6 things social media has normalized that women should think twice about

Some years back, social media was mostly a space to make new connections and share moments of your life. Fast forward to the current timeline where it often feels like a massive performance stage where everyone is expected to show up polished. Influencers and their sharp morning routines, picture-perfect homes, weekly trips abroad, etc, have quietly redefined what many people consider ‘normal.’But what’s the issue? What passes as normal online isn't always realistic, affordable or even necessary in real life. Amid all these trends, more and more women are starting to ask the big question: Are these choices genuinely our own, or has social media quietly convinced us they should be? We spoke with women across different age groups and professions, who opened up about the online trends they feel have become needlessly normalized. Social media has made it almost necessary to document everything that happens to people 24/7. Vacations, workouts, sleeplessness or even hospital visits are on your Instagram stories. However, what it all does is create a FOMO and a sort of envy for people. For 25-year-old Anushka living in Noida, this relentless get away posting makes her feel somewhat jealous and sad. “Aisa lagta hai, mujhe chhod kar saari duniya pahadon par ghoomne gayi hui hai,” she says. She adds, “I arrive at my place after my office shift and when I scroll my Insta feed, it is filled with everyone posting photos from Himachal or Uttarakhand. I feel envious of those people. They are going on trips every month. I wanna go too.” But what most people need to realize is that everything on social media isn’t fully true. Add to that, it isn't practical for everyone to go on trips every month. So, stop feeling like it is normal. Surprise luxury gifts, over-the-top proposals, perfectly coordinated couple content, etc, on social media tends to frame relationships as one long highlight reel. Sneha (26), admits such content once made her doubt her own relationship. “I'd watch couples posting Insta reels every other day and wonder if something was actually missing in my life. I was doubting my own relationship. “Then I reminded myself nobody posts the arguments, the stress, or the slow Tuesday evenings,” she adds. Many women like her believe influencer-style relationships set expectations that leave viewers quietly dissatisfied with perfectly healthy, ordinary partnerships. Social media can also present influencers with the perfect hair every time they make an appearance. Be it any hairstyle, it looks like their hair is the same 24/7. Manisha Gupta, a journalist based in Delhi says, "Wolf cut, pixie cut, or bob; Trust me, these hairstyles will rarely look good unless you style your hair every day… I've seen tons of influencers promote these hairstyles like crazy, and personally I myself have tried some of them." She further adds, "But trust me there's no guarantee they will look the same in real life because you can't style your hair everyday! Sometimes you just want to wake up, get ready, and leave." Flawless skin, styled outfits, neat nails, the influencer aesthetic quietly suggests women should look put-together at all times. Delhi-based corporate employee, Anjali, 24, says this expectation has slowly chipped away at her confidence. “I began feeling bad about looking tired after a full day of work. Then it hit me, most influencers are filming under professional lighting, filters and carefully chosen angles. Real life was never supposed to look like that.”Experts too have noted that exposure to idealized images for a time can change our perceptions of what normal appearance actually looks like. Wake at 5 a.m. journal, meditate, exercise, read, work, run a side hustle, network and then start over. The internet's obsession with productivity has led many women to believe that every waking hour must be put to use. Srishti, 24, says she eventually crashed trying to keep up with productivity influencers. “When I take a rest, it starts to feel like I’m failing or I’m lagging behind everyone. It’s like a big race. Social media had me convinced I needed to be constantly evolving and improving.” But this is definitely not normal. Increasingly, women say they are pushing back against the idea that they need to achieve something non-stop to be considered worthy. Influencers often grow their audiences by sharing intimate details such as relationship troubles, family conflicts, pregnancies, breakups, and personal crises. But not everyone sees this as a positive development. Experts say constantly seeking approval from strangers online can become emotionally exhausting. Several women believe that social platforms increasingly reward those who share the most, even when choosing privacy would clearly be the healthier decision.What makes influencer culture so effective is that it routinely disguises marketing as aspiration. Most trends are quietly tethered to products, services, or lifestyles being sold to audiences. The outcome is a cycle that pushes women to spend more, compare more, optimize more, and share more. However, women across generations are becoming more deliberate about who they follow, cutting out accounts that fuel comparison, and moving towards creators who show real, imperfect, unfiltered lives.Images Courtesy: Google Gemini