by Ethan Wong (S3 2021)

          From Kim Kardashian to various kpop girl groups, the number of models showing off how ‘perfect’ they look is endless. Social media proves to be a challenge to some teens as they always compare how they look to others. This results in many teenagers often only caring about outer beauty. In spite of this, there are still some teenagers who care more about inner beauty than outer beauty. Therefore, in this essay, I will discuss why many teenagers prioritize outward appearance because they want to make a good first impression on others. However, I will also show that teenagers still care about inner appearance because they know that it is more important to have a strong set of morals over looking good.

         Many teenagers tend to care more about their outward appearance because they want to make a good first impression on others. When teenagers look at each other, the first thing they notice is their peers’ appearance. From this, they assume that more beautiful people are more intelligent, kind, and sociable. Teenagers know that those who look a certain way tend to gain more friends Then, teenagers begin to compare themselves to those people because they would like to be more like them. In more serious situations, some teenagers would even alter their outward appearance to make a good impression on others and gain friends. This is especially seen in secondary schools where teenagers begin to dye their hair, get tattoos, or alter their uniform to meet beauty standards and expectations in society. Therefore, teenagers tend to care more about their outer appearance.

         In addition to that, many teenagers also interact with social media content that portrays a specific beauty ideal. When teenagers see how beautiful or attractive some of these social media models look, they will compare how the social media models look to themselves. The teenagers will realise that they look different from the social media models, making them think that they do not look as good as the models. This results in the teenagers feeling embarrassed about how they look, lowering the teenagers’ self-esteem. The teenagers will thus feel bad about themselves and focus a lot on their outer appearance. Some teenagers will even try to change their outer appearance so that they will feel better about how they look. Based on results from studies, nearly 80 percent of teenagers, by age 13, have at least one social media account. Most of these teenagers spend approximately 5 hours a week on social media, scrolling through feeds, posting pictures and interacting with other users. Many of the teenagers will thus consume celebrities feed online and compare themselves with the celebrities. Therefore, teenagers tend to care more about outer appearance.

         However, there are still some teenagers that care more about their inner appearance because they know that it is more important to have a strong set of morals over looking good. No matter how good someone looks, if they do not have a good set of morals, no one would really like them. This is because people would not be able to get along with them and it would not be easy to make friends with someone without a good set of morals. For example, if a teenager behaves childishly, no one would take him or her seriously. This can be seen in many secondary schools, where students who are unreasonable and unruly tend to be less popular and have less friends, while students who are kinder and treat others with respect tend to have more friends. Therefore, there are some teenagers that care more about inner beauty.

         All in all, there is much controversy on whether outer beauty or inner beauty is more important.  Teenagers need to realise that inner beauty is more important than outer beauty as it is more important to have a strong set of morals over looking good. Teenagers should also limit how much time they spend on social media, and schools should try to standardize how students should look when they come to school so that outer beauty is no longer a priority for students.

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