Trendspotting: Sign of the Times: Zoom Dysmorphia

NewsWire: 9/4/21

• As in-person activities resume, many Americans are feeling anxious about their appearance. A new study finds that so much time on Zoom has given rise to body-image insecurities, especially among young adults. (International Journal of Women’s Dermatology)
• NH: Over the past eighteen months, Americans have spent a considerable number of hours staring at themselves on camera. According to one study, people using Zoom spend 40% of their time looking at their own image. All that time, it turns out, has given rise to dissatisfaction about our looks. A new study that polled over 7,000 Americans found that over 70% are experiencing stress or anxiety related to how they look as in-person activities resume.
• The most common concerns regarding appearance include weight gain (37%), skin discoloration or scarring (32%), and wrinkles (24%).
• Why are people anxious about socializing in-person? For one thing, your bottom half is visible--and of course, you can be seen from all angles. On video calls and social media, people also often use filters or other photo-editing tools to enhance their looks. The prevalence of anxiety is higher among those who use filters, which in the study was most common among 18- to 24-year-olds. Among young people who use filters, 85% said they were worried about their appearance in person and 38% plan to take action to change their appearance.
• To be sure, being worried about how you look is a phase-of-life concern for young adults. But such high percentages suggest that we might be better off if we all just turn off our cameras.

Did you know?

• Smoking and Drinking Remain Near Lows. According to Gallup’s latest poll, the share of Americans who smoke cigarettes (16%) remains steady near its lowest point ever. Since 2015, the smoking rate has consistently been below 20%, which is down sharply from the peak of 45% in the 1970s. The number of cigarettes smokers say that they smoke each day has also fallen over time. At the same time, the use of e-cigarettes has risen in recent years. Young Americans (ages 18 to 29) are slightly more likely to say that they vape (17%) than smoke cigarettes (14%), which is not true for any other major demographic group. Gallup also published its latest results on drinking, which also show a recent decline, albeit one less dramatic than that of smoking. 60% of adults currently drink alcohol, which is on the low end of the range Gallup has recorded over the past two decades. The average number of weekly drinks Americans consume has also fallen to levels not seen since the early 2000s.