Can Social Media Please Stop Teaching Bodily Insecurities

I know I’m not the most secure person, but I’m not completely insecure. I’m an adult and have lived in my body for nearly three decades, and while it’s not perfect, it’s mine and I don’t hate it.

And because I am nearly three decades old, my pivotal development years luckily didn’t take place alongside the internet. My parents were pretty strict with my computer/TV usage as a kid (a little too strict, actually) and Instagram didn’t exist back then, so I kind of didn’t have much to go off of in terms of comparing myself and my body to others. My options were other kids in school or characters in movies, and neither of those really made too much of an impact on me and my concept of self. Back then, kids/teens mostly looked like kids/teens in media. Sure, I still had/have insecurities, but I just live with them and I don’t let them consume my life as an adult.

I feel bad for kids today. It’s one thing to go on Instagram and see pretty people photoshopped to the nines and yearn to look like them, but it’s another to be told directly what it is that’s wrong with you. And then, to make matters even worse, have it be things you didn’t even realize were problems. Insecurities are being taught, and it’s scary.

What really drove me to write this is that lately I’ve seen so many Instagram ads for little razors so women can shave the faint ‘peach fuzz’ off their faces. DIY dermaplaning. Why should I do that? The hair is not visible, it’s not tactile, and my face is smooth enough, so why is this product being marketed as something I need for my confidence? It doesn’t bother me, but here are these ads showing these happy girls doing it and telling me I need to do it too. And obviously I understand that some women are prone to thicker and darker hair on their faces, but that’s not who is marketing this or what it’s trying to solve. It’s piggybacking on the current skincare trend and making it seem like this is the must-do act to be beautiful.

And I remember way back in 2013-ish, there was a YouTuber who also made some video about “Things Guys Look For In A Girl” and one of the points was legitimately shaved arms. I remember there being a bit of an uproar on that. Who is this 16 year old white boy to be telling teenage girls to shave their arms? I was 17 or 18 at the time and found it ridiculous. I, even with Italian in me, had never once thought my arm hair to be a problem or a turn-off, but I did wonder what it was like for younger girls who were fans of this guy. Did they gain a new insecurity based on this one silly man’s uncommon thought? Did they think it was normal for guys to be grossed out about it?

One thing we don’t talk enough about is how much of our actions and beauty ideals stem from impressing others, specifically others we want to date and mate with. We can say that what we do is for our own satisfaction and confidence, and there is some truth in that for sure, but we want to feel confident so we can attract others, even if we don’t realize it. It’s unfortunate that in this quest, and in our quests of self-love, there are people and products out there that are working against you.

Whether it’s having hip dips (2020) or not having thigh gaps (2013) or whatever other perfectly normal bodily feature, we’re being taught that we’re never perfect, and that things we were previously never even aware of are Ugly™ and should be changed ASAP if we want to be attractive to others and have confidence. It’s a moving goalpost that is honestly soul-crushing, and again, I’m not even that affected by most of this. I just stand at the side and learn new names for my apparent flaws.

For everyone struggling with your insecurities and your body, I wish you so much peace and satisfaction. Self-love is hard, and social media can make it harder. Take care to be aware that Instagram and other platforms are not the body police. And if you can, protect the young kids getting online and finding out that they’re a cog in a machine designed to profit off our insecurities.

 

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The Good Stuff: Everyday Is National Something Day

I work in marketing, and creating content for social media is in my job description. Towards the start of new months, I always take fifteen minutes to see what national or international events are coming up because sometimes they’re relevant to the industry I work in or at least can inspire some other content ideas.

We all know ones like International Women’s Day and National Black History Month. Fast food joints like to market for National Fries Day and such events. But unless you go onto the sites that list them all yourself, I don’t think you’d believe me when I say that there are dozens of events literally every day and week.

