Sephora and skincare are all the rage on social media. People want to look flawless and youthful, but children shouldn’t be concerned about this.
Kids don’t need to be worrying about their looks at a young age. However, social media has been pushing products and beauty standards onto little girls who are already vulnerable enough as is. As they approach puberty, it makes them more worried about their looks, a perfect target for social media.
I understand teenagers wanting to have clear skin because that’s been the standard for quite some time. What I don’t understand is girls under the age of ten trying retinol cream so that they can look “young” as if that isn’t what they already are.
If you’re under the age of 12, you don’t need to buy out Sephora and film your routines online, exposing other young children to this harmful way of life. It’s really worrying to see kids trying to act more mature than me when they should be sitting at home and playing with toys still.
In many corners of the internet, children are not allowed to just be children anymore. Even the media they consume rots their mind and makes them believe that they need all of these superficial products.
The internet has always been a scary place for kids. However, as of recently, it feels like the internet has become even worse for young kids to explore. That’s especially problematic considering that children are having iPads shoved in their hands straight out of the womb, exposing them to harmful content since day one.
Skincare isn’t the only thing kids are doing now. Whenever I go out in public and see younger girls, I can’t tell if they’re five or 25. There’s been a trend for the past couple of years on tiktok where children are dressing much more grown than they should be. I promise you, if you’re 10, you don’t need $100 leggings that you’re bound to grow out of in a year.
These clothing brands children are shopping from are not made for their age. I believe in letting children dress how they want, but a lot of the outfits I see girls in are way too mature.
Young girls have always been a target for beauty standards and fast fashion. First it was newspapers, then magazines, then TV shows, and now, it’s the media in general. Social media tells them what to wear, how to act, and what not to do if they want to be hot and cool.
That’s an extremely harsh mindset to push onto a young child who is impressionable and already doubting themselves enough.
It’s scary to know that our future generation is being affected like this at such a young age. What does this say about future generations? If we force children into these harmful habits and we don’t allow them to have a proper childhood, it could spell out more disaster than we think.
