Social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram make it easy for young women to compare themselves to thousands, almost millions, of women every day. The platforms promote rapid micro-trend cycles that suggestively influence how young women should look, dress, eat, live or work. Where social media used to be made of almost solely fashion-driven content, it has expanded beyond the posting grids of 2016. 

What was initially a push to keep up with changing fashion styles social media became a place for trends influencing body type, daily routines, diet expectations and lifestyle curation. The above explores how unrealistic beauty expectations and consumerism harm self-esteem. In this section, explore how micro-trends and aesthetic content curation intensify psychological conflict and compulsive comparison. 

Micro-trends have continued to drive social media conditions since around 2020. Micro-trends are fast-moving and short-lived visual or lifestyle content that dominates social media for weeks or even just days. Various micro-trends such as “e-boy,” “clean girl,” “it girl,” “gym girl” and “croquette aesthetic” brought with them various body and lifestyle images that are generally unattainable. Each trend promotes specific body types, color schemes, food styles, makeup aesthetics and lifestyle routines that feed into a dangerous cycle of never finding someone’s individuality. Through social media influence, trends that cause genuine harm to someone’s self-image and mental health are on the rise.

Diet culture is heavily tied to lifestyle and personal aesthetic trends. Trending videos like “what I eat in a day” (WIEIAD) essentially function as eating competitions on social media and, in turn, create body dissatisfaction amongst consumers. These videos encourage followers to model eating habits and meals after influencers based on standards that may trigger disordered eating. Unrealistic pressure around what a healthy body is and how to fuel it varies so drastically from one trend cycle to the next. 

When people consume these videos, an instant process of self-comparison and dissatisfaction begins. In the research report “#WhatIEatInADay: The effects of viewing food diary TikTok videos on young adults’ body image and intent to diet,” Magdalayna Drivas, Olivia Reed and Maranda Berndt-Goke prove that those short-form videos change people’s thoughts on their own bodies. Drivas, Reed, and Berndt-Goke initiated a test to see if or how people reacted when viewing high-calorie versus low-calorie WIEIAD videos. 

The study concluded that when people view high-calorie WIEIAD videos, they generally feel better about themselves and look down upon the person in the video. In contrast, when they watch low-calorie WIEIAD videos, they feel worse about themselves and objectively strive to eat less. This outcome shows that people not only compare themselves to influencers but also judge who they watch based on perceived “healthy” calorie counts or weight. 

Not only do micro-trends influence people’s daily lives, but the concepts of an aesthetic life and feed contribute to psychological challenges and compulsive comparative tendencies. Where the traditional social media aesthetic was heavily reliant on filters and color, the term aesthetic has now taken on a league of its own. Aesthetics have become color palettes, grid design, filters, clean rooms, trendy outfits, food layouts, outfit photos and a balancing line between casual and perfect. 

Social media aesthetics push the idea that influencers’ entire lives are perfect. Young women observe their own lifestyle with an absurd amount of pressure to match up. In the article “Captivating Gen-Z: The Power of Social Media Aesthetics,” by Camila Abello, the influence of the term aesthetic on consumer behavior and brand perception is broken down. The same tactics used to sell clothing and beauty items are used by influencers to market themselves. Young women are then pressured to achieve a perfect self-representation. 

In the article “Picture Perfect” by Rhea Milson and Daniel Madigan, the concept of perfectionistic self-presentation is connected to achieving a perfect Instagram image. Perfectionistic self-presentation is the urge to appear flawless, or similarly, aesthetic, online. Milson and Madigan intended to find the connection between body dissatisfaction and the desire to appear perfect. They discovered that young women who look “perfect” online, or attempt to, tend to feel worse about their bodies and self-image. Another conclusion was that when women try to hide the imperfect parts of their lives online, they are met with varying mental conflicts. 

The aesthetic and curated feed they try to maintain leads to increased body dissatisfaction and an urge to keep a perfectionist lifestyle. These findings support the idea that social media aesthetics influence psychological pressure for young women. Aesthetics require young women to curate a perfect and tidy image online, which only harms their mental well-being. The pressures that come along with an aesthetic feed lead to compulsive comparison and lower body satisfaction, and lead young women to believe they have to appear perfect to be valued. 

Compulsive self-comparison, body image and the psychological effects of social media aesthetics and micro-trends are heavily connected to The Framing Theory. The Framing Theory shows how social media influencers present information and media to consumers, which can negatively affect young women's self-esteem. Influencers can frame certain aspects of their life as the ideal image. Whether that be thin bodies, low-calorie consumption through what I eat in a day videos, perfect morning routines or a perfected Instagram aesthetic, young girls look up to unrealistic standards. Drivas, Reed, and Berndt-Goke show that WIEIAD videos portray restrictive eating as admirable and disciplined, while the opposite is lazy and disgusting. Milson and Madigan demonstrate that perfect posts and Instagram aesthetics promote a perfectionist ideology among young women, leading them to strive to achieve it. Through the framing of these standards, young women are experiencing lower body satisfaction and poor ideology regarding lifestyle and self-worth. 

As micro-trends and aesthetic-driven content continue to shape how young women value their identities and bodies, psychological conflict is inevitable. It becomes increasingly vital to combat this ideology within social media platforms. The inclusion of diverse body images and lifestyles challenges the constricting beauty standard evident now.