And most of them are weird. One day will be National Popcorn Day and then like two weeks later it’ll show National Butter Popcorn Day. There are days for literally everything. August 6th is National Wiggle Your Toes Day. March 1st is National Old Stuff Day. November 15th is National Camp T-Shirt Day. Who made these? And why? Don’t get me wrong, though; I’m not mad about it. I’m firmly amused.

The sites that list the days out do try to provide some history and additional info, and it’s in these that you’ll see that some are sponsored events part of some company’s brand. For example, August is apparently National Anti-Frizz Month, and this was declared by a hair product company called Alberto VO5. But not all are a marketing ploy, some are just fun days to recognize some very, very specific thing you’d never think to celebrate or raise awareness for.

So I wanted to get in on the action. Or try to, at least. Both NationalToday.com and DaysOfTheYear.com have a form to submit an event, and so I did. I’m trying to make June 16th National Cool Beans Day. It’s a day to celebrate the fun phrase that more people should be using. A day to work it into your vocabulary with pride. I picked that date because it’s my birthday (but I obviously didn’t include that on the form).

The sites take a while to get back to you, so I’m currently awaiting the results of my applications. I’ll let you know. But even if it’s denied, you can still celebrate. These sites aren’t law or the be-all-and-end-all, they just present the info.

I enjoy looking through these weird and wacky days. Even the crazy ones probably get some participation, and I like there are people in the world having fun with it and celebrating mundane things or weird things. It’s pure.

Do you celebrate any weird National or International Days/Weeks/Months? Or non-weird ones?

 

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Are We Too Reliant On Technology?

Yeah.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And I won’t be shamed for it and made to feel like I’m some braindead teenager who can’t put down their phone for an hour.

In early July, one of Canada’s largest media providers went down for over a day. Canada has a media duopoly going on up here, and Rogers is half of that, so a good chunk of people woke up to no phone service, no internet, and no cable on what was supposed to be a normal Friday. We’d then find out that this outage was so bad that it was affecting 911 calls, debit payments, and so much more. Half of the country came to a halt, so of course the question came about of if our reliance on technology was a problem.

Funny how technology wasn’t a problem when the pandemic started. It was a godsend and still is.

The question shouldn’t be if we’re too reliant on technology and instead should be if we’re okay letting media corporations dictate our livelihoods in the name of profit. It should be do we think the governments are doing a good job creating environments that meet the needs of citizens.

I know I use technology a lot. I’m scrolling social media more than I should. But guess what? I also work in digital marketing. And I work from home. And I’m in a long-distance relationship. And I like memes. I was built to use technology, and I’m not sorry for doing so in a world where so much of my life needs it to function. I can’t even go buy an ice cream cone without technology because the coupon is only available on in-app purchases. I didn’t choose this, and I don’t like the idea that it’s weak, sheep-like humans who are the problem here.

If society wanted to move away from being so technologically reliant, maybe make it less expensive to do so. Gas prices, hobby memberships, even the cost to get stamps are too high, and it’s understandable that people are choosing to rely on cheaper options that usually take the form of technology.

But with that said, I think the Rogers outage did at least give us an opportunity to think about how we can deal with outages better in the future. We’re not going to stop needing technology, and outages are always going to happen, so what backup plans do we need? I was lucky that my cellphone is with Bell, so I was able to hotspot into work for a minute to tell my boss I had no internet. I don’t know how I would’ve contacted him otherwise, as I work from home and don’t have work phone numbers or other means of communication. Not having all my services on one provider saved me there. And I have some friends I only communicate with through Facebook Messenger, so we had to turn to infrequently-used text messages to interact, so I’m glad I had their numbers from way back when. I keep a few bills of cash on hand so I don’t have to worry about ATMs or debit machines not working.

There was talk of the Canadian government looking into this media duopoly since so much was affected by one company, but I doubt anything will really change. So we’ll stay reliant and stay at the mercy of big tech.

I survived that day of the Rogers outage. I also survived a few weekends later when our neighbours accidentally cut our Rogers line while landscaping so we didn’t have phone, TV, or internet for two days. I survived a day without power while dogsitting. It’s not ideal, but I’m not some slave to machines, and I won’t feel bad about the lifestyle I lead. I’m doing my best to get by, just like every other tech user.

