Has social media made women’s confidence worse, or was it always this way?

[SCOPA]

Sometimes it feels impossible to escape constant comparison — parenting, appearance, careers, relationships, homes, even ageing. Do you think social media has genuinely damaged women’s confidence, or has it always been this way?

I can only talk from my pov as a woman in early 30s. I feel I grew up with a normal level of confidence and wasn’t always comparing myself to others. I was on websites where it was just friends so no constant comparison to every woman out there! But now I am exposed to every skinny celebrity out there online it does knock my confidence at times.

Many years ago a lot of women I knew would buy fashion magazines, compare themselves unfavourably to the models and then blame the fashion magazines for denting their self-esteem 🤷‍♀️

It’s about personal responsibility and what parts of social media we choose to engage with.

I relate to this I think social media has definitely increased comparison and knocked confidence more, because before we only compared ourselves to people we actually knew, not endless curated images online.

I see what you mean, but I still think the constant exposure and algorithms today make comparison much more intense than it used to be, even with magazines before.

It has definitely made things worse. Unequivocally. In ye olden days, if you wanted to torture yourself about not having the perfect body, you could pay money to buy a magazine and look at models. There might be the odd photograph of a film star here and there or a couple of blurry thumbnails in the gossip columns.

Then came Hello magazine, which was filled with non-model body types, but still people looking their best.

Nowadays, you just cannot escape people having The Best Time of Their Lives, soley because they are so supposedly Fabulous Looking, Stylish, Well-Put together etc etc.
Because of the toxin that is social media.

A lot of the time these people are perfectly presentable and reasonably attractive, BUT, they have levelled themselves up, used the best camera angles, filters, etc. Wearing their best clothes, probably just had a facial.
So that even if we know in our heart of hearts that we look pretty similar to them, or can look like them, on a good day, we still compare ourselves to them unfavourably. It is the ubiquitousness of the images, I think. There is just no getting away from them.

who are you comparing yourself to? Not some silly influencers or ‘content creators’? they’re nothing to be impressed by

Get off it if it’s harming you.

I don't think you can get worse for self esteem than the 90s, the magazines were full of very thin women, diets, pages and pages of celebrity gossip pointing out women's fat bits. It was horrendous. Especially when Kate Moss came on the scene.

Previously it was just celebrities, which are expected to have better lives and look better than you, now everyone in the world is ramming their curated lives down your throat. People are so contrived these days and centred on appearances that they need to document it and it needs to be consumed by people and ‘liked’ for your life to matter. It’s disgraceful and why I don’t use social media, comparison really is the thief of joy and that is what people are doing on there.

Social media is toxic but you can work on your own mindset. You should be able to look at a beautiful celebrity, whether in a 90s magazine or on Instagram in 2026, without comparing yourself to her, or even making it about you at all.

You should also be able to curate your own social media experience. Yes I know the algorithms actively work against this but nonetheless - you should actively block any internet content that makes you feel worse.

People are so contrived these days and centred on appearances

I agree with this.

The saddest thing is the way, certainly where I live, the vast majority of young women, and even young girls, are clones of each other. They look the same, dress the same and act the same - in a totally false way. There is no individuality and no character . It's frightening, sad, and totally boring.

I actually feel it’s helped improve mine, but I’m pretty selective about what/who I follow. I don’t follow any influencers of any kind. I really don’t want to encourage the algorithms to pump my feeds full of beauty influencers. However, I do still get reels coming up from women around the same age, same dress size and often same life stages (kids, work, etc) who are showcasing healthy attitudes to life. One in particular- Rosie Henshaw - actually transformed how I view my body as a curvier woman and more importantly how to dress myself with confidence, something I’ve never been able to do. I also love her because she sticks to high street shops so her looks are achievable for someone like me. That sort of thing has been a real confidence boost for me which has reflected in other areas of my life.

Hate to break it to you but the Kate Moss "heroin chic" (i.e. so thin one looks like a drug addict) is making a comeback. Or they're trying to get it to come back.... this body works better Y2K fashions coming back in (OMG i feel old). Add to that GLP meds have made body goals change quite dramatically and quick.

predict there will be stick thin women everywhere, shedding the muscle they built when being muscular and toned, big bums, tiny waist, thick thighs was in fashion.

"Everybody veer the other way >>>>>>>

now this way <<<<<<<<<<<

aaaaaand back again >>>>>>>>>"

Fashion is batshit 😵‍💫

It was a really difficult time.
I worked with young women at the time and suddenly the desire to be very thin was immense. Then came the noughties and size zero.
The thigh gap.
The teeny tiny jeans.
Fashion magazines felt like a dream space in the 80’s.
Now I think it’s not just how you look, it’s way you live, the inside of your home and the algorithm sending constant ads. It’s too much. Don’t get me started on filters and AI….

Parenting wise it could be the same, my mum sometimes talks about wishing the house was as clean as other people’s when she dropped us off, or in awe that they did such difficult dishes for dinner

Definitely worse, people are always at competitive mode on social media even when someones having a bad time someone else always has to have it worse.
Best thing I ever did deleting social media.

I don’t mean this in a snotty way but you can live a life without Instagram. I’m older so lucky I didn’t grow up with it - I’ve only ever used Facebook and barely go on that anymore. Delete it and feel your mental health improve in leaps and bounds

Clearly I’m the only one going against the grain, but I think the opposite. In the 90’s the magazines and tv shows were awful to women. These days, we have social media and lots of brands promoting “normal” bodies and body confidence. I feel my daughter’s generation put a lot less emphasis on perfect bodies than my generation did. Lots of magazines don’t even use airbrushing like they used to. There’s no “Britney is a flabby mess” type articles like they had in those god awful magazines at every supermarket checkout in the 90’s. I prefer this!

I don’t personally feel like I have any body confidence issues. I’m a size 16 and happy with my body. I don’t look at other women and feel bad about myself. I’ve never been on a diet in my life, except once I did Atkins in solidarity with my mum and lasted 2 weeks and was like nope! Not eating more eggs! But my social media is for keeping in touch with friends and chicken keeping and horses and learning about my chronic illness. I’m not doom scrolling skinny women and feeling sad.

That said, when I was in secondary school in the 90s, there was a whole segment of my class who was obsessed with dieting and their bodies and criticising each other and throwing up and hating themselves. No social media back then. Best I can tell from social media now, they are all still painfully thin and obsessed with salads and skinny cocktails. I think people who have body confidence issues (which come from childhood probably) will always find ways to make themselves feel bad.

This really resonates with me. I think the constant pressure to present a perfect life online has made comparison feel almost unavoidable now.

It’s really interesting reading the different perspectives on this because some people feel social media has made confidence issues far worse, while others think the pressure was already there long before Instagram existed. Maybe the difference now is that comparison no longer stops when you leave the house or close a magazine — it’s constant and personalised. I also think algorithms play a huge role in shaping how we see ourselves, even when we believe we’re immune to it. Curious whether younger girls today actually feel more body confident overall, or just under a different kind of pressure?