seen from Peru
seen from Malaysia
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from Taiwan
seen from Latvia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from Yemen
seen from China
seen from Vietnam
seen from India
seen from Canada
seen from Greece
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Kazakhstan
Hershel Korngut Explains the Hidden Emotional Impact of Social Media
How constant scrolling, online comparison, and digital overload can influence emotional stability. Hershel Korngut shares expert insights into why social media often triggers sudden mood swings and mental fatigue.
Social Media’s Silent Attack on Our Mental Health | The Truth About Social Media | iShook
In this powerful and eye-opening panel discussion, experts and advocates come together to reveal the real impact of social media on youth, mental health, and family values. From the addictive nature of scrolling and dopamine-driven apps to the alarming rise in misinformation and substance abuse, this video explores how the digital age is shaping our relationships and well-being. With voices like Dr. Pov, Rabbi Yitzchak, Daniel & Jane Baldwin, and Rabbi Yishaya, the conversation dives deep into the importance of live connection, protecting the younger generation, and rebuilding community through education and tradition. Whether you're passionate about digital storytelling, student safety, or mental health awareness, this is a must-watch. Join the movement for a healthier, more human online world
Social Media’s Silent Attack on Our Mental Health | The Truth About Social Media | iShook
n this powerful and eye-opening panel discussion, experts and advocates come together to reveal the real impact of social media on youth, mental health, and family values. From the addictive nature of scrolling and dopamine-driven apps to the alarming rise in misinformation and substance abuse, this video explores how the digital age is shaping our relationships and well-being. With voices like Dr. Pov, Rabbi Yitzchak, Daniel & Jane Baldwin, and Rabbi Yishaya, the conversation dives deep into the importance of live connection, protecting the younger generation, and rebuilding community through education and tradition. Whether you're passionate about digital storytelling, student safety, or mental health awareness, this is a must-watch. Join the movement for a healthier, more human online world
Influencers: are they affecting the mental health of followers?
Absolutely and in more ways than we often realize. Social media influencers shape how people think, feel, and even define their self-worth. On one hand, they create entertaining content, offer lifestyle tips, and build supportive communities. But on the other hand, many promote unrealistic beauty standards, wealth, and “perfect” lives that don’t reflect reality. Constant exposure to this kind of content can lead to anxiety, depression, body image issues, and a sense of not being “good enough.”
Young people, especially teens and young adults, are the most vulnerable. They’re still figuring out who they are, and seeing filtered, edited, and highly curated lives every day can distort their view of what’s normal.
But it’s not all negative there are also influencers who use their platform to speak up about mental health, promote authenticity, and encourage self-love. The key is who we choose to follow and how much power we give them over our emotions and decisions.
At the end of the day, it’s on us to set boundaries and remember that social media is just a highlight reel not real life. 🧠📲💬
[Week 8]
📱 The Internet Sold Us a New Face - Now We Hate Our Own
"Fix Me" Filters & Fake Perfection: A Glitch in Reality?
Surgery filters have been widely criticized for promoting unrealistic beauty standards and harming mental health. One example is Instagram's "Fix Me" filter, banned due to its damaging psychological impact (BBC, 2019).
1,956 likes, 129 comments - danielmooney on May 24, 2019: "fix me filter just out - come live your plastic surgery fantasy".
The filter mimicked a surgeon's markings on a patient's face, illustrating the process of cosmetic enhancement. Its creator, Daniel Mooney, intended it as a critique rather than a glorification of plastic surgery, highlighting its unglamorous reality (Mooney, 2019). However, Instagram's ban underscored a deeper issue - while filters can reinforce harmful beauty ideals, they are not the root cause. Instead, they reflect and amplify pre-existing societal pressures, making unattainable beauty the norm rather than the exception (Elias & Gill, 2017).
Effects showing what people might look after surgery will go, amid concerns they harm mental health.
