“I follow women who embrace their cellulite, their big bags, their stretch marks and her weight changes, and yet I’m still a single woman in my twenties with a lot of promotion ahead of me and I want to think I look good. “We must be vigilant regarding the influence and impact of social networks since they can be triggers for certain problematic behaviors of mental health and generators of a negative relationship with sports, with food and our body”, warns psychologist Raquel Velasco.Īlthough we are aware that the physical is not essential, Cabello herself assures that the effects of constant exposure to perfect bodies on social networks ends up affecting anyone. Both the vigorexia (need to gain lean fat and a distortion of body image) or the orthorexia (an obsession with healthy food that interferes with their daily lives) have been extolled by social networks and the ‘fitness’ movement that accumulates millions of followers. The gay men they assure that Instagram reinforces the image of “crushed men in the gym with a sculptural silhouette”, and there is even talk of ‘Bigorexia’, a muscular dystrophy suffered by those men obsessed with gaining muscle mass. It is not only women who suffer its effects. “We must be vigilant regarding the influence and impact of social networks” In Spain, according to data from the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), there is a prevalence of between 4.1% and 6.4% in young women between 12 and 21 years of age and it has a clear female profile: nine out of 10 people with these disorders are women. The data about eating behavior disorders (EDs) are worrying. This is how networks affect how we see ourselves
People use ‘Photoshop’, go on restrictive diets, overtrain and pick angles where their body looks different from its natural shape, when we take a deep breath or eat,” explains Camilla.
I reminded myself that what was really affecting my self-esteem was not my actual thoughts, but that I was appropriating the ideas of the prevailing culture, a culture that has become so accustomed to relating a specific image of “healthy body” with an aesthetic that is not real for many women. “I have always worn bikinis that are too small without giving a damn about how I look, until I saw the pictures online and people’s comments and I broke down.
Camilla Hair, an expert in responding to those who try to ‘body sham’ her, wanted to talk about this topic on her profile. However, it is no secret that sometimes the online universe can open the gates of hell to the real world due to the pressures it imposes in certain areas. There is no doubt that social networks, increasingly supportive when it comes to giving voice to issues related to mental healthhave a multitude of benefits that can help Internet users to carry a healthy life style.