These days, more people are actively using social media. How everyone uses social media differs from one another. In most cases, we use social media for both personal and business reasons.
Men, in general, use social media for business reasons. They usually use social networking sites to gather information needed to increase their status, research, and find information gathering. For women, they do this for more personal reasons.
According to Brandwatch, 76% of women are active on social media, whereas only 72% of men use such platforms. They use social media to make and keep in touch with their connections, get inspiration for their daily living, and support deals and promotions from their favorite brands. But due to women’s activeness in social media, their physical and mental health is now suffering.
How Social Media Influences Women’s Health
Social media became the go-to place for consumers to show off their lifestyle, achievements, and all things personal online. We often see people ranging from celebrities to ordinary citizens sharing a piece of their personal life on social media. But the problem is, this also became the obsession of many.
Due to the continuous increase of social media, more people now suffer from anxiety, depression, and certain medical conditions. Numerous studies have shown the ill effects of excessive social media use. The sad thing is that it can affect both your physical and mental health.
Social media can be deceiving. While we know that not all things you see online are real, many of us can’t help but be obsessed, depressed, and affected by what we see on social media. For some women, social media became their main source of frustration, anxiety, and depression.
Some women feel inadequate because of what they see on social media. They often see other women having the perfect body, raising their own insecurities. Seeing others living the life they always wanted can make them feel envious and depressed. Seeing their peers enjoying careers they long to have can be another reason why many feel frustrated after scrolling on social media.
Social media also became a platform where women are constantly being attacked and discriminated against. Other users hide behind their screens, targeting women who only want to share a piece of their life online. This goes to show that women are often a target of abuse, be it online or offline.
Using Social Media to Empower Women
The good news is, there are ways one can empower ladies using social media. Many pro-women organizations encourage women to share their stories, show off their skills, and what they have to offer to show everyone that all have their own beautiful stories to share. This has led to different businesses and organizations creating online communities, encouraging women to stand up and engage in activities to empower other women.
#challengeaccepted
Influencers are also using social media to empower women by creating a series of “challenges” in social media. Take the women supporting women challenge as an example. Women who participated in the challenge would share a black-and-white selfie of themselves, use the #challengeaccepted, and tag another woman they want to do the same.
Such a simple challenge flooded major social media sites with photos shared by women all around the world. This is to raise awareness against the increasing reports of female physical and mental violence all around the world. This challenge helped women voice out their experiences and show that no matter how dark their past has been, they managed to heal, learn, and move on.
#heforshe
The #heforshe campaign was spearheaded by the United Nations and UN Women. Prominent celebrities joined the movement, aiming to invite all genders to close the gender gap. The campaign started in 2014 and still going strong up to date.
#autocompletetruth
Another campaign that is empowering women on social media is the #autocompletetruth. This campaign revealed horrifying results showing the active presence of sexism in more than 100 nations. Raising awareness of women’s challenges against women’s equality is helping more people fight for women’s rights.
TikTok and Women Empowerment
Emma and Floli are influencers who mainly use TikTok to educate others about women empowerment. Through a series of songs and dances, they are educating people on how women are mainly abused in different ways. From the unbelievable wage up to misogyny in and out of the workplace, they aim to spread information about female inequality.
Social media may have a bad reputation when it comes to one’s health. But thanks to numerous campaigns, more women are standing up for themselves and are learning about their rights. This goes to show that with the right campaigns and social media use, we can use this platform to empower women wherever part of the world they might be in.
