how to age on the internet: don't
A conversation about the fear of aging on How to be a Woman on the Internet
For this week’s piece, I want to share a conversation my friend Ford and I had on How to be a Woman on the Internet about aging in the digital age. I start off by sharing an interaction I had with an influencer friend of mine, who said we’d all have to invest in cosmetic procedures or else we’ll be “left behind.” It made me think about all the external pressures we face in keeping up and this fear of aging that affects all of us. As we enter the new year, I think it’s important now than ever to contemplate topics like these and the ways we can challenge anxiety over aging, especially when on social media.
Everyday we see celebrities, influencers, and women in general on social media who have felt the need to spend thousands of dollars on procedures to make them look younger, and in their eyes, more beautiful. And most of the conversations around these procedures are about the results – how you’ll look afterwards, how it can benefit you, how it can make your life better… But we don’t really talk about the costs, not just financially or physically, but also emotionally. Those negative thoughts and feelings of dissatisfaction that led to the decision in the first place… Conversations around procedures are becoming so normalized, but I wish conversations around the vulnerabilities that lead to these procedures would become normalized too. Here’s a Beauty Myth quote that really rang true to me on this—
“Whether or not a woman ever undergoes cosmetic surgery, her mind is now being shaped by its existence. The expectation of surgery will continue to rise. As soon as enough women are altered and critical mass is reached so that too many women look like the ‘ideal,’ the ‘ideal’ will always shift… New possibilities for women quickly become new obligations.”
Read the full piece here.
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