You should define beauty, not the pictures you post on social media

Social media has advertised the ideal man and women. It has created a standard for beauty. Young girls have started disowning their body. In order to match with the standard created by social media they Photoshop their body, make them look taller and slimmer and hide their stretch marks. A young girl who scrolls through her instagram page might come across a model or an actress whose instagram picture is photo shopped and edited for so many time by professional. Seeing that picture that little girl might want to be like her. She might want to have a body like her or a face like her. To have a body like her she might try skipping several meals not knowing the side effects or might regret for eating too much. These young girls like me have a perception that this might be what perfection looks like. But, people tend to forget that no one can be perfect. Even the people they see on instagaram while scrolling their feed have flaws. People take almost 200 pictures to have that one perfect picture. Out of that 200 picture they select one and the picture that is chosen for the final upload after thinking for over an hour has to go from the following process:

1. Fixing marks on face

2. Adjusting the background

3. Adjusting the contrast and brightness

4. Checking whether the picture will go with the theme of their feed or not

5. Zooming and checking to make sure everything looks perfect

6. Rethinking whether the picture is worth uploading or not.

7. Checking and rechecking how many likes came, comment and who liked their pictures

Imagine the amount of time spent on just posting a single picture. Well, this doesn't mean that i don't use instagram. But the things I do while posting pictures in instagram is very less. For example I like posting pictures most of the times. As I am already on my topic let’s list out what I do. I usually do the following things.

Constantly checking like and comments

using apps like huji, snapseed RNI films and VSCO to edit and VSCO to take and edit pictures

Taking 100 pictures and carefully thinking which to post.

Adjusting brightness and contrast is something I normally do

My process of posting picture is only limited to the things mentioned in the pictures. But, the thing that I try not to do is adjust my body to make it look as if it is perfect. I don’t hide the marks that I have in my face. If you go through my instagram pictures and look closely you will be able to see the imperfections that I have. While taking pictures if my marks that I have on my face shows I seriously don’t have a problem. But, if accidently if these scars don’t show up in the pictures because of many factors but except filters I will also be happy. But, that doesn’t mean I like hiding my scars. As I am aging I have somehow started to embrace my face and my body. But, as a kid I was always skeptical about taking pictures. I thought it was only right for the pretty girls to take picture. Whenever it was necessary to take pictures I would want it end as quickly as possible. I thought I looked ugly in pictures. I had chicken pox marks on face so, I avoided taking pictures. But, thinking back I regret taking very less pictures. I think I forget to capture memories. I thought taking pictures was useless because I never liked looking myself in the picture. This was the most embarrassing thing. Imagine a child who was barely 11 years having a thought that looking at her was embarrassing. If you ask me what is something that you want to change about past, I would say feeling proud of who I was and who I will be in the future. The only reason why I am telling about this is because we see these social media as a platform to showcase who we are not in our real life.

Instagram is a world where people like to tell a story. A story where most of the things is filtered. It is also a place where people get to project the life they don’t have.

So, now the biggest problem is that the real definition of beauty has been confined by social media. The beauty of person has to be validated by social media. Instead of judging beauty on the basis of kindness, personality and smile, social media judges beauty on the basis of how thin thighs you have, what kind of photo editing app you use, how often you hang out with friends , what kind of clothes you are wearing and how the final picture you upload on instagram looks.

I think in life you should always do things that will make you happy. If uploading pictures constantly makes you happy do it so. But, in the process don’t forget to embrace your body. Let me remind you again, people are not perfect. Even the billionaires daughter whom you see having so much fun on your explore page have flaws of their own. They only share their happy moments and hide their sad ones. There is nothing wrong on their part. They also have a choice to keep some things to themselves and show the things they want to share it to the world.

So, don’t be blindfolded by this lie that whatever you see on your instagram is the utmost truth. Remember if they have something then you have the other. One person cannot have it all. This was how the earth and human cycle was created. So, you ought to be happy with whatever you have.