As social media platforms grow, so do insecurities. 

Mental health is becoming more and more of an issue in teens around the world. Fashion and trends have the ability to promote confidence and happiness, but  can also have negative effects such as body image, peer pressure, and mental health issues. Clothing brands, and styles are the main cause of teens feeling pressure around what they wear because not everyone has the ability to buy the fancy brands, and not everyone feels comfortable in a crop top. 

The social media app Tik Tok has been both promoting and demoting self love and body image. Many influencers across the app, such as Brooklynne (@xobrooklynne), try to use their fame to show people they can dress the way they want, wear full-face makeup or no makeup, thrift their clothes or buy them from high end brands, etc. because it doesn’t matter what other people think of you. But others use their social media platforms to show off their body, clothes, makeup, shoes, house and more, and when teens scroll through the app and see perfect person after perfect person, it gets hard to love yourself. With every video of a gorgeous, skinny, “perfect” girl, we lose more and more of our self love. Matters like these are hurting teens’ mental health around the world deeply, and a change needs to be made. 

Not only are teens losing self confidence, they are also losing weight, and in very unhealthy ways. Somehow the world decided to put out the message that you are not pretty, unless you are skinny and fit, and in my opinion this is entirely untrue. People are making themselves sick by not eating enough, or trying insane untested diets from the internet. Nobody deserves to hate the way they look, especially when absolutely nobody is perfect. We should be able to live our lives while we still can, and not have to worry about what others think. 

Some extremely famous artists around the world have shown that they simply don’t care what anyones else says, because they feel comfortable and good in what they wear. This is something that I love to see, because people get the opportunity to see that someone who is loved by many people around the world doesn’t dress like everyone else, and they are still adored. Take Billie Eilish for example. She doesn’t wear crop tops, leggings, skinny jeans, or tight fitted clothing. She doesn’t follow clothing trends, she starts them. She wears what she wants and doesn’t care if other people understand the look or not, because it is her own style. Many people who follow clothing trends have failed to find their personalized styles because they just wear what they think other people want them to wear. 

Not only are people feeling pressured to keep up with clothing trends, but lots of the trends don’t work for all body types. For example, crop tops are quite big in the clothing industries right now, but not everyone feels comfortable showing their stomach. And it is now getting harder and harder to find cute shirts for women that are not cropped, but still in style. Another example is high waisted pants, whether they are jeans or leggings, not everyone feels comfortable wearing them, and therefore may feel like they do not fit in. 

Everyone has a place in this world and everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way, so instead of telling everyone to follow the trends and fit in, tell them to stand out, and be themselves, because you will only ever feel the most comfortable in your own skin.