🚨 The real issue? Filters are not simply a tech innovation gone wrong but an extension of a billion-dollar beauty industry that profits from insecurity (Laham, 2020). While Mooney's filter was removed, the pressure to conform to digitally enhanced beauty remains stronger than ever, signaling that the issue runs more profound than any single app.
💭 So, are AR filters driving these toxic standards or merely exposing a system that has long dictated what is considered beautiful?
Eurocentric Beauty, Social Comparison & the Profitable Business of Insecurity
Leon Festinger's Social Comparison Theory (1954) explains how individuals evaluate self-worth by comparing themselves to societal norms (Festinger, 1954).
🔍 But beauty is not just an aesthetic preference; it is an industry that thrives on exclusion. The global Beauty & Personal Care, worth US$677.19bn, sustains itself by making people feel like they are never enough (Statista, 2024). In this economy, insecurity is currency, and filters are the salespeople, constantly redefining what is desirable.
✨ A striking example? Bella Hadid underwent rhinoplasty at just 14 (Ayoub, 2022), a decision shaped by the Eurocentric beauty ideals dominating her industry. Growing up in the spotlight, she was surrounded by a standard that favored features historically associated with whiteness - high cheekbones, small noses, and fair skin.
💭 Years later, she expressed regret, saying: "I wish I had kept the nose of my ancestors."
Her experience reveals how algorithmically curated beauty norms shape self-perception, pressuring individuals - especially those in the public eye - to conform from an early age.
“I too think I would have grown into the nose of my ancestors. But my realisation came well into my thirties.”
Dr. Michelle Smith linked this to 19th-century ethnic rhinoplasty, when people altered their features to "pass as white" for social mobility (Ayoub, 2022). This historical parallel reveals how beauty has always been a tool of privilege and power.
Social media intensifies this struggle. Platforms like Instagram and Snapchat profit from comparison, filling feeds with filtered, surgically enhanced faces that subtly suggest: This is what you should look like (Lavrence & Cambre, 2020).
💥 The result? This cycle fuels body dysmorphia, particularly among women and marginalized communities. However, resistance is growing - movements like body positivity, digital detoxing, and online activism challenge the dominant beauty narrative (Coy-Dibley, 2016).
Yet, the damage is already done. The rise of "Snapchat Dysmorphia" proves that filters do not just change appearances; they change how we see ourselves.
Snapchat Stole My Face: When Filters Rewrite Self-Perception
🎥 Four video testimonies reveal a disturbing trend: Women, confronted with their unfiltered reflections, express profound depression and self-disappointment (Hawker & Carah, 2020). This is not a fleeting moment of dissatisfaction - it is a psychological fracture, where the self they see in the mirror no longer matches the self they have been conditioned to expect.
For some, the solution is drastic: deleting Snapchat altogether, a digital amputation in pursuit of mental stability. For others, the cycle of insecurity continues - trapped in a loop where natural skin textures and facial features feel like defects rather than differences (Hawker & Carah, 2020).
🤳 This phenomenon directly aligns with Festinger's Social Comparison Theory - filters do not just offer enhancements; they create a new, unattainable benchmark for beauty, forcing users into constant comparison (Festinger, 1954). When social media rewards digital perfection, reality starts feeling like a flaw.
💔 Ultimately, these experiences reinforce the central theme of this essay: The internet did not just sell us a new face - it made us hate our real one. Through AR filters, beauty standards have shifted from aspirational to artificial, leaving a generation struggling to accept their reflections (Burnell et al., 2021).
