Shaping Perspectives:
The Evolution of Social Media Influence on Teenage Girls
The social media platforms that teenage girls engage with have a significant impact on how they perceive their beauty, success, and self-worth.
The way that young women use the internet has changed hugely over the last decade, with the dominance of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tumblr in 2014 to the rise of TikTok and social media influencers in 2024.
This digital story follows the development of influencer culture, body image, and the ideal lifestyle in relation to teenage girls, with examples from 2014 compared to the present.
Instagram and tumblr have had an impact on the perception of body image among teenage girls. Particularly the 2014 #thinspo and #thinspiration trends. Both platforms glamourised extreme thinness and promoted unhealthy eating habits.
Instagram served as a breeding ground for posting photos of dangerous ideals, where captions would promote restrictive diets, disordered eating and excessive exercise.
Similarly, Tumblr fostered communities of young girls dedicated to #thinspo, where they would share tips and encourage each other to achieve this unattainable ideals.
These platforms created a culture of comparison and insecurity among teenage girls and the normalisation of this content contributed to the prominence of disordered eating, ultimately, perpetuating harmful ideologies.
Influencer Culture 2014
2014 saw a rise in social media influencers and television stars as role models for teenage girls. This included prominent influencers at the time, such as YouTube stars Bethany Mota and Zoella who boasted 14 Million subscribers between them, along with reality stars like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. Through sharing their lives online to young impressionable audiences, these women influenced gender stereotypes and expectations by promoting messages of materialism, false lifestyles, and unattainable beauty standards.
Kylie Jenner's 15 million Instagram followers made her a 2014 role model, with her possessions and cosmetically enhanced body and face seen by millions across Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine, showcasing her luxurious and unattainable lifestyle. Youtubers' romanticised and staged content in 2014 also promoted unattainable standards of a perfect life and appearance to teenage girls, perpetuating gender stereotypes. Influencer promoted products encouraged materialism through influencing girls to emulate their role models' unrealistic lifestyles and appearances through consumerism.
Kylie Jenner's 15 million Instagram followers made her a 2014 role model, with her possessions and cosmetically enhanced body and face seen by millions across Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine, showcasing her luxurious and unattainable lifestyle. Youtubers' romanticised and staged content in 2014 also promoted unattainable standards of a perfect life and appearance to teenage girls, perpetuating gender stereotypes. Influencer promoted products encouraged materialism through influencing girls to emulate their role models' unrealistic lifestyles and appearances through consumerism.
All popular influencers in 2014 promoted the same ideals, lifestyles, and stereotypical appearance to their audiences, which led to very limited standards being portrayed as desirable. At the time, role models were not diverse enough to represent other races, appearances, and lifestyles. Many girls were unable to reach the standards established by this restricted range of influencers, which led to negative gender stereotypes and unrealistic standards for young women in 2014.
"Clean Girl" Aesthetic 2024
Fast forwarding to the present, social media is found everywhere and on everyone, with platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat shaping how teenage girls perceive and present themselves to the world. The popularisation of fast-paced media is a massive contributor to the ever changing gender stereotypes regarding beauty standards and body image, which we see in the present.
New ways to perceive bodies through “trends” can result in teen girls feeling like they are never quite enough. An example of a newer trend is the “Clean Girl Aesthetic” (around 2022) which promotes the image of looking flawless (fresh, smooth, glowing face), without using much makeup. This aesthetic is problematic because it caters to one specific type of person; generally white, slim, females. A frustrating relationship can result between young girls and their bodies, especially if they don’t easily fit into this aesthetic. Racial minorities, larger girls, acne-prone women, and so forth, are all alienated by this trend.
A New Perspective...
Influencer Culture 2024
Amid these negative impacts, there are also pockets of positivity. When used mindfully, social media in 2024 can foster body positivity through diverse representation and supportive communities. Additionally, the rapid evolution of body image ideals means that there is greater potential for challenging traditional norms and embracing diverse forms of beauty, and gender stereotypes.
Tik Tok Empowerment
In 2024, there has been obvious growth in influencer culture, and the messages promoted online surrounding gender stereotypes and expectations for teenage girls. The promotion of messages from current influencers which encourage diversity, imperfections, and the acceptance of flaws has resulted in representation and empowerment for women, having a positive impact on gender stereotypes and expectations. The increase in popularity for more relatable and authentic influencers has seen women such as Alix Earle, who has become 2024’s current ‘It Girl’.
In 2024, there has been obvious growth in influencer culture, and the messages promoted online surrounding gender stereotypes and expectations for teenage girls. The promotion of messages from current influencers which encourage diversity, imperfections, and the acceptance of flaws has resulted in representation and empowerment for women, having a positive impact on gender stereotypes and expectations. The increase in popularity for more relatable and authentic influencers has seen women such as Alix Earle, become 2024’s current ‘It Girl’.
Alix Earle's Acne Struggle
Despite her extravagant lifestyle, 22-year-old Miami College student Alix Earle appears humble and likeable to her 7.6 million Tik Tok followers, most of who are teenage girls. Earle openly shares her acne journey online, normalising skin problems for her many followers and challenging 2014 gender stereotypes. Alix Earle inspires other women to feel confident in their own skin by posting unfiltered images of herself, showcasing that even those perceived as the beauty standard have imperfections. This message of acceptance allows teenage girls to lose the pressures surrounding meeting unrealistic gender stereotypes and expectations around their appearance.
Even Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, are also adopting a more relatable and authentic approach to social media by sharing less staged content, discussing their cosmetic enhancements, body image struggles, mental health, and revealing the normal and everyday aspects of their lives online. This shows their audience that their desired bodies and lifestyles are not real or perfect.
Conclusion
Over the past decade, social media has undergone a transformation in its impact on teenage girls. 2014’s most popular apps resulted in rigid and unrealistic beauty standards through harmful trends like #thinspo. Influencers had little content diversity, leaving many young women who didn’t fit the template feeling inadequate.
2024 has seen a shift towards diversity and acceptance regarding gender stereotypes. Influencers like Alix Earle and even figures like Kylie Jenner now encourage imperfection and self-acceptance. The emergence of fast-paced media, resulting in new trends like the “clean girl aesthetic”, has served to highlight the importance of questioning narrow beauty norms, and opens up space to contest these once rigid stereotypes.
Overall, while social media continues to influence how teenage girls perceive themselves, the transition from glamorising perfection to embracing imperfections and diversity marks a positive evolution, offering a more inclusive space for young women to navigate their identities.
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