I Did A Survey On How Millennials View Themselves And The Results Are Shocking
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Did you know that social media affects your mood? If you don’t believe us, we don’t blame you. Social media has become such an indispensable part of our lives that we wouldn’t want to hear anything against it. It’s like the relationship we have with our siblings – only we can bad-mouth them, the others can’t. An online survey asked millennials some important questions that revealed something surprising and unfortunately, it isn’t a pleasant surprise (1). More than two-thirds of the respondents of the focus group were aged between 16 and 34 years old. Here are some startling revelations of the survey:
1. 34 Percent Of The Respondents Said Social Media “Likes” Defined Their Mood And Self-Image
It’s ironical that although there are endless campaigns on how our self-worth is important, the generations of millennials records an immensely low self-worth. It’s alarming that this isn’t just among those who come from broken families or abusive relationships, it’s also the case with those who have perfectly happy lives. According to the survey, it all boils down to one thing – social validation. If we aren’t lucky enough to get social validation from people on social networking sites, we feel like our worth is minimal compared to someone who draws an average of 300 likes on their pictures and posts. As skewed as it sounds, it’s becoming a way of life for the millennials now.
21 percent of the millennials who participated in the survey said that they compared themselves to others. Nadia Mendoza, who runs a team that delivers self-esteem workshops to the British students, believes that it’s difficult to switch off from social media. It’s like a bottomless entity that knows no end. There’s always more selfies, more makeovers, more transformation, more weight loss, more botox, and more filters. It never really stops and this exposes us to a 24 hour loop of comparing ourselves and our lives to others.
2. 23 Percent Of The Respondents Chose Appearance Over Being Loved
Whether it’s about wearing expensive clothes or perfecting that winged liner, the appearance of a person has become increasingly important. How we look with makeup or how we can pull off the #Iwokeuplikethis look has become a critical part of our self-confidence. Millennials feel that people know them and identify them based on what they put out on social media. If a person’s profile on the virtual world is all about fashion photographs, and on fleek clothing, people identify that person as a fashionista and the pressure builds to live up to that expectation in real life too.
But, the fact that 23 percent of the respondents chose appearance over love says something, doesn’t it? Love was what made us feel alive, but now, the definition of love has scaled down to just a few likes and comments on social networking sides (and the red heart that we keep clicking away on Instagram).
3. Only 7.5 Percent Of The Respondents Are Happy About Their Bodies
As a part of the survey, when the respondents were asked to mention the aspects of their appearance that they are happy about, only 7.5 percent of the lot said that they were happy with their bodies. This reflects the discontentment that millennials hold about their bodies. However, most of them said that they liked their hair and eyes. 29 percent of the respondents were happy about their hair and 21 percent considered their eyes as their best feature. But, it is to be noted that hair and eyes can be easily altered from its original appearance. In another survey, only 3 percent of the women in the UK said that they were happy about their bodies. They are constantly thinking about their size and shape (2).
Maybe that’s why 84 percent of women in the survey accepted that they had resorted to extreme diets at least once in their life (3). This is a worrying trend that society seems to put being slim and ‘attractive’ as a priority over being happy and content.
4. Another Survey Reveals That 33 Percent Of The Millenials Believe That The Earth Is Not Round
Let the war begin! We know that there are flat-earthers and those who believe that earth is round, but a survey conducted by a British firm named YouGov says that just two-thirds of the millennials believe the earth is fully round (4). Looks like the flat-earthers have a company now! In this day and age when science is flourishing at its best, it’s rather surprising to see that there are still people who believe that earth isn’t round after all. While some were unsure of the shape of the earth, there were many who believed firmly that the earth is flat.
The generation of millennials is such that they are more burdened with financial hardships and are more stressed than the previous generations but still continue to maintain a positive outlook. According to a survey conducted by a leading magazine, 75 percent of the women were anxious about their job prospects and 74 percent of them were worried about their finances (5).
Nonetheless, millennials have changed the traditional ideas in many positive ways. Irrespective of the negatives that are associated with the millennial kids, young people have gained more control of their independence and their choices. They have let the Log Kya Kahenge logic behind and have adopted the Meri Marzi anthem. All in all, the generation of millennials is quite a fascinating one. Don’t you think? Are you a millennial too? Let us know what you think of these surprising facts in the comments below.
