Selfies and Poor Body Image

Teddy Roosevelt once said that “comparison is the thief of joy.” These words are proven true each and every day that our kids engage in comparing themselves to others as they scroll almost endlessly through social media. If you’ve spent any time at all looking at the selfies your kids post on social media, it doesn’t take long to figure out that kids are using filters and editing software to manage their online appearance. One of the downsides of this is that when those manipulated photos are viewed by others, they are perceived to depict reality. Research indicates that this does damage to our developing children and teens. Researchers found that girls presented with manipulated photos reported lower levels of body satisfaction in comparison to girls who did not see manipulated photos. Researchers concluded that this was due to making comparisons. We need to help our kids to find their identity in who they are in Christ, and not in what they look like or how they see themselves as failing to measure up to others.