Every student in WJPS is unique in that we are part of a generation that has grown up at the same time as social media empires such as Facebook and Instagram among others. 

It’s great, we are more connected now than we have ever been. It only takes a few clicks to share snippets of your life like your latest baking adventure, a nice sunset, or the withering fall leaves you passed on the way to school.

That would have been the case 10 years ago when social media apps like Instagram first started as a harmless way of updating your friends and family on what you have going on. However, with its rise as a social media powerhouse, the picture-perfect world Instagram has you believing, hides a dark underbelly of manipulation, lies, and isolation.  

You can thank photoshop and those who use it, for building the facade. When scrolling through the app it’s impossible to ignore the models or micro celebrities known as “influencers.”

Most of the models have thin waists but thicker thighs, big lips but skinny noses. Then on the flip side, the ¨gym bros¨ boast about their muscles and sharp jawlines.

These methods of altering pictures and bodies create unrealistic beauty standards that teens feel like they need to adhere to.

WJPS senior Samuel Park said, “There are times where I feel jealousy and envy, and other times I don’t care.”

WJPS senior Brennis Nesbitt said, “Social media makes me want to improve my body more.”

The most important thing to remember is that you don’t have to compare yourself to fraudulent distortions of bodies when what you have is real, and that is always enough.