture of yourself being uploaded, doesn’t seem totally unprecedented. It used to be that celebrities in magazines where the only real pressures and aspirations of beauty, but now it can be normal everyday people on their Instagram’s. A survey by YMCA of 1,000 Brits aged 11-16 about body image expectations, revealed that 58 per cent say celebrities are responsible, while 52 per cent blamed people on social media.

After many an argument and panic, me and my close friends automatically have an unspoken agreement about consent before any photo, or even a completely harmless and funny mugshot is put anywhere on social media. It wasn’t Before a few days ago, when having a conversation with my friend about how annoying it was that some people don’t abide by this rule, that I ever saw this as an issue, which proves how ingrained this pressure is.

The fact that we get stressed or upset by what is uploaded is totally justified, but also not ok. Due to all these contributing factors, the way we portray ourselves is important, especially to an insecure teenager. The fact that we care what other people think is not a new phenomenon, however I do think that more sympathy needs to be given to the sometimes seemingly overly dramatic reactions to pictures being uploaded. It’s sad that we have to consult each other before every upload and analyse our appearance in every photo. Lots of us have lost the ability to just laugh it off and keep it as a fun personal memory, however this is the reality we face.

I have seen and heard of countless situations where uploads of far more harmful photos than a funny mugshot, can cause serious repercussions for someone’s mental health, and their whole life. Although teenagers are not the only ones affected by these pressures, they are defiantly as a whole a lot more vulnerable to the repercussions due to simply their mind sets.  A recent survey found that Around 60 per cent of teens admit they feel pressure to look ‘perfect’ on social media.

Schools and campaigns are thankfully doing a great job at educating young people on the seriousness of the click of the upload button. After reflecting on this though, I can’t help but feel that I missed out on  more care free teenage years which made me upset and frustrated. However much like Pandora’s box we can’t close it now. We need to continue to educate young people, and promote the use of social media for its positives, and limit the negative.