Meta is introducing new limits on Instagram to restrict teens' repeated exposure to content about anxiety, weightlifting, and nutrition, aiming to balance their feeds and protect mental health.
The author reflects on a lifetime of body image struggles, contrasting body positivity with body neutrality. Body neutrality, which avoids judgment and focuses on factual descriptions, is presented as a more helpful and less commercialized approach, especially for children.
Experts warn about looksmaxxing, a dangerous online trend pushing adolescent boys and young men to take extreme measures—including steroids, surgery, and bonesmashing—to optimize their appearance. The movement emerged from incel communities and promotes white supremacist beauty standards, leading to mental health issues like eating disorders and body dysmorphia.
A growing movement called looksmaxxing is encouraging adolescent boys to take extreme and dangerous measures—including steroids, elective surgery, and even bonesmashing—to achieve physical perfection. Mental health experts warn this trend, emerging from incel communities with ties to white supremacy, is causing significant physical and mental health consequences including eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Parents are urged to monitor warning signs and engage in early, nonjudgmental conversations about appearance and self-esteem.
