“We lived in farms, and then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the Internet,” declared the fictional Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook, in the biographical drama film, ‘The Social Network.’ The words couldn’t have rung any truer as, almost two decades later, social networking sites have taken over the world.

The history of the Internet has shown it to be a force of both good and bad. Among the direr outcome of the Internet, its impact on people and their perception of their bodies, diet, and lifestyle is undeniable. Not to say that obsessive ideals, beauty standards, and society’s fixation on pigeonholed stereotypes didn’t exist before the Internet, but it has amplified the effect on our collective psyche in many ways.

Prasanna Thapa, an 18-year-old from Kathmandu, believes social media has become a honeypot for promoting unrealistic beauty standards. She feels that, particularly with Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok, it has become almost impossible not to scrutinise all of the little things about herself and her physical appearance—that previously used to be inconsequential.

“Social media is like an alternate reality where everyone is just so pretty, fit and perfect. So much so that you can’t help but compare yourself to them,” says Thapa. She admits to using filters in the pictures, as she doesn’t want to show her pimples and blemishes. “Sometimes I would feel uncomfortable thinking about my blemishes being visible to my friends because there’s no filter hiding it in the real world.”

Thapa is not the only one who has experienced this demoralising phenomenon. Urav Shrestha, an 18-year-old teenager, revealed that social media has made him question his physical appearance on multiple occasions.

“Before I realised that a lot of what I see on the Internet is not real, looking at social media would put me in the painful headlock of wondering whether I’m the weird one among all these people I'm constantly seeing on my feed,” he says. “It was hard not to compare myself to them and wish I looked more like them.”

Social media consumption has also brought cosmetic surgeries and toxic beauty standards issues to the forefront of the public psyche. The Internet’s powerful grasp on its audience has extended to the point that people are willing to undergo surgical procedures to tweak their appearances.

According to Dr Sangam Rayamajhi, a cosmetic and plastic surgeon at Mediciti and Skin Arts Aesthetics, more people have become open to the idea of aesthetic surgeries after becoming enamoured by the Internet.

“In my experience, two phases of the social media effect have led to an increase in people seeking aesthetic surgeries: the rise of Facebook and selfies, after which I would have an increasing number of patients who wanted to undergo facial surgeries like blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery) and facelifts,” he says. “The rise of TikTok has led to a growth in patients seeking body contouring, breast augmentation and liposuction.”

However, there have been some good changes, too—particularly the influence of the Internet over eating habits and lifestyle choices. According to Ojaswi Acharya, a registered dietician based in Kathmandu, the Internet has often encouraged people to make healthier food and lifestyle choices.

“I’ve come across teenagers who’ve used the Internet as a source of knowledge to improve their eating habits. They’ve started becoming conscious eaters, questioning themselves on eating big portions of unhealthy, greasy foods,” she says. According to her, learning about the nutritional values of food from the Internet, and applying it in real life, shows that the Internet encouraged people to understand the needs of their bodies and adopt a healthy mindset regarding food.

Niju Khanal, an 18-year-old teenager, reveals she suffered from an eating disorder for a year. For her, the Internet became her nemesis and a saviour when it came to her ailment.

“My ED began due to societal pressure and society’s obsession with a thin body, but the Internet just added to my body image issues. Looking at groups of people my age with exquisite physiques would make me feel self-conscious about my body,” she says. On the other hand, the Internet also helped her get better. “I came across several motivating and positive content that slowly but surely got me to a healthy headspace.”

Body image issues are a build-up of several factors, and the world wide web has played its part in becoming an influential one. Dr Utkarsh Karki, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, reveals that the Internet can be a very alluring and addictive source of satisfaction for adolescents who find themselves swayed by the myriad of contents it offers.

“The vulnerable age of adolescence makes its influence even more powerful than it already is. The effect of the Internet algorithm is also significant in promoting these beauty standards, as people find themselves overwhelmed by the pictures of models and influencers despite not having the intention of going through the images again,” says Karki.

According to him, it is a combination of several factors that can lead to mental health problems stemming from the need to meet societal beauty standards. Peer pressure, remarks from close ones as well as a lack of awareness—all of these long-term experiences compound into a dangerous mix. Moreover, depending on the individual’s self-esteem, and life experiences, it may lead to severe eating disorders.

With time, however, the public has started taking the contents of the Internet and social media with a grain of salt. Not treating aesthetic surgeries as a secret and, having general openness about undergoing them, being upfront about editing has created resistance against toxic beauty ideals. Moreover, media literacy and alertness against the manipulative tactics used in social media have—to a certain extent—discouraged unrealistic beauty standards.

“I now know that not everything I see on social media is real. But I wish there was more honesty on the Internet,” says Thapa. “Everybody is different, and we need to normalise that.”