 

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Monthly Look Ahead: August 2022

Well, here we are: deep into the hot, hot summer. Yeah, crops are drying out, but at least we’ve had good weather on weekends and the forecast says it won’t end soon. Here’s what my August will consist of, and I’d love to know what plans you have too!

• My boyfriend and I are going proper stargazing. We’ve been wanting to do it for ages, so we’re going out of town and making it happen.
• There’s a series of animated shorts coming out all about everyone’s favourite tree, Groot. I love Baby Groot, so though these seem pretty irrelevant to the MCU as a whole, I will definitely be watching I Am Groot. I just hope these aren’t too goofy.
  
  
• Also in Marvel news is the new show She-Hulk starting on the 17th. Anyone whose seen the trailer knows the CGI is not outstanding, but I’m hoping that I’ll get lost in the story and not even notice the effects. The plot does seem interesting, and I like that Hulk will be in it too.
• There’s a big fair in Toronto called the Exhibition that happens at the end of every summer, and it’s finally back after two years of being cancelled. I’ve only gone once before but had a great time, so I’m looking forward to going again this year.
• There’s a musical called 13 that’ll be out on Netflix on the 12th. I’ve heard of the show, but know nothing about it except that it’s about kids and the music is all by Jason Robert Brown, who also wrote The Last Five Years. I love The Last Five Years, so that alone plus the fact that it’s a musical–and I am not one to turn down opportunities to see musicals–means I will definitely be checking this out.

I have a feeling August is going to fly by. Summer certainly has so far. As long as I have good weather for the times I want to be outside, that’s fine. May you also have good weather too.

That’s all for now!

 

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I Went On A Mystery Road Trip

It was a series of fortunate events for my friends and I: none of us had been on a road trip before, we all wanted to go on one, we also wanted to go camping, and then we found a mystery road trip service that had a trip on the way to the area we planned to camp in.

My mother was the one to tell me about this service. It’s called Guess Where Trips and it’s a Canadian company that has pre-planned mystery road trip packages for day trips. The idea is that you pick a trip based on your location and interests, and then they send you all the info in individual envelopes so you can open them up as you go and have it all be a complete surprise. My mom’s friend had bought a few as gifts and they went over well. I looked on the website and was excited to find one on the way to the park my friends were going to camp in that perfectly aligned with our interests (it was called the Weird And Wonderful trip⁠—a perfect way to describe my friends).

This is not a sponsored or affiliate post. I genuinely just think it’s a cool thing and wanted to tell you about it.

Each trip package comes with 3-4 main attractions that can be done in a day but also lists some other places nearby to see, eat, or even sleep to extend the trip. Everything is organized and laid out so all you have to do is drive and enjoy, which is nice considering how stressful trip planning can be.

The mystery/surprise aspect is very fun, but I also like being in control. So what my friends and I did was I bought the PDF version of the trip plan (instead of the physical version with the cute envelopes) so I had all the info ahead of time and could ensure we stayed on schedule so we could get to our campsite at the proper check-in time before it got dark. I set the GPS and didn’t tell my friends any of the fun destinations until we were approaching. This way, we managed to keep that surprise element and we were able to see some cool places.

We didn’t see or do everything on the plan that we wanted to due to the camp check-in time we had, but if you have a full day to use for this adventure, it’s very worth it and fun to go to places you didn’t know existed.

As I said, Guess Where Trips is Canadian, so all their trips are in Canada only. If you’re visiting the country and want to see things outside of the normal touristy destinations, give it a go! I don’t know if there are similar companies in other countries, but if there are, I can say that my friends and I enjoyed this experience. It’s a fun way to explore new places with friends, family, or dates.

I’d love to share pictures of what we saw on our trip, but that’d ruin the mystery for you!

That’s all for now!

 

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