What do you think? Are filters the real villain, or are they just exposing a much bigger issue? 💬 Drop your thoughts below! ⬇️
References
Ayoub, S. (2022, March 18). On Bella Hadid, beauty standards and the shame of hiding your ethnicity. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/on-bella-hadid-beauty-standards-and-the-shame-of-hiding-your-ethnicity-20220318-p5a5rd.html
BBC. (2019, October 23). Instagram bans “cosmetic surgery” filters. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50152053
Burnell, K., Kurup, A. R., & Underwood, M. K. (2021). Snapchat lenses and body image concerns. New Media & Society, 24(9), 146144482199303. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821993038
Coy-Dibley, I. (2016). “Digitized Dysmorphia” of the female body: the re/disfigurement of the image. Palgrave Communications, 2(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2016.40
danielmooney . (2019). Instagram. Instagram.com. https://www.instagram.com/danielmooney/p/Bx2XdrSIc2R/?img_index=1
Elias, A. S., & Gill, R. (2017). Beauty surveillance: The digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(1), 59–77.
Festinger, L. (1954). A Theory of Social Comparison Processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202
Hawker, K., & Carah, N. (2020). Snapchat’s augmented reality brand culture: sponsored filters and lenses as digital piecework. Continuum, 35(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2020.1827370
Laham, M. (2020). Made Up. Google Books. https://books.google.com.vn/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sgPzDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=billion-dollar+beauty+industry+that+profits+from+insecurity&ots=AZ_Qn9qi2Y&sig=fo1J-veHSTuCngYQ0c2NacQ5-iE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Lavrence, C., & Cambre, C. (2020). “Do I Look Like My Selfie?”: Filters and the Digital-Forensic Gaze. Social Media + Society, 6(4), 205630512095518. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120955182
Statista. (2024). Beauty & Personal Care - Worldwide | Statista Market Forecast. Statista. https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/beauty-personal-care/worldwide
Social Media ChatGPT Prompts Digital - Ebooks
A Spark of Inspiration: Social Media ChatGPT Prompts
I recently used the ebook "Social Media ChatGPT Prompts" and found it to be a treasure trove of creative ideas. Whether you're struggling with writer's block for your next Instagram caption or brainstorming content for a new YouTube video, this ebook offers a variety of prompts specifically tailored to different social media platforms.
Fueling Engagement
The prompts are well-organized and easy to follow, sparking fresh ideas that will resonate with your audience. They go beyond basic questions, often incorporating storytelling elements or current trends to help you craft truly engaging content.
A Time-Saving Tool
By providing a starting point, the ebook saves valuable time and mental energy. It's a fantastic resource for anyone looking to boost their social media presence and take their content creation to the next level. Click here
Read How social media Effects communication as Communication is the primary motto of the concept of social media. Read more to know
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet
The global economy and communication have been completely transformed by the Internet, a network system. The network connects all of the different computer systems in the globe and enables effective communication between them. Although its use in daily life only gradually increased in popularity, today about half of the world's population does so. In our daily lives, the Internet is used for everything from purchasing a pair of socks to booking an airplane ticket. And without the Internet, it would have been impossible for some of the largest corporations, like Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, etc., to flourish. Now let us look at the advantages and the disadvantages of the Internet.
Advantages of the Internet:
Access to information: The internet provides an enormous amount of information on any subject. It is a vast resource that is available to anyone with an internet connection.
Communication: The way individuals communicate has been revolutionized by the internet. It enables communication via email, social media, and video conferencing with people all over the world.
Entertainment: Streaming movies, music, and games are just a few of the many entertainment possibilities available on the internet.
Convenience: People can now buy, pay their bills, and complete other jobs more easily from the convenience of their homes thanks to the internet.
Disadvantages of the Internet:
Cyberbullying: People can now harass and intimidate others more easily because of the internet. Cyberbullying may be harmful to a person's mental well-being.
Addiction: Internet addiction is a possibility. The use of the internet can consume people to the point that they overlook other facets of their existence.
Privacy concerns: Identity theft and other types of cybercrime can thrive on the internet. Personal information should only be shared online with caution.
Misinformation: Misinformation can also be found on the internet. It might be challenging to distinguish between sources that are reliable and those that are not. This may cause misunderstandings and the propagation of false information.
