Cazzie David says social media’s beauty standards are ‘twisted’: ‘It’s embarrassing to admit that we want to be more attractive’
Cazzie David is joining the conversation about social media and mental health, sharing on a recent podcast appearance how Instagram has affected her perception of herself.
"It was even easier, I think, to deal with the industry standard of like the supermodels in the '90s. OK, we all aspired to these 10 women," she said on Call Her Daddy. "But now it’s like you see a stranger who looks pretty much exactly like you but with a smaller nose or a better body or hair or mouth or life, everything. And that’s twisted in a really new way."
The 27-year-old was discussing with the podcast's host Alex Cooper the leaked Facebook documents illustrating the company's understanding of the negative impact that its photo-sharing app Instagram is having on teen girls. And while Cooper recently vowed to stop Photoshopping the images that she posts to her personal page, David said, "I think everyone edits photos."
"I mean, truthfully, like Photoshopping is a skill and I’m not good at it, so I do have to be very particular over which photos I bombard my friends with," she continued. "So it’s not all of my photos but it’s the ones that I really need help with."
Still, she suggested that it's time for Instagram to make some necessary changes in terms of transparency.
"There’s so many things Instagram could do that would make it better for mental health. Truly, there’s a million things they could do that I could even think of," she said. "You could do hashtag #Facetune like you do hashtag #ad. Of course, do we all wanna do that? No. But would it be better for us? Yes."
David explained the influence that the altered and perfected images that appear on her various social media feeds have had on her perception of her own looks. She even admitted to her desire to have work done while reflecting on a conversation that she had with a friend about the "slippery slope" of plastic surgery.
"It’s embarrassing to admit that we want to be more attractive but like of course we all do. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, I’m not ugly, I’m just broke.’ I’m so insecure that I don’t want to be perceived as wanting to be more attractive," she said.
The podcast episode isn't the first place where David opened up about the subject. In fact, she wrote about it in a piece for Air Mail. Despite sharing her feelings against the nature of these social media apps and the harmful ways in which they're used to perpetuate impossible beauty standards, David said that it's nearly as impossible to stop using them.
"I don’t think anyone likes it," she said of social media. "I just think we’re all super-addicted to it and don’t know how to now live without it."
